Social Media Engagement Tips & Strategy | Sprout Social

Why you need to speed up your social media response time (and how)

Annette Chacko — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:08:44 +0000

Customers hate to wait—and the stakes are high when it comes to customer service.

In today’s fast-paced digital environment, a brand’s social media response time is critical to building long-lasting customer relationships. Swift responses show your commitment to your customers, and this results in stronger brand satisfaction, loyalty and reputation.

But many brands struggle to improve response times due to team and resource constraints, often compromising quality. With the right technology, it’s possible to overcome these challenges and deliver faster, personalized care in a smooth, effective manner.

Read on to learn how quickly consumers expect brands to respond, and what you can do to speed up your social media interactions to exceed customer expectations.

What is social media response time?

Social media response time is the time a business takes to respond to messages and inquiries from customers on its social networks. This includes the time to understand the question, gather contextual information and reply.

How quickly do people expect a response on social media?

According to the 2023 Sprout Social Index™ , most consumers (69%) want brands to respond within 24 hours, and 16% want a response within minutes—a 3% increase from 2022. This isn’t surprising, given that 53% of consumers say their social media usage has been higher over the last two years than the previous two years, per the same report.

With social media saturated and brands vying for consumer attention to reach new audiences, a brand’s social media response time becomes the differentiating factor. Brands need to keep up with customer preferences at the speed of social or lose out to the competition.

Why social media response time matters so much

Here are some data-driven reasons brands need to prioritize social media as a support channel.

Customers rely on social for support

Data from Intercom shows nearly half of support teams cited a 51% increase in inbound volume in the wake of COVID-19. Plus, a recent PTMNTS Intelligence survey of 3,251 U.S. consumers showed 43% of Gen Z customers preferred to shop on a brand’s website—a rate 53% higher than the average consumer.

These factors have led consumers to reach out to brands on social with queries and feedback more than ever. In fact, Sprout’s Q1 Consumer Pulse Survey of over 2,000 consumers in the U.K. and U.S. revealed 80% of consumers use social media now, more than a year ago, to engage with brands about customer service needs.

Quicker than email and void of tiresome back-and-forth customer service phone conversations, social provides consumers with 24/7 access to brands at the touch of a finger.

Quick responses result in more loyal customers

A 2023 PWC survey showed 61% of executives believe enhancing customer service is a high priority to encourage brand loyalty. Another 61% say so is personalizing customer experience (61%). This comes as no surprise, as 32% of consumers shared they stopped using or buying from a business after a bad experience with customer service.

Repeat customers and brand advocates aren’t a “sure thing” if you aren’t consistent and attentive with your customer care. And with social media at the center of customer service in this age of digital marketing, social media response times have become even more critical.

Brands are recognizing this. Take this response from McDonald’s where their team responded to a customer complaint within 15 minutes.

Speedy customer service gives you a competitive advantage

Prompt social media response time is key to keeping customers from bouncing to competitors. According to a Salesforce report, 89% of consumers are more likely to remain with a brand and make another purchase due to positive customer service.

The good news is, as social media response expectations rise, so do your chances to meet customer expectations and delight them before they look for greener pastures. The next section tells you how you can achieve this with the right strategy and tools.

6 ways to speed up your social media response time

You know you need to speed up customer service response times, but how do you make it happen? Here are six ideas to help you put together a social media response plan that addresses customer concerns ASAP.

1. Merge your social comms into a single platform

If your brand has multiple social media accounts, you need to keep a tab on all customer messages across each of them and provide accurate and speedy responses. For instance, Sephora provides prompt social media responses on Instagram;

…X (formerly known as Twitter)…

…and Facebook.

But as you scale and your team size grows, manually handling multiple social media accounts can be daunting, time-consuming and prone to mistakes.

An all-in-one social media platform like Sprout helps you gather your messages across all social platforms into one unified Smart Inbox, so your teams work from a single source of truth. Thus, enhancing your team’s performance by simplifying tasks.

The tool also helps you build seamless and transparent workflows for social customer service teams to manage and respond to incoming messages quickly. Its collision detection capability further enhances collaboration, enabling greater work transparency so no two team members respond to the same query at the same time.

2. Use suggested replies and AI tools to address common concerns

Use AI-enabled tools to automate responses to common customer queries so your customer care agents resolve issues faster. For example, Sprout’s Suggested Replies uses machine learning to analyze incoming messages and detect if you’ve received similar comments and queries before.

Different from canned responses, Suggested Replies lets agents personalize replies to make them more authentic and add contextual details. This saves time and is especially helpful to team members with different experience levels, while also helping maintain a consistent brand voice when answering similar questions.

Here’s an example of an auto-generated, yet personalized response from McDonald’s.

Similarly, Sprout Social’s Enhance by AI Assist enables customer care teams to personalize responses based on the tone of the incoming messages so responses match the customer’s emotional state. Agents can make responses sound formal or friendly and deliver customized experiences at scale.

3. Use dedicated customer care tools to improve response times

Another way to ramp up social media response times quickly is to use tools specifically designed for customer service. Dedicated customer care tools like Social Customer Care by Sprout Social help increase team speed and productivity through capabilities like Case Management. The capability helps care teams get a holistic view of message volume and see the status of the most relevant cases, thus helping them manage customer interactions quickly and effectively.

Plus, integrations like Salesforce Service Cloud help agents quickly collect additional context to improve responses with additional information for smooth and consistent communication.

Dedicated customer care tools also help gather customer insights with automated NPS and CSAT surveys. You can customize settings to trigger surveys after an issue is resolved to know customer satisfaction levels and where to improve.

4. Let chatbots help route questions efficiently

Social media automation tools like chatbots help you improve your social response times. They enable you to engage and provide 24/7 support to customers, offering instant service even without an in-person rep present.

They’re ideal for addressing frequently-asked questions and routing customers to the appropriate support channels when questions get too complex (think: email, live chat), thus reducing initial wait times.

5. Prioritize your social mentions based on urgency

The right social customer care tools enable you to create customer service tiers to handle urgent messages for speedy social media response times. Sprout’s Case Management solution, for instance, helps you set criteria such as topic, profile type, message type, VIP status and message sentiment to create cases for faster workflows and quick issue resolution.

Having a tiered response strategy is also an important part of a brand’s social media crisis communication plan to deal with a potential brand crisis and notify agents when there’s a spike in brand mentions.

All social mentions are important, but the fact is, some mentions are more important than others—especially when they can impact your bottom line or reputation versus friendly shout-outs. Prioritizing messages based on urgency helps you address this need.

6. Set benchmarks to improve your average response time

Just as you analyze post performance to see what’s resonating with your audience, analyzing your social media response times will surface opportunities to improve your team’s productivity.

Sprout’s Social Customer Care solutions help you actively track response metrics through comprehensive average response time reports for detailed insights. Collect key metrics from the Case Team Activity Report and get actionable insights to help agents improve response rates.

Transform your customer care with faster social media response times

Modern customer care needs modern solutions, and time is of the essence in a competitive landscape. It’s possible to improve your social media response times quickly and enhance your overall customer experience with minimal disruption, provided you adopt the right strategy and technology. This proactive approach will help you win customer loyalty, build authentic connections and keep your customers happy.

Read more about social media’s role in modern customer service.

The post Why you need to speed up your social media response time (and how) appeared first on Sprout Social.

8 ways customers interact and engage with your brand on social

Kimberlee Meier — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 13:51:45 +0000

The days of contacting generic business email accounts are coming to an end. Now, customers are shifting to social for praise, questions, complaints and everything in between.

Creating a social media interaction strategy is essential for long-term customer satisfaction. Most consumers expect brands and companies with a social media presence to interact with customers, promote products‌ and answer questions. As social continues to evolve, the ways audiences engage with brands will grow alongside it.

In this article, we’ll cover what these interactions look like, and how they impact your overall business strategy. But first, let’s cover some basics.

What is social media interaction?

Social media interaction is an umbrella term that encompasses all the two-way conversations and touchpoints that occur between companies and consumers.

Whether you’re liking a tagged post or addressing a lukewarm review, the way you interact with your followers has a huge impact on customer satisfaction and retention. Every positive interaction has the potential to build customer relationships and turn a casual shopper into a lifetime fan.

3 key social media interaction statistics to focus your strategy

Not all social media strategies are made the same. The path your brand takes depends on your current social media planning, engagement gaps with followers and the best way to build deeper connections with them.

To fully understand today’s shifting social media landscape, we surveyed over 1,800 consumers and 900 marketers for the Sprout Social Index™ 2023 report. What we found were changing consumer expectations, higher social media use and room for improvement around brand engagement.

68% of consumers follow brands on social to stay informed on new products or services

More than two-thirds of consumers now use social media to stay informed about new products and services. Our research found 45% of people also follow brands to see the enjoyable and entertaining content they post.

Social media is the new mall, and brands are no longer shying away from using social media as a selling platform. Once someone hits follow, it’s a clear signal they want to stay up to date on new products, services, exclusive deals and promotions. Embrace this by creating content that resonates with audiences, encourages interaction with your products or services and leads them to the checkout.

53% of consumers say their social media usage has been higher over the last two years than the previous two years

Social media is filling a seemingly endless need for content. We’re more online than ever, allowing brands to create a stronger marketing funnel that supports the full customer journey and builds trust.

With 78% of consumers—up to 88% for Gen Z’ers—agreeing a brand’s social media presence has a larger impact on whether or not they trust the brand, positive social media interactions are key to building your audience.

“As the most accessible touchpoint for consumers, social media has become the call center, suggestion box and customer service desk for brands. Give your team the resources to effectively care for your customer via social media.”

Azad Yakatally, Head of Social Media, Klaviyo

However, only 30% of marketers say their brand actively engages with customers on social media

The evidence is clear that social media customer engagement is a winning strategy for brands, but only a third are actively engaging and listening to customers. And 71% of business leaders agree most companies don’t have a strong social media strategy for customer service and care.

These stats are a strong indication of how most brands manage social media interactions. While customers increasingly rely on social media to find new products and follow brands, many brands still have work to do to increase customer engagement.

8 ways customers interact with brands on social in 2024

Social media gives consumers the opportunity to interact with brands anytime, anywhere. Here are the most popular ways customers engage with brands on social, and how they can inform your social media customer engagement strategy:

1. They Like posts

According to the Index, 79% of social media strategists regularly track metrics around engagement—the likes, shares and comments on a post. These engagements are a no-cost way for consumers to demonstrate interest in a product or service, but the data they provide is invaluable.

Tracking which posts generate the most ikes helps you understand what your fans are most interested in. For example, if posts about your corporate social responsibility program typically receive a higher Like count than posts about your product or service, you could use that information to create stronger, more socially accountable product messaging.

Use a social media management tool like Sprout to measure post performance across platforms to get a more comprehensive understanding of customer preferences. The beauty of these insights is that their applications extend well beyond social, informing email strategy, paid ad campaigns and more.

2. They follow brand accounts

Pressing the follow button is the first step to becoming active brand community members. Each of your followers exists in some phase of your marketing funnel, whether they’re considering a first-time purchase or are a loyal customer.

Many consumers follow brands specifically to learn about new products or services, while the Index found another 46% want to get access to exclusive deals or promotions. To get more followers on social media, brands must think about the types of content they publish.

Customers have a wide range of content they like to see:

42% want short-form videos (<15 seconds)
30% want static images
26% are looking for influencer content
20% want GIFs/memes, while only 10% are looking for text-only content

However, customers said there’s also content they don’t see enough of:

Incorporating these consumer demands into your social media efforts can improve engagement and grow your followers to get more eyes on your content. Creating content your audience loves gives your brand more opportunities to build trust and create a loyal following.

