The estimated reading time for this post is 3 minutes
The saying “timing is everything” is especially true on Twitter. If you want your tweets to be discovered you should be tweeting when most of your followers are on Twitter.
You can make the most of Twitter by tweeting at optimum times: when most of your followers are on Twitter. In two easy steps, you can align your tweet timing with when your followers are most active on Twitter.
When you send a tweet, you’re sharing your information with a subsection of the world: your Twitter followers. They are the people who care enough about what you have to say to follow you.
Do your tweets appear in their Twitter stream at the right times? Are you the most active on Twitter when most of your followers are using the site?
Trying to align your tweets with your followers’ activity may seem impossible, but you can do this easily with two tools: Buffer and Followerwonk. Using your Buffer account and the Followerwonk website you can easily schedule your tweets to be posted when your followers are the most active.
➲ See, Buffer: The Twitter Tool You Should Be Using for more information about Buffer, a tool that lets you schedule the timing of your tweets.
Step 1 – Analyze Your Twitter Followers
Head to the Followerwonk website and click on the Analyze followers tab.
Enter your Twitter ID in the box, then click on the drop down menu and choose “analyze their followers.” Click “Do It” to get Followerwonk working for you.
In a very short time you’ll see your results. Followerwonk will give you copious quantities of information about your followers, including their location, influence, gender, ages, activity levels and languages. You can also find out how many followers your followers have and how many people they follow.
[tip]Don’t get distracted yet. We’re still on Step 1 of aligning your tweets with your followers. We’ll discuss below the other amazing information Followerwonk provides. Stay with me through Step 2 before looking at the other stuff.[/tip]
Scroll down to see the blue bar graph of the most active hours for your followers:
Next, scroll down to the green bar graph to see when you tweet the most:
Compare the two bar graphs to see if the times when your followers are most active are the times when you’re tweeting the most.
********************
Oops!
My most active hour to tweet, 9 am, is not the most active time for my Twitter followers. My followers’ most active hour, 1 pm, isn’t a time when I’m sending out very many tweets.
Easy Fix!
Step 2 – Optimize Your Tweeting Schedule
An especially useful (and cool) feature of Followerwonk is that you can click a button to automatically schedule your tweet times on Buffer according to your followers’ most active times on Twitter. That’s right, with a single click of a button you can let Followerwonk set your Buffer schedule to post your tweets when your followers are most active. So simple!
Look below the blue bar graph showing the times when your followers are most active on Twitter and you’ll see an orange button. That button lets you link your Followerwonk account to your Buffer account to schedule your tweets.
Just fill in the box to tell Buffer how many times you want tweets sent out from your account each day and then click the orange button. Voila! You’re done.
Now, when you send out tweets using Buffer the chances that they will be seen by your followers will be greatly improved.
Other Cool Followerwonk Information
Followerwonk is filled with other useful information about your followers. Take some time to review your results to learn more about those who are following you on Twitter.
Check out the color-coded map to see where you are most popular:
You can learn about your followers’ social authority rating and see what yours is. You can also see word clouds generated from their Twitter bios and locations.
If you’re a fan of data, you’ll enjoy exploring all of the information Followerwonk provides about your followers.
Your Thoughts
Did you check out Followerwonk? Do your tweet times align with when your followers are most active? What other interesting information did you discover about your Twitter followers? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Lisa says
Hi Carolyn,
I’ve used both for some time but hadn’t check my Followerwonk report in a while, interesting to see most followers come on after 7 and sometimes I live tweet at 6 a.m. so I’ll try to hold off til 7 a.m now. I have my Buffer set up right from the last time as 12 noon is the highest time for my followers to be on Twitter. Surprised 8 pm ranks high too Thanks for the reminders of this great tool Carolyn and I just love that Buffer!
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Lisa, Yes, I’m a big Buffer fan too. Very cool that you’re already using it with Followerwonk. You make a great point, it’s important to check back every so often to make sure the timing of your tweets still aligns with the activity of your Twitter followers.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, Lisa!
