It’s a question for the ages. ‘How Often Should I Post To Social Media?’
Have you lost sleep wondering about the frequency of your social media and blog posting?
That sentiment may sound silly – I mean, who loses sleep over digital matters? – but for business owners and marketing professionals, this is a genuine worry. Not just for image and recognition sake, but for meeting the social norm and appeasing Google’s search algorithm (other search engines are available).
Naturally, there’s more to concern yourself with when constructing a digital marketing strategy than purely stressing about the ‘optimal number’ of daily/weekly/monthly posts. We’ll point out a significant fact right now – there’s no magic formula. Sorry about that.
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Regardless of our attempt to calm your blood, you’ll still feel pressure to identify that sweet spot. Overwhelming your followers will spam the news feed and cause a domino effect, but you don’t want to miss out on exposure. It can all feel a bit mind-boggling, especially when you feel the need to counterbalance postings from your competition.
The questions swirl around in your mind. How much is too much? Am I posting too infrequently? When is the best time to post? Are those my feet?
Put down the Prozac. We are here to help you.
While we can’t physically help you drift off into the land of slumber, we can offer some guidance on roughly when to post your social media content (and your website-based blog articles) for ultimate user engagement levels and SEO impact.
As stated earlier, there’s no magic formula for posting to digital platforms. This advice is baked from complex data, marinated in research, and served with a garnish of insight. Right – enough of the cooking analogies. Let’s get down to it.
How Often You Should Post To Social Media
We won’t bolster the word count with mindless guff. We know why you are here and the information you are looking for. So, without further ado, here’s a table for your viewing pleasure:
On Instagram – 3 and 7 times per week.
On Facebook – 1 and 2 times a day.
On Twitter – 1 and 3 Tweets a day.
On LinkedIn – 1 and 3 times a day.
Simples. Right? Sadly not.
Every business (and, therefore, every social media account) is unique. Every audience base is different, and these variants change depending on the demographic and service that you are offering.
Let me give you an example. In the Physical Therapy world, most services are geared and marketed towards the ‘older’ generations. According to research out there, these ‘oldies’ are not online as often as those pesky ‘youngsters’.
As such, to gain the attention of the PT market demographic, you don’t need to post something every 30 minutes to remain relevant.
At the other end of the scale, companies selling clothes or services geared towards teenagers (*shudder*) need to publish something on a frighteningly rapid basis to keep attention and remain relevant.
Let’s dig a little deeper and set the ground rules.
How Often Should I Post on Instagram?
Ah. Instagram. The platform for photographers and those who appreciate a beautiful snapshot. Right? Um…
That very much used to be the case. But now it’s business orientated and a must for anyone looking to grow their company. It’s generally assumed that posting somewhere between 1-3 times per week is an optimum frequency, and we’d be inclined to agree.
Posting on a feverish basis to Instagram isn’t going to allow each individual post time to breathe. Gearing up to post more than once per day is likely to overwhelm your target audience, and they will simply go elsewhere.
If you want to post more than once per day, then that’s where ‘Stories’ come in. According to the Instagram chief (yes, it’s an actual position), Adam Mosseri, you should be posting two feed items per week, with up to two stories per day for healthy results.
There you have it. Straight from the horse’s mouth. The message is clear – don’t bombard your audience. Think about how often they would want to hear from you. By building a regular posting structure, it won’t take long before you have doubled your followers.
Bear in mind that, although Instagram clocks up (an incredible) 3.76 billion daily visits, the average user only spends 30 minutes a go trawling through their feed. Grab their attention, as they won’t hang around long.
Still not convinced about Instagram? Here’s a mind-bending statistic for you. 81% of multi-platform users turn to Instagram to research products and services. That’s a big chunk of potential client leads to be missing out on.
How Often Should I Post On Facebook?
Ah. Facebook. The platform for extroverts and those who love sharing their exploits. Right? Um…
Kind of. Facebook was once the counterculture paradise for people who wished to appear ahead of the curve – and popular. While those attributes still ooze through Facebook’s current mantra, businesses and data collectors now dominate Facebook’s life blood.
It’s not the complete juggernaut that you think it is, though. While stronger in SEO aspects than the likes of Instagram when posting as a business, it is recommended by specialists (including ourselves) not to post more than twice per day. We’d recommend one post every 24 hours.