3. They make direct purchases

According to Statista, social commerce across all social platforms is on the rise. Whether people are looking at products on Facebook Shops or browsing on Instagram and TikTok, more customers are buying directly from a brand’s social channel.

A brand uploading shoppable posts to social media can tag products and create direct links to streamline the checkout process. This interaction on a brand’s channel can engage audiences, particularly younger generations who like purchasing products directly through social media.

4. They leave product or service reviews

Your review strategy can make or break your online reputation. The Index found some 32% of consumers leave product or service reviews as a way to interact with brands on social. Those reviews carry serious weight—85% of consumers report that customer reviews are influential when making purchase decisions.

A review response plan is an integral part of your brand management practices. Whether someone gives positive feedback or explains how you can improve, you need to engage. Acknowledgment goes a long way toward strengthening brand loyalty. A thoughtful response can turn a one-time buyer into a repeat customer.

Simplify your review management strategy by opting for a social solution that takes multiple platforms into account. Sprout Social’s review management tool unifies reviews from Facebook, Glassdoor, TripAdvisor and Google My Business into one view to simplify your response process.

5. They ask questions

Social media is a bridge between your brand and your customers. These platforms are the public face of your brand, so it’s no surprise customers increasingly use these channels to report issues and complaints. It’s how a brand responds to these reports that makes all the difference.

The Index found 63% of consumers agree their loyalty to a brand is significantly influenced by the quality of customer support they provide on social media, and leaders across customer service, marketing and communications are taking note. Response speed also impacts customer loyalty, as 76% of customers put equal value on brands that prioritize customer support and respond quickly to needs.

It’s not enough to resolve an issue quickly—brands must give quality customer care by interacting with every message on a personal level. Moving from platform to platform to monitor and address direct messages natively wastes valuable time that can impact customer satisfaction. Streamline your response management process by using a tool that consolidates your social inboxes in a centralized location.

MeUndies has set goals for faster response times on social media to ensure all messages are replied to within a 60-minute window. The company uses Sprout’s Smart Inbox to track and respond to Instagram direct messages, mentions and comments in one stream.

6. They tag brands

Interacting with tagged posts can help turn customers into brand advocates. First, it creates an opportunity to celebrate the customer and their experience with your business. Second, it builds valuable social proof that can convert potential customers who are on the fence about making a purchase.

Whenever a person takes time out of their day to praise your brand on their personal profiles, bank that for marketing use down the line. User-generated content can be repurposed for social posts, web copy, ad campaigns and more. With tools like Sprout, you can monitor mentions and tags to identify posts worth sharing now and later on.

Customers are also increasingly using social media to ask brands questions and gather information. Responding quickly with detailed answers can help create a community and win customers over.

7. They mention brands in posts (without tagging)

Scoring social mentions is a double-edged sword. Ideally, every mention online will be a positive one, but sometimes brands are tagged in a crisis or to simply grab attention. Participating in conversations in a personalized way builds trust with audiences and shows you’re actively engaging with everyone who tags your brand.

And, not every customer will tag a brand directly in conversation. They may simply mention a brand name or product on social media–making it tough to keep track of every conversation without the right tools.

Brands can use social listening tools to join these conversations–even when they’re not tagged. Nearly 43% of brands surveyed in the Index report plan to use social listening and monitoring to support more customer-centric service strategies. Social listening tools like sentiment analysis tap into social media posts and measure whether or not brand mentions from customers are positive, negative or neutral.

This data allows brands to capitalize on positive mentions and respond to any negative chatter before it impacts credibility.

8. They use brand hashtags

Hashtags mobilize and create communities around specific themes or ideas. Adopting trending hashtags is one way to go, but brands can also create buzz with their own hashtags and encourage followers to do the same in support of their campaigns and products.

Sprout’s hashtag tracking tools can find hashtags frequently mentioned alongside your brand in posts. It also tracks which hashtags get the most engagement so they can be incorporated into future social campaigns to increase post reach.

See how customer engagement is evolving on social

Customer expectations aren’t static. As long as social networks evolve their functionality, consumer habits will change alongside them. Download the Sprout Social Index Report™ 2023 to learn more about how social media interaction will impact your brand in 2024 and beyond.

The post 8 ways customers interact and engage with your brand on social appeared first on Sprout Social.

How to apply conversational marketing to your business

Anam Ahmed — Tue, 21 May 2024 14:13:19 +0000

Why is conversational marketing on the rise? It’s simple: People find value in talking to other people.

Customers want quick and responsive conversations with brands—and organizations want to satisfy their customers.

Conversational marketing leads to enhanced customer experiences because it helps people feel heard. However, that’s not all. Advanced conversational marketing strategies use conversational AI, which enables brands to derive important business intelligence from customer conversations. The best part? Those valuable insights can deepen customer loyalty, improve lead generation and drive revenue.

In this article, you’ll learn the ins and outs of conversational marketing. Plus, we’ll cover how it can delight your customers while providing your business with useful data. Let’s dive in.

What is conversational marketing?

Conversational marketing is a customer-centric approach that’s built on an ongoing dialogue between you and your customers.

It’s an inbound strategy that connects channels like your website, social profiles and CRM, and uses tactics like chatbots, live messaging apps, social commerce tools and helpdesk integrations to improve the customer journey. Whether customers or prospects have a frequently asked question, want to complete a purchase or have a complication with their order, conversational marketing makes it easy to find a solution.

A great example of conversational marketing is when brands use social media as a customer service tool. For example, if a customer with a product issue mentions your brand in a social post, you can respond to them promptly and connect them with your customer service reps if you need to escalate the issue. This type of engagement improves the customer journey, while giving your brand more insight into your customers’ pain points.

The difference between conversational marketing and traditional marketing

Traditional marketing methods take a monologue approach, with the brand talking “at” the target audience, rather than “to” them. Conversational marketing, on the other hand, introduces a dialogue which is often initiated by the customer. It enables brands and customers to engage with each other in a more human and interactive way.

Another key difference is that conversational marketing happens in real time. It’s not scheduled weeks or months in advance. Rather, it takes place when and where the customer requires it.

As a result, conversational marketing is highly personalized for each customer interaction. There is no one-size-fits-all approach because it requires the brand to pivot based on the specific situation.

Benefits of conversational marketing

Conversational marketing has the power to set your business apart from your competitors. Plus, customers greatly appreciate the opportunity to talk to your brand. In a recent study, the number of times buyers expressed gratitude through chat nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, creating a level of audience engagement that deepens loyalty and generates revenue. Here are some of the other ways conversational marketing can benefit your organization.

Improve customer care

A key characteristic of conversational marketing is that it’s personalized based on the needs of the customer. You can improve the level of customer care by tailoring engagements based on highly specific scenarios. For example, if a customer is having a technical issue with your product, conversational marketing can help them resolve their specific pain point in a quick and convenient way. All the customer has to do is reach out to your brand, such as through social media, where you can discuss the issue in order to resolve it. Zappos is a brand that frequently responds to customer issues on social media.

Conversational marketing enables brands to have a live feedback loop with their customers. This not only provides brands with valuable insights into what their customers think, but also enables brands to improve their products and services to better satisfy their customers. In the example above, Zappos now has more details about their customer pain points—and can enhance their user experience in order to improve their level of customer care.

Similarly, some level of conversational marketing is typically available 24/7/365. Customers can choose to engage with a brand when it suits them best. They don’t have to follow specific office hours to reach a person or bot. Instead, customers can control their engagements with brands based on their own timelines. This enhances the level of care customers receive from organizations.

Get brand insights

Conversational marketing unearths valuable details about how customers perceive your brand. It also helps organizations understand what customers consider a priority because it is an inbound tactic. If something is really important to a customer, they are going to find a way to let the brand know.

For example, if customers repeatedly mention a specific product issue, you can use that insight to improve your product. The result? Customers who feel heard and appreciated, and who feel a sense of loyalty to your brand.

While you can learn what customers care about most through conversational marketing, Sprout Social’s Social Listening tool can help you understand the “why”. Going deeper into what makes your customers tick enables you to consider needs outside of a single brand interaction. It paints a bigger picture of your customers’ inner workings–details that are valuable to your brand.

Map the customer journey

The customer journey is unique to every organization, and conversational marketing helps your business map customer engagements along the journey. It also helps you better understand what your customers need at each stage.

For example, during the pre-purchase stage of the customer journey, your customers may want to ask FAQs with a chatbot. After onboarding, however, they may need to use a helpdesk integration to get advice on how to optimize their use of your product.

This information helps you delight your customers by anticipating their needs.

Enhance the sales cycle and generate better leads

Conversational marketing can enhance the sales cycle and move leads down the sales funnel. Without this marketing strategy, organizations don’t have as many insights into the customer psyche. By talking with customers, especially on social media, you can better understand how qualified a lead really is based on their consumer behavior. For example, do your customers like to use social media as a customer service tool or do they leave reviews on social media? This channel in particular can be a catalyst for conversational marketing engagements because it’s a space where brands and consumers already interact.

For example, a Facebook chatbot can qualify leads into different categories based on the types of questions they ask. It can then automatically send certain leads to a sales representative to book a call and others to additional resources on your website. By having a dialogue with the customer at multiple stages in their journey, you can more accurately qualify them based on their needs.

Lower costs

Marketing teams are frequently asked to do more with less. Conversational messaging enables you to meet your business goals with limited resources. How? Enter conversational AI. AI-powered chatbots and virtual agents can understand customer queries and provide appropriate responses.

According to The 2023 State of Social Media Report, a majority of business leaders plan to increase investment in AI and machine learning (ML) for marketing over the next three years. And it’s no wonder, because generative AI and other technologies could automate 60 to 70% of work activities. Businesses stand to save a considerable amount of money by incorporating this technology.

Increase scalability

Handling large volumes of personalized customer interactions is no problem with conversational marketing. Conversational AI enables you to scale conversations with your customers, even as the business grows.

The best part? Conversational marketing is personalized at its core. This means that each customer participates in a dialogue that is customized to their needs. Even at scale, conversational marketing doesn’t involve broad, generic messaging. It’s specific to the situation the customer is in and their needs at the time.

How to apply conversational marketing to your business

The personalized nature of conversational marketing lends itself to a number of key areas within your business. According to McKinsey, 71% of consumers expect personalization. How can you give it to them with conversational marketing? Here are some tried and tested methods.

Chatbots

Chatbots enable your marketing, sales and customer service teams to dedicate their time to high-priority customer engagements. A chatbot can provide basic support, answer common questions and point customers to other resources.

While they can’t solve complex issues, they can act as a first line of connection between customers and your brand. Chatbots help customers feel like they’re being heard.

Pro Tip: Some customers can feel frustrated when dealing with a chatbot, especially when it’s for uncommon issues. When possible, provide an option for the customer to request talking to a human.

Personalized customer care

Customers expect quick responses and resolutions. They don’t want to wait for hours for a customer care representative to call them back. And they don’t want to use a separate app to get the responses they need. Conversational marketing is a great way to personalize and speed up customer care by engaging in dialogues via social media.

Pro Tip: Looking for a way to personalize customer care in an easy and effective way? Social Customer Care by Sprout Social consolidates social media conversations for easier review. You can manage customer inquiries at scale, while using Engage by AI Assist for fast, highly tailored responses. Plus, the Salesforce Service cloud integration provides additional context for each situation, so customer care teams can resolve issues fast.

The result? Customers see your brand listens to their concerns, which deepens loyalty and drives revenue.

Social listening

If you don’t understand your community’s needs and pain points, you won’t be able to address them or improve your brand’s image. That’s where social media listening comes in.

