Deep dive into social media: what and when to post on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
To help you hone your social strategy, Semrush analyzed a year’s worth of content on social networks like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube from the biggest tech companies.
According to the study:
- The types of content most engaged did not match the types most frequently posted by technology companies.
- The type of content had a greater impact on engagement than the date or time it was posted.
- The most popular time and day to post was mid-week (Tuesday through Thursday), between 9am and 3pm, during the work day.
- Taken together, the day and time of publication do not have a significant impact on engagement.
For this study, we specifically focused on the content of official brand accounts throughout 2022. Therefore, major changes, such as the introduction of threads, were not included in the dataset. And because we’ve focused specifically on tech brands, our results may not be representative of other industries.
What tech brands like to post and what their audiences really want
According to Semrush’s analysis, content type had a significant impact on post engagement. However, the most popular post types didn’t match what tech companies were posting most frequently.
In Instagramcarousel albums have received the most engagement, perhaps due to the platform’s origins as a place to share images.
Despite their high performance, carousels were the least popular post type, accounting for 21.1% of the content. Videos were the most frequent, with 41.7%, followed by single images (37.1%).
Photo posts had the highest engagement rate in both Twitter like Facebooksuggesting that audiences gravitate towards visual content regardless of platform.
But across both platforms, links were the most popular post type among tech brands, accounting for 45% of all Tweets and 57.5% of all Facebook posts in 2022. It could be because links allow brand to create a clear call to action and attract attention or reuse them. external content.
To maximize your social media impact, pay close attention to the real reactions of your audience.
Posting time has a minor impact on engagement
In general, the most popular posting times (based on the number of posts) were during the business day, between 9am and 3pm, Tuesday through Thursday.
But Semrush’s research found that the day and time of posting had no statistically significant impact on engagement.
This may be due to the prevalence of ranking algorithms and recommended posts across all social platforms, as posts are often displayed non-chronologically, making the time of day less impactful.
Instead of relying on general trends in your space, use your analytics to identify the best time and day for your brand.
The best social networking data is yours
It can be tempting to rely on general trends in your industry, but not all audiences are created equal. Your followers have unique schedules and content preferences.
Semrush’s Social Media Toolkit can help you analyze, create and schedule your content for greater impact with your audience, so you can build on data specific to your brand, instead of relying on broader trends.
