We seem to try and optimize everything for SEO purposes and for good reason. So it stands to reason that you want to optimize posting to social media sites to get the most impact. This has the added benefit of helping boost your search ranking because your social media activity and engagement are important ranking factors.

Neil Patel posted a great infographic on the subject to SearchEngineJournal.com the other day. For a look at the complete graphic click here.

Here are some highlights from Neil’s post.

Facebook: 86% of Facebook posters are active during the work week with engagement peeking on Thursday and Friday. There are some slight deviations for specific industries by in general the end of the week is better across the board.   Another reason to hold off to the end of the week is that engagement falls 3.4% below average on Monday – Wednesday. If you have control over the news you post, you may want to go heavier toward the end of the week to maximize engagement and tap into the more positive attitudes as the weekend approaches.

Best time of the day to get shares is around 1:00 pm, and 3:00 pm works best to get the most clicks.

LinkedIn:   Counter to Facebook, the best time to post on Linked in is early in the week – Monday – Wednesday. This is largely due to the fact that LinkeIn is primarily a B2B social media. AddThis states that Tuesdays, between 10 and 11:00 am are the best times to get clicks and shares. While, according to Fannit the best times to post are 7-8:00 am and 5-6:00 pm and the worst times are during regular business hours in US time zones. And, according to LinkedIn, 93% of B2B marketers say that LinkedIn is the best social media lead generation source.

Google+: Most week days are just fine for posting on Google+. However, there are better times than others. Wednesdays at 9:00 am are the best in terms of generating social applause and engagement. And, Buffer states that mid mornings on weekday are your best bet.

Social media takes time and commitment, but the payoffs are multifaceted. The trick is to pick a couple and do it well rather than try many and end up with a poor showing. Social media engagement can help your website rank higher and drive traffic and conversion rate.