This year, #Team_OG carried out several studies and analyses on the principal social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

The year 2014 was, without a doubt, the year of social media, community management and data. To finish on the same note, we invite you to review all the numbers from the studies made by #Team_Data over the course of the year!

 

• The lifespan of posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
• The activity of Community Managers on Facebook and Twitter
• Engagement with posts on Instagram
• The working hours of Community Managers who use Over-Graph
• Brand communication on LinkedIn

1. The lifespan of publications on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (August-14)

We did this study (Part 1) to help Community Managers and let them know how long posts last on these social networks and, secondly, if there are significant differences between the types of posts on Facebook (Part 2).
 

1.1 The average lifespan of a Facebook post, a tweet and an Instagram photo

• Average lifespan of a Facebook post: 14 hours 42 minutes
• Average lifespan of a tweet: 4 hours 4 minutes
• Average lifespan of an Instagram photo: 21 hours 36 minutes

The takeaway: Posts on Twitter are the most ephemeral; they disappear quickly, unlike those on Facebook and Instagram, where diffusion and engagement continue over time.
1.2 The average lifespan of different types of Facebook posts

Facebook

• Average lifespan of a Facebook post: 11 hours 04 minutes
• Average lifespan of a link posted on Facebook: 12 hours 32 minutes
• Average lifespan of a photo posted on Facebook: 17 hours 07 minutes
• Average lifespan of a video posted on Facebook: 19 hours 53 minutes

The takeaway: The average lifespan of a Facebook post containing only text is the shortest. This is slightly longer if the Community Manager adds a link. On the other hand, it increases much more when the post contains a photo or a video!

 

2. Activity of Community Managers on Twitter and on Facebook (September-14)

We carried out this study in order to understand the typical activity profile of Community Managers on Twitter and Facebook.

2.1  CM activity on Twitter

• 17.40 hashtags tweeted per week;
• 4.8 retweets made per week;
• 31 new followers per week;
• 17.8 links tweeted per week;
• 12.8 text tweets per week;
• 4.26 media tweets per week;
• 1.49 DMs processed per week.

 

2.2       Activity of CMs on Facebook

• 12.5 Links posted per week (40% of the total);
• 13.4 Images posted per week (44% of the total);
• 2.5  Videos posted per week (8% of the total);
• 2.5  Text posts per week (8% of the total);
• 0.08%: Rate of engagement (likes + comments + sharing/number of fans) (average);
• 7%: Rate of reach (range/number of fans) (average);
• 2% paying unique impressions (Ads) out of all the impressions

The takeaway: Community Managers have different occupations, whether with a business, an agency or freelance. But we were able to establish the typical CM profile with the help of the Twitter accounts and Facebook pages of Over-Graph users.

 

3. Engagement with Instagram posts (October-14)

We carried out this study to find out what time users post photos and what time they should post in order to optimize the number of likes.

 

• Recommended hours for publication: between 6:00 am and 11:00 am
• Hours not recommended for posting: between 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm

The takeaway: Instagram posts made in the morning perform much better than those made in the afternoon, the latter have results significantly lower in terms of engagement (likes + comments).

 

4. The working hours of Community Managers (November-14)

We carried out this study to better understand the job of Community Manager, one of the main occupations of Over-Graph users.

 

• 25% of the activity of CMs who use OG takes place in the morning (7:00 am-12:00 pm)
• 20% of the activity of CMs who use OG takes place around noon (12:00 pm-4:00 pm)
• 35% of the activity of CMs who use OG takes place in the afternoon (2:00 pm-7:00 pm)
• 10% of the activity of CMs who use OG takes place in the evening (7:00 pm-10:00 pm)
• 10% of the activity of CMs who use OG takes place at night (10:00 pm-7:00 am)

The takeaway: The peak of activity for our Community Managers is in the early afternoon, and a quarter of the daily activity happens outside of traditional office hours. The CMs can’t completely disconnect from their communities; they must be on alert 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

 

5. Brand communication on LinkedIn (December-14)

We undertook this study in order to understand how brands communicate on LinkedIn.

 

• Average number of brand publications per month: 24 updates.
• Rate of likes generated by these brands ranges between 1 and 80.
• Maximum absolute number of likes obtained by Walt Disney Company: 2932.
• Maximum number of likes relative to the number of subscribers obtained by Ogilvy: 77 likes per 1000 subscribers.
• Facebook and Google are the two most attractive brands on LinkedIn: in concrete terms, they interest a maximum of users on the network.

We wish you a very happy New Year and hope that in 2015 we will once again have a year of social media, of community management and of data!