Web link-shortening giant, Bit.ly has released data about the best times to post on the top social networks.

Optimum Times to post on twitter:

The best time to post on twitter is between 1:00pm and 3:00pm ET (10am to 1pm PT) in the early days of the working week, as this is the period of time that garners the highest click rate. The absolute optimum time is 1:00pm on a Monday, the reason for this being, one can only speculate is that most people tend to check their twitter updates on the first day back to work on their lunch breaks.

Optimum times to post on Facebook:

Facebook differs to Twitter with the optimum time to post being Wednesday at 3:00pm ET. The general rule for Facebook is to post after lunch, (1pm Onwards) as this is the time that will get the most click through rates. These results could be due to office workers looking distraction in the afternoon, to get over the post lunch lull.

When not to post on Facebook and Twitter:

The statistics have shown for both Facebook and Twitter that the worst times to post, in order to get interaction with your followers are in the evening after 8:00pm up until the next working day.

*Twitter Tip – Although you may be tempted to post on twitter first thing in the morning, it would be wise to post at around 11:00am to catch the traffic at lunch time.

The socialjamm team.
www.socialjamm.com
www.twitter.com/socialjamm

Facebook have announced that they will be changing the size of your profile photo on timeline profiles. The size will change from 125px by 125px to 160px by 160px. This increase will mean that companies who have designed their cover photo to integrate their profile picture will have to be changed.

Images will still need to be uploaded with a minimum image size of 180px by 180px

So make sure you keep ahead of the game and re-design your profile ready for the change and let us know your comments in the box below!


The socialjamm team.
www.socialjamm.com
www.twitter.com/socialjamm

The good people at Google have announced that they are rolling out an updated redesign of their social network Google+. The main aims of the redesign are to make it a more customised and aesthetically pleasing user experience.

Google Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra had this to say - “It accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google”

Naturally they are also hoping that the new features will take an extra slice out of Facebook and Twitters vast social media empires, as a few of changes such as the large cover photo at the top of the page, and the ‘trending topics’ (Explore) feature mimic Facebook’s Timeline design and twitters primary function

The other prominent feature that comes with the new profile is the customisable navigation ribbon, featured on the left hand side of your profile. The ribbon gives Google the space to add more features (which they have hinted at doing in the next few days) and the user more freedom to pick and chose which apps they use.

So far the change has been deemed positive by the experts in the social media world, but is it enough for Google to really try and challenge Facebook? Or is it just an improved version for their 170million+ users?

Let us know what you think in the comments!

The socialjamm team.
www.socialjamm.com
www.twitter.com/socialjamm

Facebook timeline for brand pages has been in place for a few weeks now, and some fantastically designed pages have been taking advantage of the new features.

We have already covered the importance of a great ‘cover photo' in a previous blog post (found here), but another feature that can make your page more aesthetically pleasing and also tie in line with your brands colours and style is to customise your tabs. The tabs are much more visible to a user located at the top of your page with a larger image size dedicated to them.

Tab guidelines:

Facebook allows you to have 4 visible tabs when you land on your page,. These tabs will always include the photos tab.(The photos tab can not be re-positioned, or its cover image edited).

For a user to view the rest of your tabs (maximum of 12) they would click the arrow next to them.

The new tab sizes are 111px by 74px as opposed to the old 16px by 16px.

Facebook allows you to have up to four visible tabs once you land on a page and displays the rest of them once a user clicks on the arrow next to them.

The about section will cover the area if you decide to only display 2-3 tab images.

Creating your own graphics:

You can create your own graphics for any tab apart from the standard facebook apps such as photos, notes, events etc.

Your tabs could look something similar to what the designers at Fanta have implemented. Keeping in with the brand colours, and products they offer.

To edit the graphics hover over the image you wish to change and then click on the he pencil icon and then click 'edit setting's so get directed to this menu:

Upload your image and change the custom tab name to match and entice your viewers to click on it.

And that’s it. A really simple way to make your brand page stand-out, fit in with your brand and entice users to use your Apps.

Now it’s your turn, let us know how you get on with updating your Facebook Timeline page and ask any questions you have in the comment box below.

The socialjamm team.
www.socialjamm.com
www.twitter.com/socialjamm

Timeline has now officially rolled out for brand pages and many administrators have still not realised the potential flaws of not having been ready for the switchover. To ensure your brand page is ready for the viewing public and potential customers you should ensure you should implement the following 4 tips.

Revisit your past:

Timeline allows users to easily search through your facebook history, so a post from a year ago was unlikely to be seen by a user on the old version of facebook. The first thing you should do is go through your profile and delete any unwanted posts that do not add any value or anything that does not reperesent your brand as it stands today,

Add important moments of your brands history to your timeline:

Timeline for brand pages is basically the story of your brand, so you should give your viewers key moments (milestones) of your history such as when your business opened, office moves, key expansions etc. This gives a user an insight to how your business has grown and developed through time.

Draw attention to offers, key posts:

Timeline allows you to highlight posts, which means that a post will be full width of your page covering both columns. This works great with graphics, drawing users towards them. A great tip is to match the artwork to your cover image, keeping a continuous theme throughout your page and strengthening your brand. Naturally you want highlighted posts to stand out, so ensure that you do not over use them throughout your page.

Fanta does this extremely well:


Pin special offers:

Similar to the highlighting feature you can also ‘pin’ posts to the top of your page for 7 days. The post will remain at the top of your page regardless of anything g else that you post. This is extremely useful when you are promoting a special offer or alternatively looking to hire new staff!

The socialjamm team.
http://www.socialjamm.com/
www.twitter.com/socialjamm

As you may know Facebook are rolling out the timeline feature for brand pages in the coming weeks, which means that you will need one for your brand page.

One of the main new features is the large photo/image that can be displayed at the top of your brand page, known as the ‘cover photo’

The maximum size for a cover photo is 851 x 399 pixels. Ensure that when you design your cover photo that you leave enough room for your logo image which hovers above your cover photo.

The following images are some of our favourite cover photos from brands already using timeline.