Published: 2023-11-22
Views: 283
Author: TracyJ
Published in: Social Media & Bookmarking

It’s the question that launched a thousand sleepless nights: “How often should I post to social media?”

Of course, there’s much, much more to a successful social media strategy than just posting the optimal number of times: it’s not a magic formula, let’s get that straight.

Still, there’s a lot of pressure on to find that sweet spot of frequency. You don’t want to overwhelm your followers or feel like you’re spamming the news feed. You also don’t want to be forgotten or miss opportunities for exposure.

But how much is too much? How much is too little? (And then once you’ve figured that out, when’s the best time to post?)

Well, good news: you can stop your social posting panic spiral. We’ve got all the info you need about exactly how often you should be posting to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to really optimize your reach — without annoying your followers. Using the best social media management tool can make posting frequency easy

Facebook

The general sweet spot for posting frequency on Facebook, for businesses, is 1-2 times per day during the week and no more than 1 time per day on the weekend

SocialBakers looked at several major brands’ posting habits on Facebook and found that on average they posted 1 time per day. It was also found that posting 3 or more posts per day negatively affected engagement and led to a loss of page likes.

Due to the mass popularity of Facebook worldwide, algorithms have been put in place to filter out posts and display what Facebook feels each user would want to see.

Simply put, if users are not engaging with posts from a business then they will stop seeing the posts altogether.

The good news is the frequency of posting required on Facebook is significantly lower than networks such as Twitter, so businesses can really focus on posting high-quality content.

Twitter

Unlike Facebook, Twitter does not filter out posts. This causes the lifespan of posts to be significantly shorter, 2 hours to be exact (though this number can be reduced to just minutes depending on the number of people a user is following).

At eClincher we try to tweet about 8-12 times per day, not including replies and retweets. Track social analyzed the success of tweets and found the sweet spot for most businesses to be between 4-15 tweets per day.

Due to this large range of frequencies, it is crucial to experiment and find the right amount for your business. If your business is global, you will probably post closer to 10-15 tweets per day in order to cater to different time zones. If you are a local business, tweeting 4 times a day may be plenty.

The ideal frequency of posting on LinkedIn, as described by LinkedIn themselves, is 20 times per month. A simpler way to look at this is 1 post per day during the week.

Weekends are not a great time to post on LinkedIn due to the professional nature of the site. Most users take a break on the weekend from LinkedIn, just like they do from work.

Avoid too many promotional posts on LinkedIn, because it goes against the nature of the site. Share industry insight and news about your company for the best results.

Instagram

Try not to post more than 7 posts per week on Instagram. There is an unspoken rule that you should not post multiple times per day on Instagram. Posting twice in a day is not forbidden, but one post a day seems to be the network norm.

Post between 4-10 times per day. Pinterest is a high-volume network, so posting only a few times per week will not lead to much success for your business. Make sure to post high-quality images and take advantage of vertical photos. Vertical photos take up a lot of screen real estate and are proven to have higher engagement.

YouTube

If possible, try to upload a few new videos each month. The use of videos is great for businesses, but it is not easy to produce videos, so your posting frequency will be lower than other networks.

Make sure to promote your YouTube videos on your other social media channels to increase visibility.

The important aspect of posting is timing. For example, motivational posts are typically successful early in the morning because people will share them with others to help motivate them to conquer their day.

Posting at the most popular times of the day can sometimes be counter-productive, since there will be so much traffic.

If you are not posting early in the morning (before 6:00 AM) or late at night (after 10:00 PM) because the traffic is lower, give these less popular time slots a try. Less competition could greatly increase visibility for your business.

Please feel free to share your comments in the comment box below if this well-researched post has given you some new information.