With Sprout’s Social Listening tool, you can build a deeper understanding of your audience.

Listening allows you to conduct your own voice-of-the-customer research by tracking conversations about your brand and other relevant topics. You can hone-in on customer feedback to analyze brand sentiment and determine how to build and strengthen your conversational marketing strategy.

Pro Tip: Sprout’s Social Listening tool does more than just tell you what your target audience is talking about. Brands also use it to conduct competitor research, manage high-stakes crises and analyze social media marketing campaigns.

Social commerce live-streaming interactions

If you’re looking to create direct revenue from your social channels, conversational marketing can help. Try streaming product demos on YouTube, conducting Q&A sessions on Facebook or offering live polls on Instagram. These are different ways to have dialogues with your customers while bringing them closer to a sale.

Pro Tip: Remember to personalize each interaction as much as possible. While you’ll be talking to multiple customers at a time, it’s still important to consider how you can resonate with each customer on a personal level. For example, try speaking to their most common pain points.

5 conversational marketing examples to inspire your next campaign

Looking for innovative ideas? Here are five brands that use conversational marketing effectively to engage their customers.

1. 1-800-Flowers.com

1-800-Flowers.com is taking convenience to another level. Using a chatbot in Facebook Messenger, the company lets customers order flowers or talk to a customer support representative without ever leaving the app.

Customers don’t have to fuss with going to the company’s website or making a phone call. They can interact with the brand on their terms, in a platform where they’re already active. This approach is an excellent way to harness social media to drive revenue and make a business impact.

2. ClassPass

ClassPass addresses customer pain points with conversational marketing. Customers reach out to the brand on X (formerly known as Twitter) to ask questions, address concerns or suggest improvements. The brand responds quickly and politely every time.

The result is a lot of happy customers who appreciate the brand’s level of customer service and its ability to address any concerns. This tactic is a great way to deepen customer loyalty and get referrals for your brand.

3. Domino’s Pizza

Domino’s Pizza is going where its customers are to make ordering food as easy as possible. In its AnyWare conversational marketing campaign, customers can order their favorite pizza through Apple CarPlay, Alexa, text and Apple Watch.

For example, if customers use text, they can set up their favorite order on their Domino’s profile, and when hungry, text 🍕 to Domino’s—and that’s it. Their order is accepted and processed.

You may be thinking that’s not really a conversation. However, for their target audience, sending a pizza emoji works better than typing out their order through text. This is a great example of a brand meeting its audience’s needs where they are.

4. Sprout Social

When it comes to social media engagement, we understand how important it is to provide friendly, helpful and quick service. That’s why we use conversational marketing on Facebook and X with chatbots for direct messages.

On X, users can reach out and choose from a number of options for discussion, such as features or issues. On Facebook, we also offer several pathways for discussion. A key difference is that we also offer an option to talk to a human. This way, users decide if the chatbot can meet their needs. If not, they can go a step further and talk to one of our customer service representatives to discuss something more complex.

We strengthen our market position with actionable intelligence we gather from the chatbot conversations. For example, if we notice a certain product question come up on the regular, we know it’s a product area we need to address.

5. Pfizer

Live events on LinkedIn are a great way to humanize the brand, answer people’s questions in real time and build authentic relationships. That’s exactly what Pfizer does on its LinkedIn channel, hosting a variety of LinkedIn Live events. Their topics range from healthcare trends and innovations to diversity and inclusion.

With this type of conversational marketing, Pfizer makes it easy for their followers to connect with real people at the company. Their audience can ask questions, bring up concerns and learn more about the organization. The events help deepen customer loyalty and increase brand awareness.

Ready to launch your conversational marketing strategy?

Customers want to have conversations with your brand. Conversational marketing helps you build on these conversations to personalize your relationships, so you can learn more about their pain points and needs in order to deepen customer loyalty.

To make your conversational marketing strategy a success and drive revenue, track conversational analytics with Sprout Social. We’ll help you better understand what tactics work and which ones need improvement. The result? By analyzing your customer conversations, you’ll uncover brand insights and strengthen your market position.

The post How to apply conversational marketing to your business appeared first on Sprout Social.

How to create an effective proactive marketing strategy

Annette Chacko — Tue, 21 May 2024 14:04:33 +0000

Proactive marketing is about planning for the future. It’s a long-term business strategy rooted in a nuanced understanding of your customers so you can anticipate their needs and exceed expectations. This progressive approach results in enhanced customer delight and long-lasting brand loyalty to prepare your business for the competition and whatever comes next.

In this article, you’ll read why proactive marketing is essential to keep customers engaged. Plus, how to create a proactive marketing strategy to increase your social and marketing ROI.

What is proactive marketing?

Proactive marketing is centered on anticipating market demands and creating successful campaigns and strategies to increase market share, revenue and customer engagement. Marketers use various sources to draw proactive insights including social media, reviews and surveys.

Among these, social media is critical to proactive marketing, especially in today’s increasingly digital landscape. It acts as a channel for businesses to engage with audiences directly and in real-time, promote their brand and create a dynamic feedback loop through social customer care interactions.

For instance, using a social media management tool, a brand can engage with its customers to foster a two-way conversation even when not directly tagged or mentioned. This shows they’re invested in building customer trust and also tuned into industry conversations. Plus, by analyzing social chatter you gain brand insights in minutes compared to traditional research methods, like focus groups and surveys, which can take months.

This proactive approach helps you quickly tailor your content, advertising and other marketing tactics to what resonates with your audience. It allows you to create meaningful engagement that ensures customer loyalty and retention.

Why proactive marketing strategies matter

Proactive marketing helps you get more out of your social media engagement strategy. It shows your audience that you’re actively trying to connect and communicate with prospects and customers. That can create a major competitive differentiator.

Take Adidas, for example. Their proactive marketing strategy includes uplifting social content involving sports champions to encourage people and boost morale. These posts indirectly promote their products and act as open forums where customers ask product-specific questions. A quick look into social conversations in their “You got this” campaign shows audiences engage with the brand on a variety of topics including product inquiries.

This shows how empathy-driven, proactive marketing is pivotal within your overall marketing to maintain brand engagement–even if you’re an established brand like Adidas.

The difference between proactive vs. reactive marketing strategies

A strong marketing strategy includes proactive and reactive marketing tactics to address both long-term and short-term goals. Here are the key differences between them.

Reactive marketing strategies

Reactive marketing is about responding to immediate customer concerns, such as addressing customer care complaints.
It’s a passive marketing approach where customers initiate contact with a brand, for example, to enquire about products or pricing.
Reactive marketing doesn’t require planning or additional investment of time and resources as it’s not hinged on competitor behavior and involves responding to customer needs as they arise.

Proactive marketing strategies

Proactive marketing is a forward-thinking approach built on anticipated market demands to supply a solution, such as expanding a product portfolio based on emerging market trends.
It requires a brand to make the first move and reach out to customers and prospects, rather than waiting for the target audience to approach them.
Proactive marketing involves long-term planning with a focus on long-term goals. It relies on a thorough strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of the brand and its competitors.

Netflix is a great example of proactive marketing. It uses AI-driven algorithms to analyze users’ viewing habits and engagement rates to search for patterns to inform the kind of content to produce and market in different regions.

Another example of proactive marketing is how Mexican fast food chains like Chipotle and Pollo Loco capitalize on National Burrito Day to earn all-time high sales every year around the holiday. These brands plan for the event, advertising their locations and mouth-watering deals much in advance, to ensure customers choose them over the competition.

How social media fits into the proactive marketing picture

Social media empowers brands to engage proactively with audiences. It facilitates real-time conversations and prompt responses to customer comments and inquiries. These interactions hold the key to valuable insights to inform future brand strategies.

Here are some ways social media drives proactive marketing.

Social listening

Social listening data catalyzes proactive marketing. According to The State of Social Media Report 2023, 91% of leaders believe social data is critical to understanding customer needs, while 89% believe it’s key to predicting future market trends.

Knowing customer opinion about your brand helps you proactively refine your products and offerings and develop winning marketing campaigns for long-term success. Plus, competitor intelligence data from social conversations helps with competitor benchmarking so you can build strategies to strengthen brand positioning and loyalty.

Likewise, social listening data helps identify patterns in audience preferences and behaviors. For instance, you could determine which social networks give you the highest engagement. This enables you to focus on those platforms to amplify brand engagement and analyze conversations to uncover potential opportunities. With Sprout’s Listening tool, you can automatically sift through billions of data points in social chatter within seconds to find key topics, hashtags, trends and insights to influence your future strategies.

Reporting and analytics

Social media reporting surfaces deep insights about your brand’s performance on social and reflects emerging market shifts—essential data to improve your marketing ROI. For example, Sprout’s Analytics tools provide you with comprehensive reporting on social media metrics based on your KPIs and goals to help you evaluate social campaigns across channels. Having this crucial data visualized through easy-to-grasp charts and graphs further helps you understand network-specific and cross-network analytics better so you can strategize for the future.

Plus, built-in templates help you prove your social ROI to decision-makers to get the funds you need for your future strategy.

Customer Care

Social customer care is the new norm. Customer care departments are no longer siloed from the broader marketing org—today they play an important role in informing marketing decisions.

Insights from customer care conversations inform you about recurring customer complaints and market gaps, which you can share with marketing execs and product teams to draw attention for future planning.

Similarly, tools like Social Customer Care by Sprout Social and our integration with Salesforce Service Cloud enable agents handling social to deliver prompt, personalized responses and offer services based on previous interactions. This proactive approach leads to higher customer satisfaction and halts attrition.

Brand Keywords

Brand Keywords in your social data tell you which hashtags your audience follows so you can use them to boost your reach and attract new customers. Sprout’s Brand Keywords tool extracts keyword mentions from X (formerly known as Twitter) directly into your Smart Inbox, keeping you in the loop about discussions related to your brand, even without direct tags. Use search operators to track branded keywords across various social channels and monitor mentions seamlessly within a single platform.

Explore more Sprout features.

How to create your proactive marketing strategy with Sprout

There’s no single approach to proactive marketing, especially on social. The conversations your brand can weigh in on are never-ending. That’s why, creating a strategy focussed on social media business value is important. Here’s how to get it done.

Determine your team’s bandwidth

Creating a proactive marketing strategy means leveling up your social media strategy. Like all new endeavors, it takes time.

Consider how much time your team spends on reactive engagement (i.e. responding to tags and mentions). What is your daily inbox volume like? If that alone is tough to manage, think about how to prioritize creating a business case for expanding your social team.

Identify conversations that provide value to your organization

Use company and department goals to decide which conversations present the largest opportunities for your team.

For example, if your big goal this year is brand awareness, prioritize conversations around key influencer partnerships or larger industry discussions. Engaging with those posts can expose your brand to new audiences interested in your products or services. Sprout’s Influencer Marketing tool can help you identify particular voices with influence to further expand your reach.

If you work with co-marketing partners, you can also create multiple partner-specific Brand Keywords to proactively build on those relationships through social.

Draw insights from sentiment analysis

Sentiment analysis surfaces nuanced emotions customers express on social and online channels about your products and services. Examining sentiment in social listening data tells you the common topics of discussion when people mention your brand on social.

With Sprout, calculate sentiment scores automatically from data across all your social accounts within a single, unified dashboard. Analyze this data to understand sentiment trends and the conversations driving these sentiments.

This intelligence helps you construct a data-driven, proactive marketing strategy aligned with customer expectations. For example, you could refine your content strategy, pivot your ad campaigns and personalize your customer service to proactively address customer needs and wants.

