Have you ever wondered whether time affects the virality of your Facebook posts?

We just released our latest free study, which compares results of Facebook posts sponsored before they’re 24 hours old versus those sponsored after 24 hours.

The results are striking:

• The first 24 hours of a post’s life on Facebook are pivotal
• Posts sponsored in the first 24 hours received 2.6x the viral impressions and 2.7x the engagement of posts sponsored after 48 hours

(Free download of the full study here: www.unifiedsocial.com/when-to-promote-facebook-posts/)

Why are the first 24 hours so important? 

A lot of marketers have heard of Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm, but few realize how much it affects their Facebook ads. What follows is a slightly oversimplified explanation of the relationship between sponsoring a post and the newsfeed algorithm.

Whenever someone engages with your post, regardless of whether the original post impression was organic or paid, that engagement generally results in additional viral impressions. How many viral impressions is a function of the post’s velocity—the more engagement you get in a shorter amount of time, the greater the post’s velocity and the more viral impressions the post will receive.

On Facebook, viral impressions are directly tied to maximum post velocity—the post has to be more interesting than all the other content competing for space in that user’s newsfeed.

However, the newsfeed algorithm includes a time-decay factor, so post velocity slows as time passes. If you delay in sponsoring the post, you squander velocity.

Facebook posts have an average newsfeed life of less than 24 hours—based on my observations, most posts garner 90% of their impressions within 6-18 hours, and after that their organic velocity is greatly reduced.

A post will get the best results if it’s sponsored within the first 24 hours, ideally within the first 2-3 hours so that paid velocity and organic velocity are both peaking at the same time.

Free download of the full study here: www.unifiedsocial.com/when-to-promote-facebook-posts/