Social made has become essential for promoting most types of business. It’s taken the world by storm with its billions of users across the world, and it reaches every age group. To take full advantage of this phenomenon, it’s important to have a strategy. A key piece of that plan is knowing how often to post.
Of course, there is no simple, or single, answer. “It depends” is something we have to tell our clients far too often. However, in this case, “it depends” mainly on the particular social media platform. Each one has its style and pace, and that dictates, among other things, the frequency of posting.
Before we get into specifics, there are some other principles to follow, too.
One important goal is to be consistent. Keep publishing. It takes time and effort to reach people. Remember, you’re reaching out to them, so you want to get your message in front of them consistently.
Another thing to remember is that if you only talk about yourself, you’ll turn people off. No one likes that kind of person, and they won’t like it from your business, either. Share interesting information whether you produce it or it’s from someone else. Entertain. But don’t talk about how great you are or push your promotions constantly. A good rule of thumb is that for every one promotional post, you should have four others that aren’t. They could be educational, entertaining, or whatever – just not promotional.
Remember that with all social networks, how often you appear depends on complex formulas. And those formulas depend mostly on how often the posts are interacted with. The basic philosophy is that if some people find it worth interacting with, so will others.
When choosing how often to post, you want to strike a balance between reminding your audience of your brand and not intruding on them. That balance depends on what social platform you’re posting on. And yes, as you may have figured out, that means you won’t be posting the same things on all of them.
When you’re using the world’s largest social media platform, you should a minimum of three times a week, and a maximum of twice a day.
Space your posts out and base your publication times on when your audience is online. That may take some experimentation, but after a couple of weeks, you can look at your Insights and compare different days and posting times.
There is no single “best schedule” – it will depend on your business and your audience. However, think about the times of day people tend to connect and have an interest in your service. For instance, if you run a restaurant that’s open for lunch and dinner, it’s likely best to post shortly before those meal times. If you close at 9 pm, you don’t need to post at 10 pm asking people to stop by.
The Twitterverse moves more quickly than other social platforms, and so users are more likely to miss a lot of posts that fly by. With that in mind, it’s great to post several times a day. Five to seven times is a reasonable amount.
Yes, that’s a LOT of tweeting! And sometimes it’s hard to write something short and sweet to convey your message. Be sure to make the most of hashtags, too – that can’t be overvalued.
Of course, it’s harder to put together that many high-quality posts. Not every post has to be a masterpiece, though. Getting your message out. Interacting with other brands. Attract interest. These are more essential than writing the next great social media post. Be good and be careful, but don’t feel that you have to overdo it.
LinkedIn is a more professional network, and it’s important to keep that in mind when posting. Users don’t come here for entertainment; they’re looking to learn, improve their business, and even find new employers or employees.
Be sure to respect their time by only posting high-quality content. Posting twice a week is sufficient to make an impact; beyond that can seem like you’re imposing on their time.
Since it’s geared to professionals, most people tend to use it during business hours. So making your post at the beginning of the day or during lunch break is usually ideal.
Instagram is a highly-visual platform, and it can be difficult to generate that much beautiful content. However, it’s best to post two or three times a day on this platform. Space out the posts for the best effect.
Like Twitter, it’s important here to keep abreast of hashtags and use them well. Instagram posts can use a lot of hashtags – fifteen or twenty is not unusual. But be sure they’re relevant. Don’t use an unrelated hashtag just because it’s trending. It’s obvious when you try to jump on the bandwagon even though you have nothing in common with it.
Pin a lot! Pinterest has a different posting strategy than any other social network out there. You can sit down and pin a lot of images all at once, both creating original pins and pinning those of others.
It’s fine – and maybe even most effective – to pin 20 or 30 images in one sitting, and to repeat this every day. No need to be shy about it.
YouTube
With YouTube (and other video channels), you can post as often as you can produce quality content. The most important factor is to be consistent. Try to start with several videos lined up so that you always have a few in reserve.
Remember, too, that video content will take more time to consume than a simple text post on other networks. If you’re publishing long-form videos, be sure to allow time for your audience to view them without feeling rushed.
Some YouTubers put out great videos every single day. That’s great, but it’s not necessary unless your objective is to be a YouTuber rather than promoting another business. But creating good content weekly or biweekly can help tell the story of your brand and engage an audience.
Conclusion
No matter what social media platforms you use for marketing, posting regularly is a key to success. The frequency of posting depends on the platform. Remember that more isn’t better; you don’t want to overwhelm your audience. Evaluate the statistics that the platforms provide and make adjustments to your schedule. It will take some experimentation, but you’ll find an ideal schedule for your publications.