That may sound pedantic, but our recommendation stands for one big reason. If you post too often, your audience engagement is going to slip. Getting trigger happy with your post button will propel a hefty dose of information overload at your target audience.
Hit them with too much, and they’re either going to mute your activity, or weed you from their feed – making your posts somewhat stagnant. Instead, posting once per day has proven to grow followers and messages 4x faster than posting once per week.
Think about it. Quality over quantity not only brings engagement, but also ensures visibility in your demographic’s timeline.
Still not feeling the Facebook vibe? What if we told you that Facebook is currently (as of August 2021) the world’s third most popular website, and that half of all North American citizens check their Facebook more than once per day?
Suddenly, that sounds like a hell of a number of potential clients to be ignoring.
How Often Should I Post On Twitter?
Ah. Twitter. The platform for microbloggers who seek a different approach to online communication. Right? Um…
Again, businesses and data collectors utilize Twitter for all sorts of gain. Twitter represents a considerable chunk of North American socialized media activity. A quarter of the population checks Twitter more than once per day. That’s a HUGE number of people.
To gain the attention of your target demographic, we would suggest ‘tweeting’ once or twice per day. Regardless of how frequently you are posting, remember to adjust hashtags accordingly. Catch onto a popular trend and find a way to interact, without smothering the threads.
Don’t make all the posts purely about your business, though. Share some personal aspects (perhaps steering clear of abject politics…and cats…) and retweet informative insights from industry leaders, or the occasional influencer.
Need a little more convincing about posting to Twitter? 42% of North American adults check Twitter at least once per day, for an average of 15 minutes per visit. Do you really want to cut off so many potential customers?
How Often Should I Post To LinkedIn?
Ah. LinkedIn. The platform for people who wear suits and find other social media channels a bit too casual. Right? Um….
Yes. Spot on. LinkedIn is where businesses get to share achievements and concepts with an audience who are seeking exactly that. We’d say to post on LinkedIn once each day, but you can indulge a bit more should you wish. Yet, anything above three times in a 24 hour period is going to become overwhelming reasonably quickly.
The LinkedIn pattern showcases that posting once a week can gain recognition and followers 6x faster than posting only once per month. If you are looking for the ultimate result in traction, posting on a regular structured basis gains far more positive exposure when compared to posting once in a blue moon.
Still not feeling the love for LinkedIn? You are missing out on a whole world of potential activity and progress. According to Hootsuite, companies who post on a weekly basis to LinkedIn enjoy twice the engagement rate to those who don’t post regularly. Don’t be one of those people who miss out on such a good thing.
How Often Should I Post A Blog?
This is a bit different to your social media activity, as your blog is usually hosted on your own website. Not only that, but blogs take far longer to craft and publish than a simple social media post.
For starters, a blog should be around 1500 words and crammed with SEO attributes to gain attention from search engine algorithms. That is easier said than done; although the more that you blog, the more material you can share on social platforms.
If your blog is genuinely helpful and written from scratch with user-experience at its heart, people will share your content and do the hard work for you.
So, how often should you post a blog? We’d recommend once per month. That may not sound like much, but one quality blog post per month proves to Google that you are still active as a business. And it gives you snippets and quotes for your posts that can start discussion for maximum exposure and engagement.
You can post more than once, of course, but bear in mind the impact on your time this will take. You still have a business to run! It’s all about time balance, but if you are struggling to find time to write blog articles, we can help with our professional content creation service.
You can read more about crafting blogs in our previous blog post, too.
In Summary
As with anything social, finding your ideal frequency and gauging success is a matter of trial and error. Don’t call anything a ‘mistake’, however. After all, another word for ‘mistake’ is ‘experience’, and with experience under your belt, you will eventually find the sweet spot.
Always remember that the quality of your postings is more critical than the frequency, and that you shouldn’t post too many times per day or week. Develop your routine and you’ll get to sit back and watch the activity come rolling in.
Boiled down, the more relevant your content is, and the more valuable your social media postings are, the more you will connect with your audience – and the healthier your client leads will become.
Need help with anything that we’ve talked about? You can get in touch with us anytime through our contact page.
Calum Brown
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