The right time to roll out an Instagram post has a massive impact on your engagement levels. In fact, this is true for all types of social media channels. Yes, we are including Facebook, TikTok and YouTube in the list too.
Truth be told: social media is ever-evolving. Businesses now face an added pressure to adapt to these changes. That’s how they can stay relevant for their target audience.
Be it figuring out the ideal posting strategy on Instagram, spotting fake ads on Facebook, or transitioning from one platform to another—there are tons of challenges to navigate.
In today’s post, we’ll take a deep dive into four pressing concerns revolving around social media. Stick with us, and many of your social media frustrations will resolve.
What We’ll Cover:
- Does scheduling instagram posts affect engagement?
- How to spot fake ads on facebook?
- Should businesses start to transition from tiktok to instagram?
- How to increase youtube impressions?
Instagram- Posting Times & Engagement
Boasting a huge advertising potential to reach more than 1 billion users, Instagram is undoubtedly a hot social media platform. Extensive research and the word of numerous social media marketers proves that the Instagram posting time does affect engagement.
Why is Timing Important for Instagram Posting in 2024?
Instagram’s dynamic algorithm continues to upgrade. Currently, it ranks different posts based on timelines, relevance and engagement.
Want your content to have more visibility? You need to post when your target audience is online on Instagram.
Instagram’s AI-driven suggestions and the popularity of reels in 2024 shows how important it is to have engaging posts on the right time. The correct timing increases the odds of your posts to appear in your users’ feeds. Consequently, interaction improves and leads increase.
What Times Should You Post on Instagram?
The ideal time to post an image, realtor anything on Instagram or any social media channel is when your ideal audience is online.
Instagram’s algorithm responds to user habits which is why posting times matter.
Post timings do vary according to your industry and audience. That said, research by Later and Hootsuite suggests the best times to post on Instagram are:
- 12:00 pm on Mondays
- 9:00 am on Tuesdays
- 11:00 am on Wednesdays
- 11:00 am on Thursdays
- 2:00 pm on Fridays
- 9:00 am on Saturdays
- 7:00 pm on Sundays
Post on these times and track the performance to figure out if the strategy works. But do pay attention to your audience and industry too– you may need to tweak your posting strategy accordingly.
One more thing, schedule posts in advance for times you have a packed schedule.
Does Scheduling Instagram Posts Affect Engagement?
Yes, scheduling Instagram posts does influence engagement on the platform. There are times when you’d be in a frenzy. Days when you just cannot post on the perfect time. In those tricky situations, scheduling is your gallant hero.
Scheduling makes it easier for you to post on the preferred time. Your posts roll out regularly on the ideal item, and you build consistency. Even when you are not working, your posts continue to engage your users.
Plus, when your posts keep hitting Instagram at the optimal times, your workload reduces. Instead of worrying too much about posting at the best time, you can focus more on creating unique content, and optimizing the strategy.
Having said that, over-relying on scheduling tools does come with a couple of drawbacks. Scheduling a major chunk of your Instagram posts can make you miss out on trending opportunities. By overlooking comments or delaying your response, you risk losing valuable engagement and potential leads.
Expert Tip: Create a sense of balance between scheduling posts, and manually engaging on your Instagram. Consistency is essential so do schedule some of your posts.
At the same time, try to stay active on your business Instagram profile too. Either do it on your own, or hire an expert for it. This ensures your audience gets human interaction in real time, and stays happy.
Use this strategy for all your Meta accounts, including Facebook of course. Now that we have mentioned Facebook, this reminds us of another pressing topic we get queries about: spotting fake ads on Facebook. Let’s discuss it next.
How to Spot Fake Ads on Facebook
From the day it came into being, Facebook has struggled with tons of fake accounts. Sadly, these accounts are circulating in the Facebook ecosystem even today.
Some of these accounts exist to scam others. Others breathe to create ad campaigns and engage with users. An estimate shows that around $100,000 was spent during the 2016 Presidential Election on almost 3000 ads. Now these ads were all linked to approximately 470 phony profiles. That’s quite a number, right?
The good news is Facebook is working against such accounts. In 2022, the platform took serious action on around 1.3 billion fake accounts.
But these spam accounts still exist and so do the fake ads. So how is it that you can spot fake ads on Facebook? Let’s find that out.
Check the Business Page
Prior to taking an action the ad is prompting you to take, check the business page running that ad.
- Verify if it’s legitimate. Authentic businesses typically have verified accounts. This is not true for all legitimate businesses with a presence on Facebook though. That said, checking their authenticity is still important.
- In addition, go through its post history. Genuine businesses that have been in the business do have a series of ongoing posts. If a page is new, it may not have too many posts. Some businesses though, even genuine, have a relatively inactive page with periods of active engagement followed by long gaps of inactivity. In case you find an account with similar activity levels, check the profiles linked to it.
Examine the Profiles
Make it a point to check the accounts and personal profiles connected to the page running a certain ad.
- Head straight to the display picture and examine. Fake profiles mostly use photos downloaded from elsewhere.
- To spot if that photo is borrowed, head to Google Image Search.
- Download that seemingly phony profile picture from that respective Facebook profile.
- Upload it on the Google Image Search bar, or drag and drop it there.
- Run ‘search’ on it.
- If it’s phony, you’ll find lots of matches with it across cyberspace.
- Sometimes, the image may not pop up in the image search, as discussed above. In that case, check the other pictures associated with that account. Analyze the comments: if there are too many spam comments, the profile is quite likely fake. Also, if the user has disabled the commenting feature, that too may be indicative of a scam profile.
