Time to Post Content: how online stats destroyed businesses

It is the dream of every brand to draw traffic through created contents and by so doing generate leads for their products or services. The question of ‘when is the time to post content?’ has always been the worry of brands, media managers and marketers. Perhaps, you are amongst those who went to google and online analytics to discover the perfect time to post content. Well, how did you do? You are not alone. Of about the 1.8billion websites existing in the world as of September 2020, about 75% of websites today are not active (Internetlivestats).  

Attempts by web-owners and brands to make their website active continues to prove challenging despite content planning. One of the measures adopted is to check the analytical tools and online stats as to the best time to post content so as to magnet visitors. But these stats have been found by keen observers to be erroneous and dangerous.

In what location did these data come from? Many marketing surveys were adopted from the general Google analysis, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. But these lazy researchers failed to consider location as it relates to various countries. Brands, social media managers and copywriters believed these surveys for long, while these online stats destroyed businesses. No real data nor study of the behavioural reading pattern of the particular target community was done.

Having been briefed by one of our clients with similar problems, we decided to carry out our research on the Nigerian community.

First, our research was carried out in Lagos. Secondly, we rounded up about 50 CEOs/Managing Directors whom we believe are the usual audience targets for B2B marketing. We asked 3 fundamental questions:

Q1. what days of the week do you find yourself relaxed going through contents online, including contents that lead you to other sites?

Mondays =                  None.

Tuesdays =                  7 persons

Wednesdays =            14 persons

Thursdays =                 21 persons

Fridays =                      33 persons

Saturdays =                 46 persons

Sundays =                    34 persons

Q2. If at all you must go through contents, what time within the following days of the week would you find yourself doing so – Morning 12am – 11:55, Noon 12pm – 3pm, Evening 4pm – 7pm or Night 8pm – 11:55pm?

Q. Did your reading pattern change during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Every one of the 50 participants said ‘yes’. Some added in the ‘further info’ box that their reading habit before and after the lockdown, depends mostly on the type of content and how it was presented.

P.S Some persons voted for more than one period of the day.

The Right Time to Post Content

There you have it – a real survey beyond google analytics and guesswork. Your site analytical tools may not really capture the reason behind the fluctuations in your traffic. If you understand the behavioural pattern of your target audience, you will understand the perfect time to post content on your site and media handles. But then, something remains – the perfect content.

Truth be told, slavish writings and inorganic writings would always be overlooked by an audience who have seen so many of such patterns. You don’t write or create what you want to tell your target audience, no. It is about your target audience, not you. That is the perfect content. That is the type of content that your audience will hardly ignore. It requires time and continuous study. This is why some leading brands prefer to outsource their writing needs to copywriting agencies.

De Critic is a leading agency of expert copywriters, critics and public relations. Awarded as one of the top 10 copywriting agency/PR in Nigeria and nominated for MEA Africa Excellence Awards 2020. We help businesses and individuals write winning contents for their blogs, websites, emails, SMS, social medial handles, publications, etc. We can be reached at – contact@decritic.com