As many of you already know, I’m a firm believer in the notion that content is king, but there’s one factor that can bring even the best article to its knees: timing.
When writing blog posts, one must have a full understanding of their target market — sleep habits, interests, trending topics, the social networks they use and at what times, etc. Adapting to readers is paramount, and content submitted at off times, however good it may be, will typically (depending on the topic and its ranking in search engines after posting) see decreased traffic.
Over the years, I have found that fresh, new content receives a massive amount of attention upfront, then such fizzles down in the following days. For example, I wrote an article on museum Social Media Marketing titled “Museum Marketing w/ Social Media – Show Me The Goods!” and it received over 240 Retweets in a matter of a couple hours, then the RTs subsided. If the post was made at an unfit time, the same amount of exposure would not have been received.
Additionally, when reaching out internationally, be sure to take time differences into account. If I am located in Los Angeles, California (which I am) and want to communicate with potential readers in Germany with a goal of obtaining Retweets, I have found that the best time to submit content is around 2AM PST, which equates to 11AM in Deutschland; right when people are getting settled into their office after coffee, checking emails, having a morning rendezvous with other employees, etc. On the flip side, if I went by U.S. statistics and posted at the busiest hour of the day, 5PM PST, it would be 2AM in Germany and equate to an epic fail.
Have you ever wondered why WordPress and other blogging platforms have features that allow posts to be created and automatically published at a future time/date? Well the above-mentioned reasons say it all.
Aaron Schoenberger
twitter.com/TheSchoenberger
(310) 876-0874 x1
The Brainchild Group
Aaron Schoenberger is Founder of The Brainchild Group — a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Marketing company in Los Angeles, California. He’s known for his work with celebrity clients, top restaurants, professional athletes and Fortune 500 companies.