How COVID-19 has changed social media engagement
Earlier this year, we presented our regular update with the latest data on the best times to post on social media. Around nearly the same time we published this, many individuals and organizations began working remotely, sheltering in place and otherwise changing their behaviors to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. As daily routines changed overnight, more of people’s’ daily and work lives shifted to online, and social media became an even more important tool for connection.
With these changes, we reviewed data from our 20,000+ customers to see how usage of social media has changed during this time. You can use this information to update your strategy and get a sense of how audiences’ priorities and interests have changed during the course of this global pandemic.
As with our earlier look at the best times to post this year, the way we get this data is similar to how Sprout’s Optimal Send Times determines the best times to get engagement at an individual account level. To see how Optimal Send Times can take the guesswork out of adjusting your content calendar, test out a free 30-day trial of Sprout Social. For our insights on how reaction to COVID-19 has reshaped behaviors on social media, read on:
How COVID-19 changed the best times to post on social media
We updated the data pulled for our yearly review of best times to post to show the latest data through mid-April 2020. Overall, we found that the best times to post have shifted somewhat as more aspects of work and life move online-first. In some cases, we found that these times have shifted more in just the last few weeks of changed behavior than they did from 2019 to early 2020–read on for a breakdown by network.
Disclaimer: Data from Sprout Social includes users from various plan types, industries and locations. All time frames are recorded in Central Time Zone (CST). Number of engagements represents total engagements a brand received on the specific channel during that hour time frame.
Updates to Facebook times to post
While we previously found that Wednesday from 11 a.m. and 1–2 p.m. were the best times to post on Facebook, and Wednesday was a peak day overall, our updated review showed that activity was more consistently high throughout every weekday. Currently, the best times to post on Facbook are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10–11 a.m. In fact, every day at 11 a.m. was a slight peak compared to the rest of the day.
Weekends and weekdays after 5 p.m. still showed a significant drop off, as remote workers juggling a variety of home and family needs face, in many cases, even more demands on their attention after the typical work day ends.
Updates to Instagram times to post
Similar to Facebook, the number of peak times during the week expanded since our previous review for Instagram. Previously, Wednesday at 11 a.m. and Friday from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. were identified as the best times to post. Now, we are seeing that out of an overall very busy span of weekday and working hours time, Monday, Tuesday and Friday at 11 a.m. and Tuesday at 2 p.m. are the best times to post on Instagram.
Additionally, while our previous analysis showed that Instagram activity carried on with some consistency through early morning and late evening, activity is now much more concentrated in the work day, with a distinct drop-off seen after 6 p.m. On the other hand, weekends, including the previous worst day to post Sunday, are now also highly active from about 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. As a more mobile-centric network, Instagram could be taking a bigger share of time as a source of entertainment and distraction.
Updates to Twitter times to post
Twitter patterns of usage have remained slightly more consistent pre- and post-COVID response. This may be due to the ongoing use of the platform as a way to quickly check news and spread useful public information for different regions’ lockdown and quarantine measures.
Despite this, the top time to engage still shifted somewhat as we reviewed the data in April 2020. While it was previously Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m., the current best time to post on Twitter is Friday 7–9 a.m., with 9 a.m. showing the peak of activity.
Read the full post here.