Timing As a Social Media Tactic

Timing is one of life’s critical variables. According to new research from Social Flow, timing can also spell success or failure in social media.

Think about it. Always-on social media is a constant news ticker adding content and commentary — instantaneously every minute of every day. Keeping up with the flow of people and ideas, even after expressing preferences by liking brands, is a task suited better for machines than people.

For many brand marketers this torrent prompts a dread fear of missing out (FOMO). It means that whatever you have to say may either have a shelf life measured in nanoseconds or gain traction and capture global attention for several news cycles. Getting onto someone’s timeline or feed and gaining their attention, (much less persuading them or getting them to do something), is not guaranteed. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance that whatever you have to say will whiz past your fans and followers unnoticed.

When ideas, images, memes or Kardashians gain significant traction, social media has its own dynamic. Peaks and valleys in attention, consideration or action are driven by an array of variables that most of us have no control over. Some topics come and go quickly. Others linger, build and expand. There is no discernible pattern, which, can be frustrating to marketers seeking to control social media interactions.

Sometimes by carefully monitoring audience levels and trending topics, brands can grab the tiger by the tail and get into or dominate the conversation. That’s what Oreo did in the 2013 Super Bowl. But this is as rare as a lightening strike.

There are few clues and little historical data that can help predict the next big thing or even the next not-so-big thing. As a result, many brands create a somewhat arbitrary posting cadence of x times per day or week, which is rooted in a hope for the best “spray and pray” mentality hoping to engage their fan base and connect with a trending topic.

The speed and timing of social media suggest four social media tactics brands should consider for improving timing and resonance.

Pick Your Shots. Very few brands need to be on social media 24/7. Even fewer have that much to say that’s relevant or interesting. Decide what topics, categories, personalities and events your brand has credibility and standing to participate in. Draw up an editorial calendar accordingly.

Similarly determine which messages go on which network. The savvy brands no longer post the same stuff on each network. They tailor messages, often with similar themes or implications, to suit the different audience complexions or the different network dynamics. The pace, user expectations and use case for Facebook is different than LinkedIn. One size doesn’t fit all.

Remember that brands are still considered interlopers in social media. Very few of your followers are sitting on the edge of their chairs waiting for your next post. By being selective you can increase attention and engagement and link your brand to trending topics in more credible ways. What you say and how you say it matter. Tone, content and editorial or comedic timing play a key role, too. 

Prep the Obvious. There’s a retail calendar and a big events calendar that everyone knows and can prepare for. The Oscars, The Super Bowl, The World Series, Fashion Week, March Madness, the Nascar Circuit, MTV Awards or the Miss America Pageant all are scheduled way in advance and have predictable story arcs. If you intend to participate gather the images, find the gifs and plan out the posts in advance.

Anticipate usual and likely occurrences like a celebrity mouthing off, an atrocious fashion choice, and unexpected leader or score or someone coming up with a great line, reaction or joke in the moment. Assume 80 percent of your content can be planned and prepared in advance. Then be sure you have a facile copywriter and a savvy lawyer on hand.

Have a System in-Place. Social posts are rarely neutral. Many have legal and marketplace implications for brands. Ideally, social content should reflect brand voice, positioning and imagery and be consistent with how you are generally portrayed in the marketplace. In the moment all kinds of things can and have happened. It’s incumbent upon you to have your legal, PR and brand teams aligned on the overall social strategy and the specific content you intend to share. This is especially tricky for the 20% of impromptu posts and tweets generated during big music, sports or pop culture events.

Look at Automation. There are emerging tools, based loosely on program stock trading principles, which can measure volume of activity and content to cue brands when a conversation is reaching critical mass and then trigger posts. Social Flow has one called, “ The Attention Platform.”

These nascent technologies listen to social media and pre-load editorial matter in order to inject brands into growing conversations when trends and volumes hit pre-defined levels. It’s like placing a triggered buy or sell order. In theory this approach yields exceptional reach and high impact in real time, though, in practice, there’s little public research to validate the claims.

Timing social activity is a topic that will be heavily debated for the foreseeable future. Nobody has broken the code on this yet, though the application of data science is the obvious next frontier.