- In addition to examining the profile photo, check the post activity and number of friends linked with that account. In case there are tons of friends, many of them with strange pseudo names, the odds of it being a scam are super-high. As for the post activity, some genuine users can have long gaps of inactivity, but in that case the posts and pictures seem genuine. If the profile barely has any activity but shows hundreds of friends, it is fraudulent—steer away from it.
Assess the Offer
To confirm if a Facebook ad is fake or genuine, pay attention to the offer it highlights. Oftentimes, scammers use incredibly captivating deals that distract you from the genuineness of the offer.
Here’s what to look for:
- Ask yourself if the offer appears too good to be genuine. If the answer is ‘yes’, it is most likely fake.
- Big claims such as ‘100% Free’ and ‘Only Pay the Shipping of $35 (for a product worth $1000) are often fake.
- See if the discount the ad showcases seems unusual, and is according to other offers circulating in the actual market. If it is too high compared to current market rates, it is probably not genuine.
- Check the terms used in the offer. In case they are overly generic, and sound vague, you are looking at a sham offer.
Scrutinize the Ad’s Design and Grammar
Examine the design, layout and language of the ad to ascertain its authenticity. Here are some pointers to consider:
- Look out for grammatical errors, awkward phrases, and spelling mistakes in the text. Legitimate businesses have professionally crafted ads with grammatically sound text. If an ad lacks that, it is bogus.
- Check if the images are heavily pixelated or low quality. Genuine businesses with credibility don’t compromise on their ad quality, so will have high quality images. In case the images appear cheap, ignore those ads.
- Also examine if there are any clashing color patterns and schemes or mismatched fonts that make the ad appear unpolished. Yes? That shows the ad and the account are phony.
Take care of these pointers, and always avoid clicking any suspicious link or offer. Visit the business’s official website instead. In case it’s missing, that’d be another sign that the business cannot be trusted.
Uncovering fake Facebook ads is only one of the puzzle pieces. With platforms constantly evolving, businesses need to decide on the most value-driven platform. This brings us to our next discussion: TikTok or Instagram?
Should Businesses Start to Transition from TikTok to Instagram?
With TikTok dominating Gen Z, other platforms particularly Instagram are constantly revolutionizing its features. Reels have hooked the audience, increasing Instagram’s popularity.
But businesses do face quite a challenge: should they shift from TikTok to Instagram again, or should they have a solid presence on both these platforms?
Why Move to Instagram (IG)?
Well, Instagram does have a large user base. It spans various age groups, which makes it quite ideal to reach Millennials, Gen Z, Gen X and even older audiences. If your audience comprises people form different age groups, IG is suitable for you.
Moreover, features such as product tags, in-app purchases, and Instagram Shops provide a smooth and wholesome shopping experience to users. IG also provides users with a variety of ad formats, such as carousel ads, reels and stories. Tailoring campaigns and engaging users becomes easier.
Plus, Instagram has quite a longstanding reputation as compared to TikTok. It also integrates nicely with Facebook. If you have a presence on Facebook, using Instagram is a wise approach.
Why Stay on TikTok?
TikTok has quite a stronghold on Gen Z. if your target audience is primarily the younger generation, TikTok should be your go-to platform. The platform’s algorithm is such that it amplifies content, allowing even the new accounts with an opportunity to go viral.
Additionally, you get a lot of creative freedom on TikTok as it encourages authentic, fresh and unique content. Nowadays, raw content resonates more with the audience compared to polished ads.
You’ll also see TikTok everywhere when a new trend emerges. If you want to stay culturally relevant, TikTok is ideal for you. Not to forget, its ads are far less crowded than Instagram, so businesses have higher chances of standing out.
How About Both?
Rather than picking one platform and quitting the other, businesses should stick to both and channelize the strengths of the two platforms.
Here are some ideas to do so:
- Create content that can be repurposed and used on both platforms.
- Stick to TikTok for the younger generation, and Instagram for a wider audience set.
- Compare the performance of different types of videos and reels across both platforms to identify the type of content that best resonates with your audience.
Maintaining your business’s visibility across different platforms is essential. If you are on YouTube, you’d need to pay attention to increase your YouTube impressions.
How to Increase YouTube Impressions?
YouTube is a platform that has stayed relevant over the years. It was losing its glam when Instagram and TikTok rose to prominence. But then it combined Instagram’s user base with TikTok’s virality, and bam it started gaining more traction too.
So how is it that you can increase YouTube impressions for your channels?
Optimize the Titles
Create attention-grabbing titles while adding in relevant keywords.
Keep the titles concise, specific, and clear. Consider using emotional triggers, questions, and numbers in them to spark interest.
Use Captivating Thumbnails
Attention-grabbing thumbnails can often make all the difference between someone scrolling past your video or actually clicking it.
Use high-quality and striking images along with bright colors and bold text to ensure the thumbnails pop.
Leverage Tags and Keywords
Conduct thorough keyword research to better figure out the interests of your target audience. You’ll soon know what they are actually searching for.
Start using those keywords in your video’s titles, tags and descriptions. As a result, its discoverability will improve.
Pro Tip: Focus on long-tail keywords to target the niche audiences.
Group Content with Playlists
Organize your videos into different relevant playlists that improves the watch time of the videos. This approach encourages viewers to engage with the relevant content in a session.
Youtube then gets a signal about your channel’s value, and it deems it as a good resource for the users.
While working on all these guidelines, always ensure to post consistently. Keep all your channels and platforms active so you gradually build an active and loyal audience.
Conclusion
Success on social media hinges primarily on understanding the unique nuances of the platform, and then adapting suitable strategies accordingly.
Understand and implement the strategies shared in this article. In case you need any help creating and optimizing your social media strategy, ITechSole social media experts are here to assist you.