Tap into competitive intelligence

Use Sprout’s native competitive analysis tools to gather essential insights about your competitors and their social media engagement. Also, dig into metrics such as post engagement, hashtag usage, audience demographics and audience growth to identify trends and establish competitive benchmarks. Sprout’s actionable competitor intelligence dashboard enables you to track and analyze this data easily.

This competitive monitoring helps you stay informed about competitors and identify industry trends and market changes as they emerge.

For instance, you might observe discussions about an increasing need for customer care software that streamlines processes and cuts response times in half. Or, you might notice your target audience responding favorably to your competitors’ content related to their eco-friendly service initiatives.

Use this insight to proactively align your business and offerings with customer preferences to ensure you’re agile and ready to capture new market opportunities.

Optimize your strategy through business intelligence and reporting

Use Sprout’s built-in reporting tools and templates to contextualize social insights and see how you stack up to competitors and where you could do better. Plus, explore which interactions and campaigns attract quality leads and drive revenue growth. Then use that data to optimize your proactive marketing strategy and strengthen your brand footprint.

Integrate with Salesforce and Tableau for a 360-degree analysis of your customer messages and conversations to get additional context. Use this data to tailor your customer journey and address customer issues proactively to exceed their expectations and build robust customer relationships that future-proof your business.

Supercharge your proactive marketing strategies with Sprout

Social media insights help you get ahead of brand conversations to establish your brand as a forward-thinking and relevant contributor to the industry. Sprout’s powerful social media management tools help you do this and more. They help you navigate macroeconomic trends, anticipate changing customer expectations and optimize your marketing plans in real time so you’re always a step ahead.

Use brand intelligence to power up your proactive marketing strategy by starting your free 30-day Sprout Social trial today.

The post How to create an effective proactive marketing strategy appeared first on Sprout Social.

How to go live on TikTok and engage your followers

Chloe West — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 13:50:20 +0000

Going live on social media is a great way to connect directly with your audience, answering questions and getting feedback in real time. This is why going live on TikTok should be a major part of your TikTok marketing strategy.

However, getting access to TikTok LIVE has a few stipulations, the main one being that you need to have at least 1,000 followers. In this article, we’re going to walk you through how to go live on TikTok, how to use TikTok LIVE to engage your followers, plus a secret way you may be able to get access to this feature even if you haven’t yet hit 1,000 followers.

Let’s get started.

What is TikTok LIVE?
How many followers do you need to go live on TikTok?
How to go live on TikTok without 1,000 followers
How to go live on TikTok step-by-step
TikTok LIVE tips and ideas for better engagement
Restrictions on TikTok LIVE

What is TikTok LIVE?

TikTok LIVE is a feature that lets you stream live broadcasts on the app. This creates an opportunity to interact with your audience in real-time. Like your regular TikTok videos, you can add filters and effects using LIVE.

Going live on TikTok creates a more informal and engaging way for you to connect with your audience. Your live video can be anywhere from a few minutes long to share a quick announcement to an hour or two for a live shopping sale, Q&A with your followers, or even some kind of live show you create for your audience.

The biggest difference with LIVE is that the video streams in real-time and can be any length. Meanwhile, regular TikTok videos can only be up to 10 minutes long and are pre-recorded before uploading to the platform. Additionally, there are certain restrictions on who can use LIVE, while every user can upload a regular video.

Source: TikTok

How many followers do you need to go live on TikTok?

There are two main criteria you need to meet to get access to the TikTok LIVE feature. These stipulations are how to get live access to TikTok while fully following the platform’s rules and community guidelines:

Must be 18 years of age or older
Must have 1,000 followers

While we’re going to cover a work around that may help you get live access without hitting that 1,000 follower milestone, this method is more foolproof. Check out our guide on how to get more TikTok followers before trying out the potential “hack” in the next section.

How to go live on TikTok without 1,000 followers?

There is a way that some TikTok users have been able to get access to TikTok LIVE without hitting that 1,000 follower threshold. However, keep in mind that this is a “hack” that some users promote, and we recommend doing it the real way—through TikTok marketing and engagement so you can reach 1,000 followers as quickly as possible.

But if you’re restless (which, believe me, we understand) and want to try out this option, here are step-by-step instructions on how to get live access to TikTok when you have less than 1,000 followers.

1. Go to your account settings

Step one is to head to your TikTok profile and tap the hamburger menu (three parallel lines) in the top right corner. Then, tap Settings and privacy to access your account settings.

2. Tap “Report a problem”

In your account settings, scroll down to the Support & About section. At the top, tap Report a problem.

3. Look at the options under “LIVE”

There are a number of sections available under TikTok’s help section. Tap the LIVE header to look at some of the LIVE-specific options.

4. Tap “Hosting LIVE”

Previously, there was a simple I can’t start a TikTok LIVE option that you could choose. The fact that this interface is updated may be due to an overall update, or it could be due to TikTok catching onto this “hack.”

However, the best course of action now will be to tap the Hosting LIVE option to access more relevant queries.

5. Tap “How to start a LIVE”

There are several queries under Hosting LIVE that are relevant to starting your own live video. The best one to choose will be How to start a LIVE, though you may also want to test out Other hosting LIVE issues.

6. Submit your request

Once you tap How to start a LIVE, you’ll be greeted with a message showing you the steps you need to take to start your own TikTok LIVE.

However, it also details what to do if you feel you meet the eligibility but don’t see the LIVE option. In this sense, it’s a bit of an honor code. But you can still try to submit a request even if you don’t have 1,000 followers.

Follow the instructions, then if the LIVE option is still not there, take a screenshot. Then tap No under Is your problem resolved? Once you do that, a Need anything else? link will appear.

Tap that to get access to this feedback box:

In the box, you can write something like, “I can’t access TikTok LIVE. My followers are asking me to go live. Can you please enable it for me?” You’ll also be able to attach the screenshot that proves you don’t have LIVE access.

From here, you’ll simply have to await TikTok’s decision. The only foolproof way to gain access to TikTok LIVE is by growing your follower count, but hopefully this works for you!

Once you do have access to TikTok LIVE, you can move onto the next section.

How to go live on TikTok step-by-step

Now it’s time to take TikTok LIVE for a spin. If you’re familiar with TikTok and you’ve gone live on other social networks, you should have no trouble learning how to livestream on TikTok. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to go live on TikTok.

Step 1: Tap on the “+” button to open the camera. This is the same button that you use to record or upload your regular TikTok videos.

Step 2: From the navigation bar at the bottom, swipe and then select the option to go LIVE. If you don’t see this option, you may not be eligible to access the feature yet—see the above section to circumvent this.

Step 3: Next, add details about your LIVE such as the title, add any filters you want to use, and make any other adjustments before you go live. Those details will give people an idea of what your stream is about. The right title and thumbnail could convince people to watch your TikTok LIVE even if they’ve never heard of you before.

As you can see below, the thumbnail is the first thing that will catch the eye. The title of the LIVE video tells people what the stream is all about and further entices them to tune in.

Step 4: Once you’re ready to start your TikTok LIVE stream, tap on the red “Go Live” button at the bottom of your screen. That’s it. You’re finally going live on TikTok. During your broadcast, you’ll have the option to add effects and filters or flip your camera. TikTok even lets you add moderators or turn commenting on or off.

TikTok LIVE tips and ideas for better engagement

Since the ultimate goal of going live is to engage your audience, here are a few TikTok LIVE tips and ideas to help you drive better engagement.

1. Interact with your audience

The whole point of using TikTok LIVE is to engage with your audience. And more often than not, the live chat box is often bursting with questions from viewers. For example, the following TikTok LIVE showcasing someone painting pots is getting a lot of questions from viewers.

Source: TikTok

So take the opportunity to actively interact with them. Respond to their comments or answer their questions in the live to let them know that you’re engaged, which could get them to reciprocate. You could even have entire livestreams dedicated to Q&A sessions.

Answering your audience’s questions is especially important during livestream shopping sessions. Viewers might have questions about the features and other product details before deciding to buy the item. So make sure to proactively respond and interact with relevant questions and comments.

2. Hold a discussion around a specific topic

One effective way to keep your audience engaged is by holding a discussion around their topic of interest. Choose a topic that’s relevant to your audience and use it as a subject of discussion for your LIVE session.

You could then add your commentary or ask viewers to pitch in their thoughts, experiences or viewpoints. This is a great way to spark engagement among your viewers and get them to tune into the whole livestream.

3. Give shoutouts to your top fans/viewers

When you publicly acknowledge your biggest fans, it makes them feel valued. This gives them more reason to continue engaging with your TikTok LIVE.

Give your top fans or viewers a shoutout during your livestream and let them know you appreciate them. This is especially important if a viewer sends you a Gift. Make sure you publicly thank them, which might even inspire others to also send you Gifts.

Gifts are a great way to make money from TikTok. Viewers can exchange currency for coins in the TikTok app, and then use those coins to buy gifts. Look at the options offered below underneath the LIVE video:

Source: TikTok

Creators can then exchange the Gifts they receive for income. Although each Gift isn’t typically worth much, the more often you go live and receive Gifts, the more you’ll be able to make.

4. Provide a look into your creative process

The spontaneous and real-time nature of LIVE offers a great way to take your viewers behind the scenes into your creative process. Use your livestream to show them what you’re working on or how you typically create your content.

For example, an artist could launch a livestream as they make a new art piece. A food content creator could livestream their trip to the grocery store as they pick up items for a new video. If you’re running a TikTok account for your business, you could also give viewers a tour of your store or your factory.

5. Start out strong

The first few seconds of your LIVE session give people an idea of what to expect. So avoid starting out with uncertainties such as, “Can you hear me?” or similar phrases. Instead, start out strong with a cheerful and structured greeting to welcome your viewers and make them want to keep watching.

Some tips for how to kick off your livestream include:

Recap a recent video on a similar topic
Introduce yourself and your role at the company
Tell a funny, but relevant, story
Talk about your business
Use an icebreaker

6. Make the most of a moderator

While responding to your audience is important, that doesn’t mean every comment deserves an answer. Paying attention to rude or harassing comments can ruin the whole vibe of your livestream. Instead, have a moderator remove inappropriate comments and maintain a safe and fun environment.

7. Choose your timing wisely

It’s not likely that you’ll attract tons of viewers if you go live while everyone is sleeping or at work. Make sure you go live at a time when your audience is most likely to tune in.

Use the Sprout Social TikTok analytics report to find out which post timings work best on the platform. This will give you a better sense of the right time to launch a TikTok LIVE.

Restrictions on TikTok LIVE

You don’t need to have a creator or business account to go live on TikTok. However, there are some age and follower count restrictions to access the TikTok LIVE feature. That means most users should be able to use the feature if they meet the minimum age requirement and have the minimum follower limit.

Users who are at least 18 years of age can launch a TikTok LIVE. It looks like the age limit used to be 16, but it must have been raised recently. TikTok’s support article now states that users must be at least 18.

While 13-year-olds can have an account, they’re limited to the TikTok for Younger Users ecosystem and can’t go live. This is one of the many measures that TikTok has in place to keep the platform safe for users of all ages.

In addition to meeting the minimum age requirement, we’ve discussed how you should also have at least 1,000 followers on TikTok to go live. So if you plan on using this feature—and don’t want to test the “hack”—you need to start by growing your following.

Ready to go live on TikTok?

Now you know exactly how to go live on TikTok and how to use the feature to boost engagement. You can further improve your TikTok strategy by closely monitoring your TikTok analytics to see what works with your audience.

The post How to go live on TikTok and engage your followers appeared first on Sprout Social.

Link in bio: The complete guide to maximizing engagement

Brent Barnhart — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 18:30:55 +0000

Are you paying attention to your link in bio?

Because bio links are underrated real estate for businesses across your brand’s social platforms.

