How financial services can navigate social media in the time of COVID-19

By Rachael Samuels at Sprout Social.

COVID-19 has changed almost everything we once considered regular, and the way we use social media is no exception. Consumers and brands have changed both how digital platforms are used and when people are using them. From a brand perspective, the best times to post on social media and interact with consumers have also changed, especially for financial services businesses, who are relying on digital communication with their customers now more than ever.

Research from social media management platform Sprout Social, which used data science to pull trends from its customer base of 20,000+ to understand when the best times to post on social media are, found that the best times to post have indeed changed, as people’s daily financial operations, from consumer banking to business investments, have shifted to be primarily online. In fact, social media behaviours, and therefore the best times to post, have changed more significantly in the past few weeks than they did from 2019 to 2020.

The best times for financial organisations to post on social media varies depending on the platform, this is broken down as follows.

The platform for business engagement – LinkedIn

For financial firms using LinkedIn for business, it may be a saving grace that engagement levels on the platform have remained largely similar. This is most likely due to the fact that it is a professional network, so its usage was generally oriented around the working day. That said, the best times to post have shifted slightly. Previously the peak times were on Wednesday from 8–10am and noon, Thursday at 9am and 1–2pm, and Friday at 9am. Now, the best times to post on LinkedIn are Wednesday at 3pm, Thursday at 9–10am and Friday from 11am-noon.

Many people have found that their working hours have changed slightly as they have adjusted to remote working which has cut commutes and therefore also cut browsing time on the commute, as well as juggling additional factors such as child care. This change is reflected in LinkedIn activity where we have seen that the hours of regular weekday engagement now start and end a little later, starting at 8am rather than 7am and ending at 4pm rather than 3pm. with activity starting up at 8am rather than 7am and wrapping up around 4pm rather than 3pm.

The social platform – Facebook

Previously the best time to post on Facebook was on Wednesday overall with the peak from 11am to 2pm. Now, weekdays in general show the highest engagement with Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10-11am as the optimum time. Indeed, 11am every day is a peak compared to the rest of the day. Financial services organisations should be aware that the lowest level of engagement occurs every day after 5pm, especially on weekdays when remote workers may find the demands on them increase after the end of the working day.

The opinion platform – Twitter

Over the course of the pandemic Twitter has continued to act as a source for up to date financial and banking news and information. As a result, there hasn’t been a significant change to the best time to post on Twitter as engagement has remained consistently high. Previously the peak was on Wednesday and Friday at 9am, now the best time to post on Twitter is on Friday from 7-9am with 9am still showing as the peak.

The visual platform – Instagram

The platform that has seen the most change in terms of engagement is Instagram. Previously the best times to post on Instagram were on Wednesday at 11am and Friday from 10am–11am, now, the peak is more evenly spread across weekdays within working hours. The peak now falls on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday at 11am and Tuesday at 2pm.

Financial firms engaged with high levels of consumer interactions may want to take note that activity on weekdays tends to decrease after 6pm, in contrast to previously where there was generally consistent engagement throughout the day. The biggest change in terms of Instagram engagement is that weekends are now significantly more active, especially from 9am-5pm – which may be a new opportunity for financial firms and consumer banks. This is very different to before when Sunday was considered the worst day to post.

This change may be reflective of that fact that because our lives are now carried out within our homes our weekends look significantly different to before where we may have been out visiting friends, shopping, going to museums and various other activities. Now that we are inside, our phones, and by extension Instagram, have taken on a larger entertaining role, so this could be a great time for financial services organisations to target new consumers.

Even as the world transitions out of pandemic lockdowns, the COVID-19 crisis will mean that financial operations will increasingly go online – both for businesses and consumers. As financial services continue to utilise social media to connect with audiences more, understanding when they’re most engaged – and how that’s changing – is more important than ever before.