Retailers Should Author Facebook Posts on Wednesday

Retailers get 8 percent more engagement out of their Facebook posts on Wednesday than other days of the week, according to new research by Buddy Media. That data-point flies in the face of the company's study from last April that said Sunday was the best day for retailers to post.

The report, released today, looks at aggregated data from nearly 100 of the Facebook marketing vendor's retail clients. It was gathered from the first six months of 2011. Buddy Media measured general "engagement rates" by considering how many comments a post created and what percentage of a brand's Facebook audience "liked" it.

As was the case in the April study, Buddy Media says short posts perform best. Messages longer than 80 characters receive 40 percent lower engagement, the research says.

Also, retailers need to wisely pick their spots as engagement decreases with too many posts. Brands that authored messages three or more times a day got 25 percent lower like rates and 42 percent lower comment rates. Overall engagement drops by 29 percent if companies post more than three times.

In addition, when posts pose questions, the study found that comments double while the engagement rate dips slightly.