Especially if you want to track social media engagement and audience interactions.

And sure, your choice of URL might seem like a super small detail.

The reality? These links are key for funneling traffic and customers to your promotions. This post digs into link in bio best practices, tools and how to make the most of your URL(s).

Table of contents:

What is a link in bio?

A link in bio refers to a clickable URL that appears in your social media profiles.

The phrase “link in bio” was a common call-to-action on Instagram circa 2016 as the platform doesn’t allow links in individual posts. Accounts would instead direct followers to their bio links.

Fast-forward to present day and all major social networks have bio links. Some platforms like TikTok, Pinterest and Twitter (now X) offer a single URL for your profile.

Meanwhile, Facebook and YouTube allow multiple bio links to point people to. Instagram actually began offering accounts up to five bio links as of 2023 but this isn’t a universal feature.

Singular bio links can feel limiting. This led to a boom of bio link tools to promote multiple URLs and serve as a landing page for your social profiles. Check out this link in bio example on Instagram:

And when we tap through, we’re directed to a list of the brands social profiles, promotions and storefront aggregated by Linktree.

Why your link in bio is important

We get it. It’s just one link.

With so many moving pieces of your social presence, it’s easy to overlook your link in bio.

The reality, though? Bio links are a surprisingly powerful tool for brands. From learning about your customers to fine-tuning your promotions, here’s why bio links deserve your full attention.

Consistently promote your social media campaign and content

Let’s say you’re launching a new product or want to raise awareness for a product line. Brands dedicate their link in bio to that promotion rather than send one-size-fits-all traffic to your site.

For example, brands will often change their bio links to coincide with new offerings, sales, holidays, giveaways and any other type of time-sensitive promotion.

Below is an example from Crocs. One of their IG bio links is dedicated to their Glitter Clog.

And when you tap through, you’re led directly to a promotion-specific product page.

Bio links are also a subtle way to align your social media campaigns across all channels. For example, you can use the same link aggregator or bio link on TikTok and IG to cross-promote products. You can likewise use your bio link destination as a CTA for Stories and social posts.

Squeeze more ROI of out your social marketing efforts

Siloing your social promotions isn’t just inefficient: it can hurt your overall campaign ROI.

Because brands rarely promote products on a single channel, right?

Bio links are deceptively effective at helping you understand what’s working and what isn’t. For example, you might notice that a particular URL or promotion on TikTok gets zero clicks on IG. Or maybe you realize that 80% of your audience clicks on the same link and avoids everything else.

For example, this TikTok bio link for Dove points to a variety of new products. Understanding how customers engage with these links help the brand to tweak its URLs over time. That means they can prioritize their promotions with confidence.

Assessing social media ROI means tracking as much data as you can. Link in bio clicks should be part of your metrics to get a pulse of how engaged your followers are with your promotions.

Bio links encourage cross-promotion

Piggybacking on the point above, brands use bio URLs to build cross-platform awareness.

For example, a customer might find you on Instagram but are personally more active on TikTok. It’s crucial for brands to be active where their audiences hang out. Your link in bio can reduce friction by highlighting everywhere you’re active and funnel folks there.

6 tips to drive engagement with link in bio

Bio link clicks don’t happen totally by accident.

Thankfully, there are a few low-hanging ways to drive engagement to your link in bio.

Regardless of what you’re selling, here are six tips that are fair game for brands.

1. Don’t just link to your homepage!

Chances are you’ve seen a jumbled mess of numbers and letters in a brand’s bio link.

Or maybe just a generic homepage URL with no specific call-to-action.

These types of bio links don’t exactly inspire action. A few small steps you can take to make your link pop include:

Stylize them with a customer URL
Create a dedicated landing page for your social URL
Keep things short and sweet with a URL shortener

2. Rotate links strategically (and keep them updated)

As we noted earlier, brands can use bio URLs to highlight products and promotions. This is a popular strategy if you’re running frequent, time-sensitive promotions such as:

Product launches
Holiday promotions
Giveaways

For example, Kiehls uses their bio link aggregator to point people to their latest offers.

Also, swapping out your bio link keeps your profile from feeling stale. A change in your bio link might catch someone’s eye or otherwise drive them to your website when they normally wouldn’t have considered it.

3. Create branded landing pages for your bio links

Much like you shouldn’t send followers to a generic homepage, you should also consider creating custom pages for your social traffic.

As illustrated by our landing page examples, having a consistent experience across the customer journey will encourage action from buyers. If nothing else, make sure your bio links are in line with your most current branding and aren’t linking to outdated pages or information.

4. Promote exclusive content or offers

Anything you can do to make your bio link more enticing is a plus.

For influencers and creator profiles, your link in bio is a prime place for promotions and affiliate codes. The hidden nature of bio-specific promotions makes them feel very exclusive. In turn, shoppers feel like they’re getting a “for your eyes only” offer.

5. A/B test different CTAs

Fine-tuning your link in bio takes time.

There are plenty of social media experiments related to your URLs that you can run to optimize engagement. Some questions you can set out to answer through testing include:

How many bio links is “optimal?” More or less?
Do we get more engagement with a single link or a link aggregator?
Which call-to-action phrases earn the most clicks?
Does adding an arrow or emoji pointing to our bio link impact engagement?

Regardless, you should say something to entice people to check out your link in bio versus just leaving it hanging on its own without context.

6. Measure performance with analytics

Tracking your social media analytics is a must-do and your link in bio is no exception.

Most native analytics allow you to see how people are engaging with your bio links and their level of engagement. Here’s an example from Instagram.

The more you can learn about your audience and what they engage, the more confidently you can tweak your offers, links and messaging.

3 link in bio tools for your brand to test-drive

Every social app is different when it comes to native link in bio features. That’s why my brand and creator accounts use third-party aggregators and landing pages that cover all platforms.

To wrap things up, here are some tools to help brands make the most of their bio links.

1. Sprout Social

Having a centralized platform for any and all of your social links is a smart move. That’s why Sprout’s link in bio offering, SproutLink, is such a stand-out.

Through one simple link, your audience can access a replica of your Instagram grid and visit the unique link associated with each of your Instagram posts. This is a workaround to not being able to insert links in individual posts.

This clickable grid directs traffic to the content links that matter most—whether that’s your website, a specific product, blog ost or anything in-between. Adding links to your Instagram posts are baked into Sprout’s Instagram publishing workflow, saving you precious time spent jumping between multiple tools.

2. Linktree

Linktree is the self-proclaimed “original” link in bio tool and its popularity is difficult to deny. The tool offers a free account for businesses and creators alike.

With Linktree, you can align multiple profiles and track metrics including CTR, new subscribers and even sales associated with your link in bio. Linktree themselves recommends using between three and seven links within your profile, making the app ideal for brands and creators with a wide variety of promotions or affiliate links.

3. Bio.fm

Bio.fm’s link in bio tool is geared toward creator accounts that want to showcase a variety of content and links. The content previews are particularly useful for artists and digital creators (think: YouTubers, Twitch streamers) and can serve as a mini portfolio of your work.

Are you making the most of your link in bio?

Bio links are often overlooked but seriously underrated when it comes to your social funnel.

With the right tactics and tools, businesses can use those URLs to drive actual business.

The link in bio tips and tools above can help you do the same faster. That said, those links are just one piece of a much larger, data-driven social media strategy.

If you haven’t already, check out a trial of Sprout Social to see how you can align your social presence and see real, measurable business impact.

The post Link in bio: The complete guide to maximizing engagement appeared first on Sprout Social.

Best times to post on LinkedIn in 2024

Mary Keutelian — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:58:55 +0000

As the premier professional-focused social platform, LinkedIn is where to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. And with over 67 million company profiles on LinkedIn, it’s important to know when the best time to post is for you to engage with your followers – whether they’re clients, customers, employees or prospects, or all of the above.

With over 1 billion members in 200 countries and regions, businesses have a large audience and employee advocates to extend their reach. With the right LinkedIn marketing strategy, combined with these optimal posting times, you could see improved engagement.

Learn how to identify your best times to post globally on LinkedIn a free trial of Sprout Social and test our ViralPost® feature.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

Disclaimer: Data from Sprout Social include users from various plan types, industries and locations. All time frames are recorded globally (not by Central Time), meaning you should be able to publish with the times provided in any timezone and see positive engagement results. Number of engagements represents total engagements a brand received on the specific channel during that hour time frame. Industry-specific data includes mid- to high-level engagement times. We recommend testing with your own accounts to find the most optimal send times.

When is the best time to post on LinkedIn?
What is the best day and time to post on LinkedIn?
What is the best time to post on LinkedIn by industry?
How to find your own best times to post on LinkedIn
How Sprout gathered the data

When is the best time to post on LinkedIn?

Best times to post on LinkedIn Company Pages:
- Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon
- Thursdays at 10 a.m.
Best days to post on LinkedIn Company Pages: Tuesdays through Thursdays
Worst days to post on LinkedIn Company Pages: Weekends

Unsurprising for this professional-focused social platform, LinkedIn engagement times are consistent with general business hours. High engagement hours are more concentrated midday and don’t extend too far out past the workday hours. Businesses are less likely to get eyes on their LinkedIn marketing efforts on the weekend when engagement and usage drops.

Because LinkedIn content is centered around professional thought-leadership and career growth, it makes sense that a majority of audiences engage with this content throughout their working day. By midday, there’s buzz on the platform, and the best times to post on LinkedIn are Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and noon and Thursdays at 10 a.m..

Yes, LinkedIn is a business and employment-focused platform, but it’s more than a job board and networking platform. LinkedIn provides a platform for professional storytelling and advocacy, from both employees and employers alike. Contributors of all levels can share their subject-matter expertise, create conversations that challenge business-as-usual, and uplift professional voices around the world.

Businesses on LinkedIn are finding new ways to generate leads, find co-marketing partners, highlight company culture and attract talent. Because of these additional business opportunities LinkedIn provides, it makes sense that posting and engagement match with the business hours.

What is the best day and time to post on LinkedIn?

We know the best time to post on LinkedIn overall, but what about for each day of the week? If you’re looking for the best day and time to post on LinkedIn, read the analysis below.

Best time to post on LinkedIn on Monday

Every weekday saw above average engagement on LinkedIn beginning a 7 a.m and extended until nearly 6 p.m. Our data shows that the best time to post on LinkedIn on Mondays is between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Best time to post on LinkedIn on Tuesday

Tuesdays are one of the higher engagement days on LinkedIn compared to any other day of the week. While high engagement spans across most of the traditional workday, our data shows the best time to post on LinkedIn on Tuesdays are between 10 a.m. and noon.

Best time to post on LinkedIn on Wednesday

Wednesdays see the highest concentration of engagement, mostly from midmorning to midafternoon compared to any other day. While above average ours start at 8 a.m. and end around 3 p.., the best times to post on LinkedIn on Wednesdays are 10 a.m. to noon

Best time to post on LinkedIn on Thursday

Very similar to Wednesdays, the best times to post on LinkedIn on Thursdays are from at 10 a.m., but be ready to see above average engagement between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Best time to post on LinkedIn on Friday

Surprisingly, Fridays and Mondays see near identical peak engagement hours. However, the hours that are the best times to post on LinkedIn on Fridays are between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Best time to post on LinkedIn on Saturday

Generally speaking, we’ve noticed that Saturdays and Sundays have less engagement during the reset of the week across most social platforms. Even with LinkedIn, you’ll still see light to average engagement on the app due to its professional purpose. With that in mind, the best time to post on X on Saturdays is between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. for light engagement.

