Timing is critical for Facebook posts

There are two reasons why timing is important when posting on your Facebook page. First, you want to pick a time of day when people will see it.

During people’s free time is the best. Many companies block employees from Facebook during the workday, so avoid those times, unless you want to try catch people on their lunch hour. Early mornings are okay, but many people are rushed to get to work, so they won’t have much time to peruse Facebook posts. After work is better, but not necessarily right at the end of the workday. While many may check Facebook before heading home, again, they may be rushed to get home for dinner. After dinner is better, between the hours of 7:00 and 9:00 are optimal. While people might be watching TV, there are plenty of opportunities to cruise Facebook during the deluge of commercials and, besides, there’s never anything good on anyway. Weekends are full of free time, and that is when most people find time to Facebook, but it’s hard to nail down what time of day is best.

The other reason timing is important is that Facebook puts a timer on every post, and as it gets older, it’s less likely to show up on someone’s timeline. Posts get buried under other content real fast because of the steady stream of content being posted.

Recently I posted a picture for my brother to see on my timeline, and after a couple hours went by, I messaged him to ask if he’d seen it. He couldn’t find it because, in just a few short hours, it was pushed way down on his feed. I posted around 3:00 pm and he couldn’t find it by 8:00 that night.

It’s for this reason that I don’t generally suggest posting in early morning. While you might think you’ll catch viewers also at the end of the day, the truth is, your post will be buried long before the vast majority of people look at Facebook in the evening.

Facebook keeps track of the age (in minutes) of a post as part of their EdgeRank system. The higher the EdgeRank, the more likely a post is to show up on other people’s newsfeeds. The other factors considered in EdgeRank are Likes, Shares and Comments. Likes are good because they indicate how many people value the post, but Shares and Comments are even more highly valued because they indicate a stronger response. This is called engagement. If a person takes the time to write something about a post, it means it is more important to them.

The Fun Feed™ system allows you to schedule your daily posts whenever you want. Our default is 7:30 pm, Central Time Zone. This way, the East Coast sees it at 8:30 and the West Coast sees it at 5:30. If you conduct business in a local market, we can set the time to coincide with your time zone to optimize response.

By David Thompson