How often should I post on my social media profiles?

Written on 17 October, 2016 by Lisa Shannahan
Categories Social Media Tags facebook instagram linkedin social media twitter

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. How often you should post on social media depends on a few key variables, which I’ll discuss in today’s article.

How much content do you have for the next 90 days?

A place to start is by looking at your internal content. How many blog posts, videos, images and text updates do you have, or will you create, in the next 90 days?

If you only have 30 pieces of content, posting once a day gives you a total of 30 days. Posting once every three days, in this example, would be better to keep consistency and build awareness.

There is no rule stating you have to post once or multiple times per day. It’s much better to post one piece of quality content every other day than posting mediocre content multiple times per day.

According to a Buffer study, here’s how often the top brands post on various social networks.

Infographic: how often you should post on social media

(Source)

Pro tip: If you’re low on content, consider sharing newsworthy articles or blog posts by influencers in your industry.

What time should I post on social media?

Once you get your frequency sorted, next up is timing. Organic posts can receive twice as much (or twice as little) engagement depending on when you post.

When is the best time to post on social media? Again, that varies on a number of factors such as your country, audience type and target market. If you already have a Facebook page, by going to the Insights dashboard and clicking on Posts, you can see the time your fans are logged into Facebook.

For the page above, posting between 2:30pm and 9pm seem to have the highest concentration of users online.

Pro tip: Test a number of times and days to find the right posting strategy for your business.

Content-specific platforms

If your business is active on a number of social media profiles, you shouldn’t be posting the exact same content across all channels. For example, you can post blog posts on Twitter and Facebook, but not on Instagram.

Memes and funny images are much more suited to Facebook and Twitter as they are aimed at the B2C market, but this wouldn’t work as well on LinkedIn given the bulk of users are working professionals, and they could tarnish your professionalism.

Before you create profiles on various social media channels, you need to ask yourself what type of content you’re producing and then choose your platforms. There will be very little reason to use Instagram and Pinterest if you’re creating no video or image content.

Summary

Social media is all about quality, not quantity.

Don’t make the mistake of posting several times per day if your content is poor or not engaging. Create a posting schedule before you get started and plan how often you will post each week. Posting updates on the fly makes it incredibly difficult to measure your success.

Are you looking to expand your presence on social media? Click here to learn more.

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