Best time to post on LinkedIn on Sunday

Similar to Saturdays, we’ve noticed Sundays have less engagement throughout the day across most, if not all, social platforms. In relation to the day itself, the app sees light engagement overall. Therefore, the best time to post on LinkedIn on Sundays is between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. for any engagement.

When is the best time to post on LinkedIn in the UK?

Overall the best time to post on LinkedIn in the UK is Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon and Thursdays at 10 a.m. Our data shows LinkedIn engagement rates taper off into the afternoon and evening. It will not surprise marketers using this professional-focused channel that peak engagement rates coincide with the working week. UK businesses may see lower engagement rates with posts scheduled over the weekend.

Although the platform is known for its networking and recruitment capabilities, it is also used by individuals and businesses alike to share industry information, challenge the status quo and boost professional insight globally. So the content you post and your industry may also impact the engagement rate.

When is the best time to post on LinkedIn by industry?

There’s no definitive answer to what the best times to post on LinkedIn are, and we can only offer insight with the data we have. Industry is just one factor that plays into the success of your social posts. Consider as well as your target audience, business goals and the content itself.

Use this industry-level data to help inform your publishing calendar, and test your own optimal send times with social experiments.

Best times to post on LinkedIn for hospitals & healthcare

Best times to post on LinkedIn for Hospitals & Healthcare:
- Most weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but especially
- Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon
- Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m.
Best days to post on LinkedIn for Hospitals & Healthcare: Weekdays
Worst days to post on LinkedIn for Hospitals & Healthcare: Weekends

Hospitals, clinics and healthcare providers use social media for more than navigating healthcare crises. Social media is used by hospitals and healthcare providers to educate the public, help patients feel more comfortable with healthcare visits and doctors’ appointments, promote their programs for aspiring physicians and establish themselves as pillars in the community.

The best times to post on LinkedIn for healthcare and hospitals saw a shift in hours that users are engaging with their content. Hospitals, healthcare and clinics see average to above average engagement concentrated to reflect the traditional workday, starting around 9 a.m. through around 6 p.m. Posting on LinkedIn weekdays during those times should result in positive engagement, but the best times to post on X for hospitals and healthcare are Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon and Thursdays 2 to 4 p.m. for peak engagement.

Hospital and healthcare social media resources

Best times to post on LinkedIn for restaurants

Best times to post on LinkedIn for Restaurants:
- Wednesdays at 10 a.m. and from noon to 3 p.m.
- Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m.
Best days to post on LinkedIn for Restaurants: Tuesdays through Thursdays
Worst days to post on LinkedIn for Restaurants: Weekends

Online orders and delivery service apps saw an increase in use over the last few years, innovating the way restaurants interact with their audiences. And restaurants saw over 2x more engagements on X than last year’s analysis. Target audience and platform goals factor into how businesses connect with their customers. Many restaurant businesses used LinkedIn to promote job fairs, individual employment positions, as well as panels at national industry conferences.

Those in the food and beverage restaurant industry see most of their engagement concentrated to the business hours during weekdays. The best times to post for restaurants on LinkedIn for peak engagement are generally Wednesdays from noon to 3 p.m. and Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m.

Restaurant social media resources

Best times to post on LinkedIn for schools & education

Best times to post on LinkedIn for Schools & Education:
- Tuesdays at 11 a.m.
Best days to post on LinkedIn for Schools & Education:
- Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Worst days to post on LinkedIn for Schools & Education:
- Sundays

Universities, higher education institutions and schools saw an increased engagement on LinkedIn compared to last year. The 134,000 schools listed on LinkedIn might manage multiple social profiles (per college, athletics, etc.) to meet these needs and effectively target distinct audiences at the right time.

Opportunities for engagement are concentrated to a traditional business during weekdays, and virtually nonexistent over the weekends. Most days on LinkedIn see above average engagement between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. However, there was on specific time that appears to be the best time to post on LinkedIn for education and schools: Tuesdays at 11 a.m.

From highlighting student life to sharing school updates, a social media strategy for schools needs to fulfill various purposes: from engaging with students past, present and future, to keeping a pulse on brand health.

Schools and education social media resources

Best times to post on LinkedIn for travel & hospitality

Best times to post on LinkedIn for Travel & Hospitality:
- Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
- Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m.
- Thursdays from 1 to 4 p.m.
Best days to post on LinkedIn for Travel & Hospitality: Tuesdays through Thursdays
Worst days to post on LinkedIn for Travel & Hospitality: Saturdays and Sundays

Travel and hospitality industries shifted their concentration on LinkedIn to reflect a traditional business day; a trend that seemed to happen across most industries on LinkedIn.

The best times to post on LinkedIn for travel and hospitality are Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesdays from noon to 4 p.m., and Thursdays from 1 to 4 p.m.

Travel and hospitality social media resources

How to find your own best times to post on LinkedIn

Social marketers can plan content more effectively when they’re armed with data. And as platforms evolve, how brands and consumers use social will evolve with them, or vice versa. Staying aware of new content formats and trends might help you reach your audience in unexpected ways, or even find new segments and personas you weren’t focusing on before.

How to find your best time to post on LinkedIn with Analytics

While you may be ready to jump in and post at these provided peak engagement times as part of your strategy, consider pairing this data with your own LinkedIn data analysis. You may discover that your specific target audience is active near the peak times we’ve outlined or hours earlier. If you use a LinkedIn analytics tool, it should contain a host of relevant data.

To find your best times to post with native LinkedIn Analytics for your LinkedIn business page, follow these steps:

Login to LinkedIn and go to your LinkedIn business page admin view.
Click on Analytics.*
In the Analytics tab, select which metrics you want to view: Content, Visitors, Followers, Leads, Competitors or Employee Advocacy.

* Note: Only users with Admin or Analyst roles assigned to them for the business page can access page Analytics.

How to find your best time to post on LinkedIn with Sprout Social

A social media management tool like Sprout Social can help you drill into your own analytics and develop tailored findings for your brand accounts across all networks, holistically and individually. Gain competitive insights by comparing your performance to your competitors, to find new opportunities for engagement.

With features like post tagging and cross-network reporting, you can separate different factors like post author or types of content, and drill down into how your posting time influenced your social success.

Sprout’s patented ViralPost® technology uses the same data we’ve used to look at all our customer accounts to determine the best time to post tailored for your individual account. ViralPost® algorithmically determines the results for our Optimal Send Times feature, a publishing option available in all plans. Our proprietary machine learning feature isn’t new, but we’re constantly learning and improving our product to help brands surface insights faster. Our goal is to help people who use our product work more effectively.

With Optimal Send Times, the specific times offered are based on when your own audience engages the most using your publishing history. ViralPost® also continually updates and refines to save you time from doing the repeated analysis yourself and allowing you more time to craft great content.

Want to see it in action? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of Sprout Social or request a personalized demo and try it for yourself.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

If you’re looking for more of our findings from this year’s study of our customer data, see what we learned about the best times to post across eight industries on these networks:

How Sprout gathered the data

We understand that these reports can raise questions about just where the data is coming from. That’s why we want to be clear about the data we pulled and how we got here.

Sprout Social’s Data Science team gathers this information by analyzing nearly 2 billion engagements across 400,000 social profiles across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

The post Best times to post on LinkedIn in 2024 appeared first on Sprout Social.

Best times to post on TikTok in 2024

Mary Keutelian — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:51:00 +0000

As one of the fastest-growing entertainment apps, TikTok showed it’s a powerhouse in the digital space. And with more and more businesses joining the platform, it’s important to know when is the best time to post on TikTok. With a projected 1.5 billion active users worldwide in 2024, we know that it’s one of the more popular social apps to date.

It’s important to understand how posting on TikTok at the right times can be a huge benefit to your TikTok marketing strategy. Global users on average spend 23.3 hours per month on the platform, meaning there is an opportunity to engage with a consistent audience. Keep an eye out for emerging trends or subcultures on the platform and test your own content.

Learn how to identify your best times to post globally on TikTok with a free trial of Sprout Social and test our ViralPost® feature.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

When is the best time to post on TikTok?

Best times to post on TikTok:
- Tuesdays from 4 to 6 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 9 to 11 a.m., noon, and 2 to 6 p.m.
- Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 6 p.m.
- Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m.
Best days to post on TikTok: Wednesdays and Thursdays
Worst days to post on TikTok: Sundays

As the youngest digital platform on this list, TikTok has grown significantly and made waves in half as many years as the others on this list. With the app now amassing over 1.5 billion active global users who spend an average of 23 hours on the app every month, TikTok has competitive power against other platforms.

The best times to post on TikTok are Tuesdays and Fridays from 4 to 6 p.m., Wednesdays, Thursdays mornings from 9 to 11 a.m. and Thursdays from 2 to 6 p.m. Afternoons are when the highest engagements are on the platform; users are looking to fill their afternoon entertainment boost. However, generally, mid-morning through the afternoon (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) on Tuesdays through Fridays see above average engagement on the app.

With TikTok trends changing quickly, it’s important to understand how trends start, evolve and influence. Once you understand how these forces, moments or signals work, you can create a better TikTok trend strategy to implement rather than participating reactively.

What is the best day and time to post on TikTok?

We know the best time to post on TikTok overall, but what about for each day of the week? If you’re looking for the best day and time to post on TikTok, read the analysis below.

Best time to post on TikTok on Monday

Mondays on TikTok see low to average engagement compared to any other day of the week. However, if you still decide to upload a video, the best time to post on TikTok on Monday is between 3 and 6 p.m.

Best time to post on TikTok on Tuesday

Tuesdays see nearly 3x the amount of above average engagement than Mondays do, starting at 9 a.m. and end around 6 p.m. However, the hours that are the best times to post on TikTok on Tuesdays are 4 to 6 p.m.

Best time to post on TikTok on Wednesday

Wednesdays and Thursdays see the highest engagement periods than any other day of the week. The best times to post on TikTok on Wednesdays are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with only 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. seeing a small dip in engagement.

Best time to post on TikTok on Thursday

Similar to Wednesdays, the best times to post on TikTok on Thursdays are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. However, engagement slightly drops between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Best time to post on TikTok on Friday

Surprisingly, Fridays and Tuesdays see identical engagement hours. Above average engagement starts at 9 a.m. and ends around 6 p.m. However, the hours that are the best times to post on TikTok on Fridays are 4 to 6 p.m.

Best time to post on TikTok on Saturday

Generally speaking, we’ve noticed that Saturdays and Sundays have less engagement compared with rest of the week across most social platforms. Even with TikTok, you’ll still see light to average engagement on the app. We see the same engagement on Saturdays as we do on Mondays. The best time to post on TikTok on Saturdays is 9 a.m. to noon, in relation to the rest of the day.

Best time to post on TikTok on Sunday

Similar to Saturdays, we’ve noticed Sundays have less engagement throughout the day across most, if not all, social platforms. In relation to the day itself, the best time to post on TikTok on Sundays is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to see only average engagement, compared to the rest of the week.

When is the best time to post on TikTok in the UK?

The overall best time to post on TikTok in the UK are Tuesdays and Fridays 4 to 6 p.m., Wednesday, Thursday mornings from 9 to 11 a.m. and Thursday evenings from 2 to 6 p.m. If you are targeting UK users of TikTok, Tuesdays to Fridays see the highest engagement. Similar to other platforms, TikTok engagement is lower at the weekend, with Sunday the day with the least engagement. TikTok trends in the UK change quickly and engagement rates for your content are going to depend on your industry, content and of course what’s hot at the moment.

What are the best times to post on TikTok by industry?

There’s no definitive answer to what the best times to post on TikTok are, and we can only offer insight with the data we have. Industry is just one factor that plays into the success of your social posts. Consider as well as your target audience, business goals and the content itself if you’re looking to get more views and engagement.