Mike Maynard says
Hi Carolyn,
This is useful. I sometimes use buffer, but I should do the analysis too. I am hopeless on Twitter. I have improved and have some local people following now. The police superintendent for one, so I must be doing something right. My blog link was re-tweeted yesterday, people like narrow-boats! I need to tweet using my phone more too…
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Mike, Yes, when you sign up for Buffer you can schedule your tweets ahead of time so you don’t even have to worry about tweeting from your phone. People tend to gain followers exponentially. The more followers you have, the easier it is to get new people to follow you.
Tweeting at optimal times will help you get noticed. You can figure out when your followers are most active and tweet at those times.
Brenda Lee says
This looks like a super awesome app Carolyn! I’ve just bookmarked it so I can refer back and start analyzing. Have you found it to be more useful?
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Bren, Yes, Followerwonk is amazing, giving you so much information and control for free! I really enjoyed aligning my Buffer schedule with my follower activity with just the touch of a button.
I also enjoyed learning so much information about my followers. My tweeting times weren’t well aligned with my follower’s activity. So I was pleased to change my Buffer schedule to make my tweeting times better.
Definitely give Followerwonk a try, Bren. Hey, it’s free so what do you have to lose?
pininti says
Hello,
What a wonderful post!!!
These are the best tips for improving tweets.
This is very essential and its important. I don’t even know this.
Thank you for sharing.
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Pininti, I’m so glad you found this article to be helpful. Yes, the more we increase the chances of our tweets being seen, the more effectively we’ll be using Twitter.
Babanature says
Hello Carolyn,
This is my first time of hearing the name followerwonk. Your tutorial really did show how awesome they are.
I do use buffer and i have set schedule to meet my target audience, but how accurate am i? Let’s see if followerwonk will tell me
I am in the website and i do hope it will be as easy as you explained…
Thanks for showing us such treasure. Do have yourself a great week ahead…
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Babanature, Wow, it’s truly an honor to have introduced you to a new Twitter tool. You do such a great job of teaching so many people about useful tools that I am very pleased to have done so for you.
I truly hope that Followerwonk combined with Buffer works very well for you, Babanature. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Ravi Chahar says
Hi Carolyn,
For every blogger, marketer the main concern is spreading their posts and now a days Twitter is the main source. But the main problem is to schedule the tweets.
You have given us the solution for it. With the use of followerwonk it may become easy to know about our followers activity so that we can tweet at the right time when most of our followers are on on Twitter.
You have explained many benefits of the website. I hope this will help many Twitter users.
Thanks for given this kind of useful information.
Enjoy the day.:)
~Ravi
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Ravi, Yes, if you’re going to take the time to tweet, you may as well post your tweet at a time when most of your followers are active on Twitter. Figuring out when that is and manually scheduling your tweets would be quite cumbersome. But Followerwonk and Buffer together make that task easy.
Pankaj says
Hey Carolyn,
Certainly useful suggestions to increase twitter engagement. If you are sending tweet at right time (according to your audience) then you’re more likely to receive good amount of exposure and engagement. I’m already using buffer but didn’t use followerwonk, would certainly try it.
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Pankaj, You’re absolutely right, that’s how you get exposure on Twitter. By utilizing Buffer with Followerwonk you can increase this exposure exponentially when you align the timing of your tweets with your followers’ Tiwtter activity.
I hope you enjoy using Followerwonk, Pankaj!
Debasis Pradhan says
Hello Carolyn,
Well the information you’ve shared is really unique which I just learned. Seems like first I need to check buffer.
Secondly I was also looking for some twitter tools which can be used for schedule posts and send automated tweet or DMs. If you’ve used any tools or any recommendations.
Thanks
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Debasis, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, you definitely should check out Buffer which can help you schedule your tweets and other social media posts. Also be sure to check out Rite Tag which can be used to both schedule tweets and check the strength of your hashtags. Here is my review of Rite Tag: RiteTag – A Handy Tool to Make the Most of Your Tweets!
Adrienne says
Hey Carolyn,
Oh goodie, I use both of them. I’ve been using Buffer now for a few years and heard about Followerwonk sometime last year I believe. I think actually I checked my stats back in April to make sure they were still pretty much on course. I actually schedule my own times based on the reports I was given as to when my users are the most active.
These two really go hand in hand Carolyn so thank you for introducing them to more people.
