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 Read more…