Use this industry level-data to help inform your publishing calendar, and test your own optimal send times with social experiments.

Best times to post on TikTok for hospitals & healthcare

Best times to post on TikTok for Hospitals & Healthcare:
- Mondays from 5 to 8 p.m.
- Tuesdays at 4 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.
- Thursdays at 2 p.m.
Best days to post on TikTok for Hospitals & Healthcare: Mondays and Wednesdays
Worst days to post on TikTok for Hospitals & Healthcare: Sundays

The best times to post on TikTok for healthcare and hospitals nearly tripled compared to the year prior. Hospitals, healthcare and clinics see average to above average engagement Mondays through Thursdays starting at 10 a.m. and extending as late as 6 p.m. However, the best times to post on TikTok for hospitals and healthcare are Mondays from 5 to 8 p.m., Tuesdays at 4 p.m., Wednesdays from 2 to 5 p.m. and Thursdays at 2 p.m.

Hospital & healthcare social media resources

Best times to post on TikTok for restaurants

Best times to post on TikTok for Restaurants:
- Tuesdays from 3 to 5 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m.
- Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m.
Best days to post on TikTok for Restaurants: Tuesdays through Thursdays
Worst days to post on TikTok for Restaurants: Mondays

Online orders and delivery service apps saw an increase in use over the last few years, innovating the way restaurants interact with their audiences. And restaurants saw over 2x more engagements on TikTok than last year’s analysis. Target audience and platform goals factor into how businesses connect with their customers, such as offering unique promotions or updates.

Those in the food and beverage restaurant industry see most of their engagement concentrated to the lunch hour during weekdays. The best times to post for restaurants on TikTok are Tuesdays through Thursdays between 3 and 5 p.m., generally.

Restaurant social media resources

Best times to post on TikTok for schools & education

Best times to post on TikTok for Schools & Education:
- Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Best days to post on TikTok for Schools & Education:
- Thursdays
Worst days to post on TikTok for Schools & Education:
- Saturdays and Sundays

Universities, higher education institutions and schools saw a significant increase in high engagement times on TikTok compared to last year’s analysis. Keep in mind that some schools manage multiple social profiles (per college, athletics, etc.) to meet these needs and effectively target distinct audiences at the right time.

High opportunities for engagement for schools reflect a typical school day plus evening hours. Tuesdays through Fridays see consistent engagement from around 10 a.m. until about 5 p.m.However, the hours with the highest engagement and therefore the best time to post on TikTok for schools are Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Schools and education social media resources

Best times to post on TikTok for travel & hospitality

Best times to post on TikTok for Travel & Hospitality:
- Fridays at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Best days to post on TikTok for Travel & Hospitality: Thursdays and Fridays
Worst days to post on TikTok for Travel & Hospitality: Sundays and Tuesdays

Travel and hospitality industries once again doubled their engagement on TikTok relative to last year. Hospitality businesses pivoted their strategies as the post-pandemic spike in travel continues, and they saw a return on their efforts throughout most of the day.

The best times to post on TikTok for travel and hospitality businesses are a bit sporadic throughout the week but are above average beginning around midday nearly every day of the week. However, the day with the highest engagement and the best time to post on TikTok for travel and hospitality is Fridays at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Travel and hospitality social media resources

How to find your own best times to post on TikTok

How to find your best time to post on TikTok with Analytics

While you may be ready to jump in and post at these provided peak engagement times as part of your strategy, consider pairing this data with your own TikTok analytics. You may discover that your specific target audience is active at different times.

To find your best times to post with native TikTok analytics via desktop, follow these steps:

Login to your account at tiktok.com.
Hover over your profile icon, then click Business Suite.
Then, select Analytics in the left-hand navigation.

How to find your best time to post on TikTok with Sprout Social

A social media management tool like Sprout Social can help you drill into your analytics and develop tailored findings for your brand accounts across all networks, holistically and individually. Gain competitive insights by comparing your performance to your competitors, to find new opportunities for engagement.

Sprout’s patented ViralPost® technology uses the same data we’ve used to look at all our customer accounts to determine the best time to post tailored for your account. ViralPost® algorithmically determines the results for our Optimal Send Times feature, a publishing option available in all plans. Our proprietary machine learning feature isn’t new, but we’re constantly learning and improving our product to help brands surface insights faster. Our goal is to help people who use our product work more effectively.

With Optimal Send Times, the specific times offered are based on when your audience engages the most using your publishing history. ViralPost® also continually updates and refines to save you time from doing repeated the analysis, and allowing you more time to craft great content.

Want to see it in action? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of Sprout Social or request a personalized demo and try it for yourself.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

If you’re looking for more of our findings from this year’s study of our customer data, see what we learned about the best times to post across eight industries on these networks:

How Sprout gathered the data

We understand that these reports can raise questions about just where the data is coming from. That’s why we want to be clear about the data we pulled and how we got here.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

The post Best times to post on TikTok in 2024 appeared first on Sprout Social.

Best times to post on Instagram in 2024

Mary Keutelian — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:22:31 +0000

Many people are wanting to know when is the best time to post on Instagram. Instagram’s visual nature makes it a desirable marketing platform for brands to get their offerings in front of as many eyes as possible, and knowing the best times to post on Instagram can be a major benefit to your social media strategy.

Remember: with Instagram as a discovery platform of trends, brands, products or services, it’s important to get high-quality photos and content in front of potential consumers’ eyes at the right time.

Learn how to identify your best times to post on Instagram with a free trial of Sprout Social and test our ViralPost® feature.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

When is the best time to post on Instagram in 2024?

Best times to post on Instagram:
- Mondays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.
- Fridays at 11 a.m.
Best days to post on Instagram: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
Worst days to post on Instagram: Sundays

Where Facebook was the most-used platform by marketers worldwide, Instagram comes in second at 80%. Interestingly, Instagram ties with Facebook for the social media platforms that offer marketers the highest ROI at 29%. This is because social media continues to evolve with ecommerce and offering frictionless experiences to users. And even though the competition for short-form video between Instagram and TikTok continues to heat up, Reels still generate more likes and saves than static Instagram posts.

The best times to post on Instagram are weekdays generally between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., with Tuesdays and Wednesdays engagement times extending to 4 p.m. We recommend scheduling posts Tuesdays through Thursdays between 10 and and 3 p.m. for optimal engagement. It’s wise to test these benchmarks against your current metrics too.

Instagram has grown a long way since its photo-only days. The app, which has 2 billion monthly active users, is a platform to share images, videos, Reels and live streams, just to name a few creative content types. It is also an avenue to collaborate and partner with other brands and provides a stream of revenue through its ecommerce capabilities.

The Instagram algorithm is unpredictable. To be successful on the platform is a balance of consistently posting high-quality content that will engage and entertain your audiences. That’s a lot to ask for with each piece of content published. But using that as a guiding post can help with your Instagram marketing strategy.

When are the best times to post Reels on Instagram?

Are the best times to post on Instagram different for static posts versus Reels? Perhaps there’s a definitive answer to that question, however, our data source is inclusive of posts, Stories and Reels. The information in this article should guide you to uncover the best times to post any content on Instagram to see positive engagement, whether it’s a static post, a Story with polls or a creative Reel.

The best times to post Reels on Instagram will be similar to our data above: weekdays generally between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., with Tuesdays and Wednesdays engagement times extending to 4 p.m. Our optimal send time data for Instagram is aggregate for Posts, Reels and Stories – both images and videos.

For that reason, we recommend you test posting Reels at different times to uncover the highest engagement times for you. Keep in mind that several factors go into Reels’ performance, whether it’s using trending sounds, the Instagram algorithm or having an engaging video hook to capture your audience’s attention.

What is the best day and time to post on Instagram?

We know the best time to post on Instagram overall, but what about for each day of the week? If you’re looking for the best day and time to post on Instagram, read the analysis below.

Best time to post on Instagram on Monday

The best time to post on Instagram on Mondays is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. While there’s decent engagement from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., optimal send and engagement times are those few hours during a typical lunch break.

Best time to post on Instagram on Tuesday

There’s nearly double the highest engagement times on Tuesdays than there are on Mondays. The best time to post on Instagram on Tuesdays is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Best time to post on Instagram on Wednesday

Wednesdays see the highest engagement periods than any other day of the week, with even the moderately high engagement times spanning more hours than Tuesdays or Thursdays. The best times to post on Instagram on Thursdays are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Best time to post on Instagram on Thursday

Similar to Wednesdays, the best times to post on Instagram on Thursdays are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again at 2 p.m. The 1 p.m. hour drops slightly in engagement.

Best time to post on Instagram on Friday

By the time users have reached the weekend, peak engagement hours dip; however, the majority of the workday still captures moderate engagement. Yet the best time to post on Instagram on Fridays is at 11 a.m., but can see almost as much engagement the few hours prior and after that peak engagement time.

Best time to post on Instagram on Saturday

Generally speaking, we’ve noticed that Saturdays and Sundays have less engagement during the rest of the week across most social platforms. Even with Instagram, there’s a significant decrease during the weekends than during weekdays. With that in mind, you’ll still see light to average engagement on the app. The best time to post on Instagram on Saturdays is 9 a.m. to noon, in relation to the rest of the day.

Best time to post on Instagram on Sunday

When is the best time to post on Instagram in the UK?

The overall best time to post on Instagram in the UK is weekdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Midweek, engagement rates remain high until 4 p.m. Things are noticeably quieter at the weekend across many social platforms, including Instagram in the UK. Taking this into account, the best time to post on Saturday is 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 10 am to 12 p.m. on Sundays. If Instagram is the platform your UK audience engages with most, remember your industry, business goals and content will also play a part in the success of your social posts.

What are the best times to post on Instagram by industry?

There’s no definitive answer to what the best times to post on Instagram are. We can only offer insight with the data we have. Industry is just one factor that plays into the success of your social posts. Consider as well as your target audience, business goals and the content itself.

Use this industry-level data to help inform your publishing calendar, and test your optimal send times with social experiments.

Best times to post on Instagram for hospitals & healthcare

Best times to post on Instagram for Hospitals & Healthcare:
- Mondays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
- Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Fridays from 11 a..m. to 3 p.m.
Best days to post on Instagram for Hospitals & Healthcare: Tuesdays through Fridays
Worst days to post on Instagram for Hospitals & Healthcare: Sundays

The best times to post on Instagram for healthcare and hospitals nearly tripled compared to the year prior. Hospitals, healthcare and clinics see average to above average engagement every day starting at 8 a.m. through most of the day, as late as 10 p.m. However, the best times to post on Instagram for hospitals and healthcare are predominantly Mondays through Fridays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. For more specific time frames, see the table above.

Hospital and healthcare social media resources

Best times to post on Instagram for restaurants

Best times to post on Instagram for Restaurants:
- Mondays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Fridays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Best days to post on Instagram for Restaurants: Weekdays
Worst days to post on Instagram for Restaurants: Weekends

Online orders and delivery service apps saw an increase in use over the last few years, innovating the way restaurants interact with their audiences. And restaurants saw over 2x more engagements on Instagram than last year’s analysis. Target audience and platform goals factor into how businesses connect with their customers, such as offering unique promotions or updates.

Those in the food and beverage restaurant industry see most of their engagement concentrated to the lunch hour during weekdays. The best times to post for restaurants on Instagram are Mondays through Fridays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., generally.

Restaurant social media resources

Best times to post on Instagram for schools & education

Best times to post on Instagram for Schools & Education:
- Wednesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Best days to post on Instagram for Schools & Education:
- Wednesdays
Worst days to post on Instagram for Schools & Education:
- Sundays

Universities, higher education institutions and schools saw a significant increase in high engagement times on Instagram compared to last year’s analysis. Keep in mind that some schools manage multiple social profiles (per college, athletics, etc.) to meet these needs and effectively target distinct audiences at the right time.

