Maximize views on social media content by scheduling it

Use scheduling to make your social media content reach the right people at the right time.

Social media is one of the cornerstones of online public relations. Its ability to reach so many people makes it a key component of any online public relations plan, no matter what platforms you intend to use. However, there’s one critical component companies starting their social media plans can overlook: the value of pre-scheduling their social media posts. 

It’s easy to simply post social media content once your team has developed it, but what really works is having content scheduled in a way that’s published at a great time and to have a backlog of content dating back weeks or even months so you’re fully prepared. There are plenty of tools that let you schedule social media content well in advance, both externally and offered by social media platforms.

Why schedule social media content? One of the best things about having your social media content scheduled ahead of time is you can tailor the posting times to when your audience will be on social media. Doing that will maximize the odds that your target audience will be able to see relevant content from you when they’re browsing their social media platforms of choice. 

Getting the information for this can be obtained from analytics from your social media posts. Look through your social media content’s analytics to see the times people engaged the most with your content, and then schedule your content based on it. You might have to tweak the timing so your content is hitting social media at the best time. It’s best to consider using analytics as a cornerstone of your research instead of considering it done as soon as you’ve gathered the relevant information.

Scheduling your content isn’t always a silver bullet for online social media though. Sometimes, you’ll have to postpone content so more immediate content can be posted, such as when dealing with a crisis. Or something might happen in the world that would make upcoming content look insensitive. Keep an eye on what’s going on, both in your company and out, to make sure your scheduled content is appropriate.

A strong public relations plan has social media as it’s key focus. However, to best take advantage of it, you’ll need to make sure content is scheduled to appear on certain days and to use analytics and testing to make sure it appears when your audience is most likely to see it. Strong, data-driven social media scheduling can decrease the burden on your company and increase engagement with your content.

Clients love Jacob’s speed. Jacob is an inbound marketing-certified webmaster. He earned an integrated communications degree from Florida State College at Jacksonville. Jacob joined Axia PR as an intern in August 2015 and earned his way into a critical role at our PR agency.