Advertisers’ Attention – Know The Right Time To Run Your Facebook Ads

Advertisers’ Attention – Know The Right Time To Run Your Facebook Ads: There’s been a lot of debate over the years on the right time to run Facebook ads. It seems like every other day, and someone new comes out with a study that disproves the last one.

First, it’s, “The weekends are the best time to post!” Then somebody proclaims, “No, weekends are the worst! It’s the weekdays that bring advertisers the best ROI!” Then it’s, “You’re both wrongs! The best time to post depends on the industry you’re in!”

At this point, everybody’s had a chance to weigh in. I’ve also read an article that claims the best time to post could be when your fans aren’t online.

What a lot of advertisers don’t weigh in on, though, is the issue of the best time to run Facebook ads.

Today we’re going to change that. The only thing is,… you might not like what we have to say.

The answer is: It depends. And here’s why.

The difference between organic posts and paid ads

All your Facebook fans will see every one of your organic posts in a perfect world. They would like your posts, comment on them, and share them so much that it would soar through the roof with your sign-ups and sales.

Sadly, we’re not living in a perfect universe, and not all posts are created equal.

Marketers have been obsessed with trying to outsmart the algorithm responsible for restricting the feeds of branded content users, formerly known as “Edge Rank,” ever since Facebook launched the news feed in 2009.

But there’s a basic difference between choosing the right time to post an organic update on Facebook and the best time to run a paid ad.

You see, only in the news feeds of individuals who already “like” your page will your organic posts appear. If anyone hasn’t “liked” your profile, unless they go looking for it, they will not see your organic message.

How are ads different?

The advertisements are separate. Regardless of whether or not such individuals have “liked” your page, they have the ability to be seen by anyone on Facebook.

They have already subscribed to the individuals who see your organic posts in their news stream, so they hope to see an update from you once in a while.

In addition, commercials are generally more invasive. Marketers have bribed their way through our news feeds, pressuring us, in some cases, to ingest information that is not at all important to us.

And that’s why making choices on when to run advertising based on the best time to post is dumb. Comparing apples and oranges is like that. People are more likely to be involved with posts because they have decided to see them already. Whereas for advertising, you never know what you’ll see in your news feed next.

I’m still trying to figure out why anyone will serve me on earth, a person without kids, this potty training advice ad and related products:

If you’re targeting the wrong crowd, the time you run your ad won’t matter.

But if your target audience has been locked down, and you can’t rely on any of the “best time to post” advice, then you’re still wondering.

How do I determine the best time to run Facebook ads?

You need to have a deep understanding of your business, your market, and your client to find out when to run your ads.

For example, if you’re a business that makes snowblowers, running your ads in the summer will probably not be wise. That is common sense only.

But you need to make yourself more analytical than that.

For example, for online retailers, the highest-earning day of the week is Monday, while Saturday and Sunday were the lowest. Thanks to something called “the paycheck effect,” consumer expenditure has also been known to rise in the beginning and middle of the month.

It is important to consider business figures like this, but it’s still not enough. Inside and out, you have to know your business:

• What days do you get the most sales?
• What time of day do your blog posts get read the most?
• When do you generate the highest number of email sign-ups?

What experts have to say

Claudia Lombana, a specialist at eBay and Paypal, noticed that their biggest time for mobile shopping was Monday between 11 am and 1 pm. Newer Shopify data confirms this.

Marketer Claire Pelletreau found that her “Absolute Facebook Ads” guide’s best-selling day was Monday. She also found out that she got her most sign-ups at 2 pm using Google Analytics.

That’s the kind of systematic research you need to do. Find out what times your blog needs to be read if you are running an ad to push clicks to your blog. Find out what day is most profitable for you if you’re running an ad to generate sales.

Here’s a good step-by-step explanation of how Claire discovered the best time for her company to run ads.

And here’s an example of how Facebook data should be used to determine the best time for your ads to run. Below is a report on some advertisements I ran for a customer with the objective of generating more Facebook fans:

In the span of a few months, you can see a trend emerging. The peaks represent the days most liked by the page, and the valleys represent the days least liked by the page.

It’s rather easy to determine the best-performing days of the week in this particular data set. In the above image, all the arrows indicate either a Sunday or a Monday. I’m not sure why those days produced the highest ROI, but I do know that many of those peaks occurred at the start of the week. Therefore, if I were to continue running this ad package, running it on a set schedule would be wise.

Bear in mind; this information is exclusive to this specific organization. You’ll need to head over to the advertising manager and produce some reports to find out yours.

Get as detailed as you are able to. Break down the findings by age, sex, placement, date range, action, and use that information to decide the schedule you should run your advertisements.

How do I run my ads on a set schedule?

The ad development tool offered by Facebook makes it easy to schedule your campaigns. You will be taken to a page on which you can enter your objective, budget, and schedule after you have decided the purpose of your campaign:

Select “Run ads on a schedule” instead of clicking on “Run ads all the time.”

This box will open up when you do that:

All you have to do now is to click inside the boxes representing the days and hours you want to run your ads.

I have stated, for this ad package, that I want to run ads at the following times:

• Monday and Tuesday between 9 am and 12 pm
• Wednesday and Thursday between 12 pm and 3 pm
• Friday and Saturday between 3 pm and 6 pm
• Sunday from 6 pm to 9 pm

Bear in mind that your ad will be shown to your viewers according to their time zone if you’re running a nationwide advertisement. So, people in San Diego will see the ad between 9 am and 12 pm PST on Mondays and Tuesdays, individuals in Chicago will see the ad between 9 am and 12 pm CST, and individuals in New York City will see the ad between 9 am and 12 pm EST. Beautifully neat, huh?

It’s just a matter of tracking, checking, and optimizing from there.