High opportunities for engagement for schools reflect a typical school day plus evening hours. Mondays through Fridayys see consistent engagement from 10 a.m. until about 6 p.m. However, the hours with the highest engagement and therefore the best time to post on Instagram for schools are Wednesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. and again at 9 p.m.

Schools and education social media resources

Best times to post on Instagram for travel & hospitality

Best times to post on Instagram for Travel & Hospitality:
- Wednesdays from noon to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
- Sundays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Best days to post on Instagram for Travel & Hospitality:
- Wednesdays and Thursdays
Worst days to post on Instagram for Travel & Hospitality:
- None; all days receive moderate engagement

Travel and hospitality industries once again doubled their engagement on Instagram relative to last year. Hospitality businesses pivoted their strategies as the post-pandemic spike in travel continues, and they saw a return on their efforts throughout most of the day.

The best times to post on Instagram for travel and hospitality businesses saw average engagement between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. nearly every single day of the week. However, two days saw the highest engagement and are the best times to post on Instagram for travel and hospitality: Wednesdays from noon to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Travel and hospitality social media resources

How to find your own best times to post on Instagram

How to find your best time to post on Instagram with Insights

While you may be ready to jump in and post at these provided peak engagement times as part of your strategy, consider pairing this data with your own Instagram analytics. You may discover that your specific target audience is active at different times.

If you have a creator or business account already, find your best times to post with Instagram Insights following these steps:

From your profile, tap ≡ in the top right corner.
Tap Insights.
Tap the metrics underneath the Overview section or specific content you’ve shared for more details. From here, tap Total Followers and scroll to see their most active times.

How to find your best time to post on Instagram with Sprout Social

With Optimal Send Times, the specific times offered are based on when your audience engages the most using your publishing history. ViralPost® also continually updates and refines to save you time from doing the repeated analysis and allowing you more time to craft great content.

Want to see it in action? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of Sprout Social or request a personalized demo and try it for yourself.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

If you’re looking for more of our findings from this year’s study of our customer data, see what we learned about the best times to post across eight industries on these networks:

How Sprout gathered the data

We understand that these reports can raise questions about just where the data is coming from. That’s why we want to be clear about the data we pulled and how we got here.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

The post Best times to post on Instagram in 2024 appeared first on Sprout Social.

Best times to post on Facebook in 2024

Mary Keutelian — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:17:55 +0000

As social marketers are looking to get more eyes on their content, one of the biggest questions at the forefront is: when is the best time to post on Facebook? If the answer to that question depends on several factors. Your business’s industry, your target audience, business goals and the content itself all play a role in the success of your social posts.

With the help of our Data Science team, we analyzed nearly 2 billion social media engagements across 400,000 social profiles across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok and X. And even more, we’re able to provide an analysis of when the best time to post on Facebook is.

As the third most visited website worldwide after Google and YouTube, and boasting nearly 3 billion monthly active users, there’s no denying the power of Facebook. Because of the large engagement opportunity, it’s important to understand how posting on Facebook at the right times will benefit your social media content strategy.

Learn how to identify your best times to post on Facebook with a free trial of Sprout Social and test our ViralPost® feature.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

When is the best time to post on Facebook?

Best times to post on Facebook:
- Mondays from 9 a.m. to noon
- Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
- Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
- Fridays from 9 to 11 a.m.
Best days to post on Facebook: Mondays through Thursdays
Worst days to post on Facebook: Sundays

It’s true: Facebook is still the most used platform by marketers worldwide at 89%, and by monthly active users at 3.05 billion (yes, billion). The impact Facebook has on our social media use as consumers and marketers is still ever present. Compared to last year, high engagement periods on Facebook are still within mid-mornings during weekdays and matching general business hours.

Optimal send times for Facebook are Mondays through Fridays starting mostly at 9 a.m. until early afternoon, generally 2 p.m. What does this mean for marketers? Most users are taking a quick break in their routines for Facebook, making it the best time to schedule posts for target audiences to interact with.

With a solid Facebook marketing strategy, businesses connect with the right audiences with their content, whether it’s keeping audiences informed of products or sharing access to exclusive deals. Remember, engagement is a combination of how often you post on social media and what content types you post.

What are the best days and times to post on Facebook?

We know the best time to post on Facebook overall, but what about for each day of the week? If you’re looking for the best day and time to post on Facebook, read the analysis below.

Best times to post on Facebook on Mondays

The best time to post on Facebook on Mondays is from 9 a.m. to noon. While there’s decent engagement from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., optimal send and engagement times are those few hours before lunch.

Best times to post on Facebook on Tuesdays

Again, there’s notable engagement on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the best time to post on Facebook on Tuesdays is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and again at 5 p.m.

Best times to post on Facebook on Wednesdays

Wednesdays and Thursdays see slightly higher engagement periods than other days of the week. The best times to post on Facebook on Wednesdays are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and again at 5 p.m.

Best times to post on Facebook on Thursdays

Thursdays and Wednesday see similar engagement periods. The best times to post on Facebook on Thursdays are from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and again at 5 p.m.

Best times to post on Facebook on Fridays

By the time users have reached the weekend, peak engagement hours dip; however, the majority of the workday still sees considerable engagement. Yet the best times to post on Facebook on Fridays are from 9 and 11 a.m.

Best times to post on Facebook on Saturdays

Generally speaking, we’ve noticed that Saturdays have less engagement during the reset of the week across most social platforms. Even with Facebook, there’s a significant decrease during the weekends than during weekdays. With that in mind, the best time to post on Facebook on Saturdays is 8 to 11 a.m., in relation to the rest of the day.

Best times to post on Facebook on Sundays

When is the best time to post on Facebook in the UK?

The best time to post on Facebook in the UK is weekdays from 9 a.m. until the early afternoon. Most days we see engagement reduce from 2 p.m onwards. On Fridays, this is a little earlier as engagement tapers after 11 a.m. The best days for businesses to post on Facebook are Mondays to Thursdays with shorter periods of high engagement from Friday to Sunday. Despite growing competition from other social networks, Facebook remains the most popular social media platform in the UK with 62% market share. If Facebook is where your audience can be found, remember engagement rates vary by industry and content type but the best times to post is a good starting point.

When is the best time to post on Facebook by industry?

Remember, while we’d like to believe there’s a definitive answer to what the best times to post on Facebook are, we can only offer insight with the data we have. Industry is just one factor that plays into the success of your social posts.

Use this industry-level data to help inform your publishing calendar, and test your optimal send times with social media experiments.

Best times to post on Facebook for hospitals & healthcare

Best times to post on Facebook for Hospitals & Healthcare:
- Most weekdays between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., but especially:
  - Tuesdays from 5 to 7 p.m.
  - Wednesdays at 5 p.m.
  - Thursdays at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Best days to post on Facebook for Hospitals & Healthcare: Tuesdays through Thursdays
Worst days to post on Facebook for Hospitals & Healthcare: Sundays

The best time to post on Facebook for healthcare and hospitals is more concentrated than last year. Most weekdays see solid engagement around 9 a.m. on weekdays. Yet, peak posting times on Facebook for hospitals are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 5 p.m.

Hospital and healthcare social media resources

Best times to post on Facebook for restaurants

Best times to post on Facebook for Restaurants:
- Mondays at 11 a.m.
- Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Fridays at 11 a.m.
Best days to post on Facebook for Restaurants: Most weekdays, especially Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Worst days to post on Facebook for Restaurants: Sundays

Online orders and delivery service apps saw an increase in use over the last few years, innovating the way restaurants interact with their audiences. And restaurants saw nearly 2x more engagements on Facebook than last year’s analysis.

Those in the food and beverage restaurant industry see consistent engagement between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. almost every single day, especially weekdays. The best times to post for restaurants on Facebook though are just before or around lunchtime: Mondays at 11 a.m., Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Fridays at 11 a.m.

Different networks offer a unique way for businesses to connect with their customers. Offering unique promotions and updates suited for each social platform will keep your restaurant in mind for potential customers.

Restaurant social media resources

Best times to post on Facebook for schools & education

Best times to post on Facebook for Schools & Education:
- Mondays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Fidays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
- Sundays at 9 a.m.
Best days to post on Facebook for Schools & Education:
- All weekdays, especially Wednesdays through Friday
Worst days to post on Facebook for Schools & Education:
- Sundays

Universities, higher education institutions and schools saw a significant increase in high engagement times on Facebook compared to last year’s analysis. Keep in mind that some schools manage multiple social profiles (per college, athletics, etc.) to meet these needs and effectively target distinct audiences at the right time.

High opportunities for engagement for schools reflect a traditional workweek. Mondays through Fridays from either 9 or 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. are the best times to post on Facebook for schools and education institutions. Don’t discredit the weekend either: Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., and Sundays at 9 a.m. saw significant engagement for this industry.

Schools and education social media resources

Best times to post on Facebook for travel & hospitality

Best times to post on Facebook for Travel & Hospitality:
- Mondays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturdays from 8 to 11 a.m.
- Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Best days to post on Facebook for Travel & Hospitality: Tuesdays through Thursdays
Worst days to post on Facebook for Travel & Hospitality: Fridays

Travel and hospitality industries saw a concentrated shift for engagement on Facebook. Compared to the year prior, hospitality businesses pivoted their strategies as the post-pandemic spike in travel continues, and they saw a return on their efforts throughout most of the day.

The best times to post on Facebook for travel and hospitality brands are most every day: Mondays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Tuesdays through Thursdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Weekends also see some significant engagement on Saturdays from 8 to 11 a.m. and Sundays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In general, on Facebook, there is significant engagement midday nearly every day of the week for travel and hospitality, as people are preparing for their weekend destinations.

Travel and hospitality social media resources

How to find your own best times to post on social media

How to find your best time to post on Facebook with Insights

While you may be ready to jump in and post at these provided peak engagement times as part of your strategy, consider pairing this data with your own Facebook data analysis. You may discover that your specific target audience is active at different times.

To find your best times to post with Facebook Insights, follow these steps:

On either mobile or desktop, log into your Facebook Page account (not personal profile).
In the top right corner, click on your profile picture (you may see the three horizontal lines on mobile)and select Professional dashboard.
To find all posts published within a specific time frame, select:
1. Content (on desktop).
2. Insights (on mobile).
To find your Facebook posts with the highest engagement on desktop:
1. Adjust the time span filter from the last 90, 60, 28 or 7 days.
2. Adjust the sorting filter by Engagement
3. Your most engaged post will appear in descending order.
To find your Facebook posts with the highest engagement on mobile:
1. Select See all next to Performance then Engagement
2. Scroll to Recent Content and select See all.
3. Similar to desktop, you can filter the date range and by Engagement.
With this list, check your top engaged posts and find trends with the day, time and content types (e.g., text only, image, video).

How to find your best time to post on Facebook with Sprout Social

With Optimal Send Times, the specific times offered are based on when your audience engages the most using your publishing history. ViralPost® also continually updates and refines to save you time from doing the repeated analysis and allowing you more time to craft great content.

Want to see it in action? Sign up for a free 30-day trial of Sprout Social or request a personalized demo and try it for yourself.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

If you’re looking for more of our findings from this year’s study of our customer data, see what we learned about the best times to post across eight industries on these networks:

How Sprout gathered the data

We understand that these reports can raise questions about just where the data is coming from. That’s why we want to be clear about the data we pulled and how we got here.

Start a free Sprout Social trial

The post Best times to post on Facebook in 2024 appeared first on Sprout Social.