This is the question I am asked most frequently. How often should I post on Social Media? The following are some guidelines for posting. As with anything a little of your own experience and common sense should also be taken into consideration. I have linked a very good article with the stats I am using at the end of this blog.
Posting to Facebook
Facebook has significantly changed the way business pages work in the last 12 months. Very few of your posts will be seen by the people who like your page. So, frequency and quality (more on that later) are important.
Current thinking says that you should be posting 3 to 5 times a week. Engagement drops off if you post more than 2 times a day.
Posts that get likes, reactions, comments and particularly shares will be shown to more people. So post items that encourage this interaction.
Posting on Twitter
This one has proven to be a bit divisive. Some experts saying 100 posts a day (don’t do this you don’t have time) to 3 times a day, a bit more manageable (I’ll talk about some free websites to help with this later). I would go for 3 if you can. Twitter content need not be as in depth as Facebook so is simpler to put together. As a bare minimum Twitter needs 1 post a day.
Posting on Instagram
Instagram is probably one of the most active social media sites out there right now and incredibly good for brand awareness and highly visual businesses. Current thinking states that you should be posting on Instagram at least once but no more than 3 times a day. Mix up still images and carousels with the occasional video (1 minute is the maximum you can post). Use hashtags, about 9 – 11, otherwise, your content won’t be searchable.
Posting 1 or 2 Instagram stories a week is probably a good idea. If you connect your Facebook Business page to your Instagram account, you can share your stories and pictures automatically to Facebook as well.
Posting on LinkedIn
If you are B2B you need to be on LinkedIn. It is without a doubt the best network to engage with other businesses. Posting frequency is much lower, only 2 times a week, so use this as an opportunity to really deliver professional, quality content to show people you are credible and relevant.
Another recommendation for LinkedIn is to join some relevant groups and spend a little time each week engaging with them. Liking, sharing and commenting (positively and constructively) on posts will raise your profile and your credibility.
Uploading to YouTube
Now, this is an interesting one. If you are trying to specifically gain a following on YouTube you need to be posting at least once a week, at a regular time, supported by other social media activity.
However, if YouTube is a means for you to provide video content for other channels, then use it as and when. YouTube videos are particularly good for adding value to your website. You can get good quality video on your page, which really helps engagement and sales, but as it is a link it will not slow your page down. Beware of sharing your YouTube videos to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as they now want video uploaded directly to their platform rather than through a Link. My next blog will look at the value of video and I will discuss this properly then.
Frequency vs Quality
The fact is that, as business owners, a lot of this can seem a faff and a waste of time (the next paragraph will discuss some free tools to help) it really isn’t. However, the most important element of good posting is quality content.
You could post 100 times to Twitter if you really wanted to (1 tweet every 14 minutes!) but if they are all poor quality or irrelevant to your customers you are not going to get anywhere. The key to any good marketing is content, I’ll link my blog on content at the end. Concentrate on delivering regular content that engages with your customers. Answer their burning questions, demonstrate your product, ask their opinion. Content starts with your customer and finishes with you.
Help is at Hand
There are a number of excellent free websites that can help you manage the load. I have listed a few that I use, you should check them out.
- Facebook Scheduling: Facebook does have its own tool for scheduling posts on its business pages. There is an arrow next to the publish button, click on it and schedule is one of the options. You can then do a few day’s worth of posts in one go and Facebook will post them at the times you choose.
- Hootsuite: The free Hootsuite account allows you to plan and schedule posts for up to 3 social networks. This means you can do all your social media posting on a Monday morning and relax for the rest of the week.
- Feedly: I love Feedly and use it all the time. You nominate important websites and keywords, then Feedly monitors them for you and brings any new info from them to you in a nice list. It is a great way to get content to share that will be relevant and useful.
- Google Trends: The site will tell you when a certain topic trends throughout a year, month or week. You can then plan content to hit these peaks (using Hootsuite) so you can maximise reach to interested parties.
- Grammarly: The free version of Grammarly is really all you need. If you are on a laptop the extension neatly plugs into your networks and will highlight any spelling or grammatical errors.
These are 5 of my favourites that will take away some of the pain of social media posting.
How often should I post on Social Media?
Hopefully, this has given you some insight into how often you should post on Social Media. Regular, relevant and quality should be your watchwords. Social networks are a valuable addition to your businesses marketing presence, it takes time and patience to make it work, but when it does it will make a difference.
If you have any burning digital or content marketing questions please get in touch and I will be happy to help.