The Perfect Time to Update Your Content

There are plenty of conflicting ideas out there about when the best time is to update your site's content, send out messages, or post on social media. But there's only one failsafe, never-wrong answer.

Write when you have something to say.

No matter to which "schedule" you ascribe, the simple fact of the matter is that an ideal posting time will never compensate for poor-quality (or, worse, empty) content.

Most of what's out there is just good ol' common sense. For example, this infographic from Hubspot doesn't exactly tell you anything you don't already, intuitively know. Shockingly, people aren't accessing Twitter after 8 p.m. Or they're not checking their Facebook wall before 8 a.m. Sunday morning. Who knew?

You did.

So instead of overly focusing on the When, spend more time worrying about the What.

You can test, refine, target, and schedule to your heart's content, but if the information you're sharing isn't of value to the majority of your target demographic, then you're not just missing an opportunity -- you could be actively discouraging a significant audience who now have received undesirable content during "Prime Time."

Think of it as Matthew Perry syndrome. Sure, you gave your audience some great content once (Friends), but you've consistently wasted that goodwill (and premium time-slot) in the years since (see: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Mr. Sunshine, Go On, and The Odd Couple).

So how do you harness your inner Chandler Bing and ensure you don't squander your promise? By focusing on quality, not quantity.

It's a constant refrain we've used here on the Echidna blogs -- don't just count your clicks; make your clicks count. You can linkbait the bejeezus out of your audience and drive up "engagements" and "interactions," but to what end -- and at what cost?

If you're not getting quality leads, reinforcing trust with quality content and information, or getting actual sales out of your efforts, what's the point? Having customers click to content that doesn't resonate or adds no value simply diminishes your value and trustworthiness long-term.

And, like the boy who cried wolf, when you finally do have something of value, you've squandered that trust -- potentially to the point where your audience has stopped listening and will miss out on something they would have actually cared about.

So what's the magic formula? Update when you have something to say.

You could refresh your content on a regular basis on your website, but if you're not adding any new information or value, what's the benefit to the reader? If you're updating it based on seasonally relevant foci, though, then you've hit on a winning combination of providing new content and relevant value.

If you've set an artificial number of Tweets per day internally, is it having the desired effect? Are you actually producing a set number of high-quality posts, or are you just creating uninteresting (or, worse, empty) white noise? Are you making new posts or are you making your new posts count?

More, if it's strictly relating to volume, is not better. More, in terms of providing quality and targetted value to your customers, is.

Schedules are great for instilling discipline, but they must remain flexible. Content schedules can help guide you towards areas of focus, but doing something just for the sake of doing it can result in empty, useless content.

The last thing you want your reader to say after they've consumed your content is, "And?"

Sorry, that's not true. The worst thing is, "So what?" Followed by an unsubscribe.

Share news when you have news; post when you can add value to a conversation; and let your customers and readers know when you've updated something that matters to them.

That way you won't be just broadcasting white noise, but instead speaking when you have something valuable to say.