~Adrienne
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Adrienne, That’s great you’re using both Buffer and Followerwonk already to schedule your tweets. If you use that handy orange button, you can have Followerwonk align your Buffer schedule automatically.
You bring up a great point, Adrienne. It’s important to check the activity of your followers every so often. As you gain new followers and your followers’ habits change you may need to tweak your posting schedule.
Steven J Wilson says
Hi Carolyn,
These tips are right on and are definitely easy to implement. I think social media is becoming very unsocial with the use of so many tools. We are losing the human aspect slowly but surely.
With that said i think some tools like the two you just mention is very necessary. Social media connects us from all over the world so we can tweet while we are sleep to reach others on the other side of the world. With these tools getting in touch with our followers at the right times.
Nice one Carolyn! Take care..
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Steven, You bring up a great point. It’s important not to use too many tools to automate your tweets. But Buffer and Followerwonk will increase the chances that your tweets will be seen by your followers. You can try these tools and see if you feel as if you’re giving up too much control of your tweets.
Nanda Rahmanius says
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for sharing information about Followerwonk. As always, your information is always updated and useful for many people. Buffer and Followerwonk are new things for me. I’ve never checked Followerwonk before, maybe I’ll give it a shot then.
Thanks again for sharing this with us.
Do have a wonderful week ahead.
Nanda
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Thanks, Nanda, I’m so glad you found this article helpful. I hope you really enjoy using Followerwonk and Buffer together. You’ll be able to make much more effective use of Twitter now. :-bd
Sagar says
Nice and very important post
Twitter is one of the famous social media website for promoting business. Using social media is the most common thing among bloggers and website owners to promote and advertise their products and services.
But in twitter followers are more important as it is for them you post information about your business. The above post explains two tools which is important to get more followers on twitter using folloowerwonk. The first method to analyze the type of visitors. This is very important as targeting to right kind of people is very necessary . The second step is scheduling the time for post on twitter . Scheduling tweets is very important as it helps us tweet exactly the time when our users or visitors are more active.
Great post and I hope this would help many people especially beginners.
Thank you for sharing.
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Sagar, Thank you for your kind words. You’re right, Followerwonk lets you analyze your followers so you can learn more about them, including when they’re most active. Anyone who uses Twitter wants to make the most of their tweets and these tools will help them do just that.
Thanks for stopping by and contributing to the conversation, Sagar.
Fredy says
The point on analyzing your twitter follows to me has made a very big significance and I would as well encourage people to apply it. It not only get Favorited or retweed but also replies. If you happen to follow it you will be likely to get more followers too. I like what your are sharing Carolyn
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Fredy, Yes, you’re right, the more your tweets are noticed by your followers, the greater chance that they will be favorited and retweeted. You really can make the most of Twitter by using Followerwonk and Buffer.
sherman smith says
Hey Carolyn,
Ok, you got me interested LOL… I wanted to revamp my tweets with buffer and I just happened to stumble upon your post about Followerwonk. This must be Law Of Attraction! This is great that you can check when your followers are on twitter so that you can schedule when to tweet your posts! Can it get better than this! Thanks for the share Carolyn!
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Sherman, That’s a great way of putting it: It can’t get better than this! Yes, you can tweet much more effectively by using both Buffer and Followerwonk. I do love that orange button that automatically aligns the timing of your tweets with your followers’ activity.
I hope you enjoy using Followerwonk, Sherman!
Sagar Nandwani says
Great article for brands and twitter posting strategies. I think some of these are really easy to implement.
The only thing I would add is to be careful with regards to “asking for retweets”. I would love for someone to make a study on how repeatidly asking for it ends up affecting the brand and the following. I’m almost positive that it would have a very negative effect, but some numbers would be nice.
Thanks, great article!
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Sagar, Excellent point. You’re right about asking for retweets. That should be done carefully, not for every tweet. I have heard that asking for retweets produces more RT’s. You could always try it yourself to see if it helps. What matters most is how your followers react.
Meghan says
Great Post!
This looks like a fantastic app Carolyn will book mark it and refer back!
you have some great tips for tweeting!
Carolyn Nicander Mohr says
Hi Meghan, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m so glad you enjoyed this article. I look forward to seeing you back at The Wonder of Tech soon.