Timing Is Everything in Online Marketing

Timing is everything in marketing, period. However the difference with online marketing is that all of the power is in our hands. Sure, you can purchase TV ads during a specific program or place radio spots during optimal morning and afternoon/evening drive times when people are most likely to be listening in their car, but you can rarely guarantee placement down to the second when using these strategies. Timing of outgoing marketing messages online including blog posts, social media tweets, re-tweets, @ mentions, wall posts, and email newsletter distribution is all up to the sender. Therefore, it’s important to use this to your advantage. Sharing content whenever you feel like it isn’t the best strategy.

Unlike TV and radio ads, the cost of sharing blog posts, social media posts, and email newsletter content does not change depending on the time. It’s much more expensive to purchase TV air time during weeknight prime time, when the most people are watching, than it is to buy a spot on a silly daytime courtroom show. Sure, writing a blog post takes time, and that can be considered a cost, but that “cost” doesn’t increase or decrease if the post goes live at 9am instead of 9pm.

When sharing content online it’s important to first think about your target audience. What are their online behaviors? Do they use social media, if so, when? When are they more likely to be browsing the web and looking for information? If you are targeting a B2B audience that typically works a Monday to Friday 9-5 office job, it’s likely that people are checking their email and social media accounts in the morning and again at lunch time. So, it would make sense to schedule a blog post to go live at 7:30am and submit a Facebook post at 12:30pm on a Tuesday. A tweet or post shared at 10pm on Tuesday might get read on Wednesday morning, but there’s no guarantee. Sometimes people follow so many users that they rarely look back far enough to see everything. There’s a good chance that the 10pm message will be missed. However, 10pm might be an ideal time to reach a different target audience, like college kids hanging out in their dorm with their laptops open. If you target an international audience it’s necessary to keep the time differences in mind. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at how often this detail can be overlooked. Timing depends on the audience and that is why it’s important to do some research on their online usage behaviors.

Another factor to consider is the seasonality of the product or service that you offer. A company that creates custom Christmas tree ornaments should increase its online marketing presence and messaging in the fall and a pool cleaning service should increase it in the early spring. Some companies expect steady business all year long, but many don’t, and it’s important to keep this important factor in mind when developing an online marketing strategy.

About the Author

Brick Marketing is a Boston SEO and SEM company. For more information please call 781-999-1222 or visit http://www.brickmarketing.com.