The life of a social media post isn’t very long. If you post at a busy time, you risk people missing it among all the other things. Is there a best time to post on social media? How do you choose where to post and when? Should you post things more than once? These are all questions I have asked myself as someone who runs multiple social media accounts. There is always the option of promoting posts through PPC campaigns on different networks like Facebook and Twitter, but that is an entirely different issue.

From a personal experience, afternoon posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram generate the most traffic. It turns out these times are your best bet for getting the best return of interaction and sharing for Facebook and Twitter. The link shortening service bit.ly released information on times to post to social media.

It makes sense that the afternoon is a better time to post your content to social media sites. People are usually busy in the morning catching up on work or other projects, while they have more time to read after lunch in the afternoon. The fact that people tend to be more burned out in the afternoon could also make them more prone to surfing the web.

The best thing to do if you manage social media accounts for a small to medium sized business is to study the demographics of your followers. Are your followers teenagers or are they middle-aged? Do they use smartphones? Do they work 9-5 jobs or are they in school?

Some facts to consider when planning posts on your social media calendar:

• 80 percent of smartphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up

• In 2014, mobile Internet should take over desktop Internet usage

• 86 percent of mobile Internet users are using their devices while watching TV

• 91 percent of mobile Internet access is to socialize, compared to 79 percent on desktops

• Over 1/3 of Facebook’s 600 million + user base uses Facebook mobile

In short it is best to analyze what type of post you are promoting for your business. If you want to tweet about Scandal or Game of Thrones, two TV shows that trend weekly on Twitter, it would be a good time to do it during Thursday and Sunday nights when they air. If you want to promote a blog post that isn’t time relevant, it is best to post during the afternoon, and then perhaps follow up or repost in the morning the next day. It might take some time to find a groove and figure out when the best to target your followers, but just remember to keep your posts fresh and original and don’t overwhelm people by posting too much.