Quality and consistency are key to social media success.
Through recent studies, it has been shown that there are indeed optimal posting frequencies for different social media platforms. The good news is that it’s probably not as frequent as you may have been led to believe! Don’t be fooled by the Facebook page that posts hourly or the Twitter account posting every 15 minutes, the average business using social media will have their own realistic frequencies that work for them.
Is how often you post on social media important?
Of course, how often you post on social media is important but so is making sure you do not post too frequently! If you have unlimited funds or time then frequent posting might be up your alley, however, for the average person/business who don’t have unlimited anything, try this. I’ve put together different posting frequencies for different social media platforms that you’re welcome to try below!
How Often Should I Post on Twitter?
If you’re anything like me you can sometimes find Twitter over whelming, especially trying to figure out how often and how many tweets to tweet?!
An array of studies I found varied wildly – anywhere from once per day to a huge 51 times per day! I was left even more overwhelmed.
However, this general consensus of tweeting between 3 to 30 times per day did calm the nerves. As you may not (or may) be aware, tweets have an incredibly short shelf life, so it is crucial to spread your tweets throughout your day.
Bare minimum: once per day. Improvement: 3 to 6 tweets per day. Ideal: 15 to 23 tweets per day.
Avoid: Disappearing from Twitter for weeks or months – you’ll lose followers.
P.S. Another study found that the most-followed Twitter accounts were averaging 23 tweets per day, this includes no decline in followers as tweet counts rose.
How Often Should I Post on Facebook?
A number of studies agree that posting once per day is optimal and two posts per day is the max. A study done by Hubspot showed that there was a 50% drop-in engagement per post for pages who had under 10,000 followers if they posted more than once per day. I suggest posting on your Facebook Pages at least 3 times per week.
I have noticed studies point to the early afternoon in regard to when to post on Facebook. I believe this may be due to the fact that more people are online and sharing at that time of the day. This may not work for every individual/business as you may want to choose a different time where you’re more likely to stand out and not get lost in the crowd.
Be sure to check your Facebook Insights regularly as this will indicate when your audience is online. This will determine when is best for you to post.
Bare minimum: once per week. Improvement: 3 times per week. Ideal: once per day.
Avoid: Posting/sharing at frequent intervals, try to allow a minimum of 3 hours between those posts. I bet you didn’t know the #1 reason people unfollow pages is due to “Too many updates”.
How Often Should I Post on Pinterest?
The suggested minimum is 3 Pins per day, with a maximum of 30 Pins per day. And posting more than 30 Pins per day does not in fact show any additional benefits.
Here is a great tip for you, the ideal amount for your account will actually depend on how much time you have available to dedicate to making fresh, quality Pins. 3 “fresh Pins” are more likely to perform better than 25 repeated Pins.
Bare minimum: Once per day. Improvement: 3 to 5 Pins per day. Ideal: 10 to 25 Pins per day.
Avoid: Frequently repeating Pins or to more than 10 Pinterest Boards.
How Often Should I Post on Instagram?
It’s commonly recommended, on Instagram, to post at least once per day, and no more than 3 times per day.
I’ve found the similar times of day as Facebook just as effective for Instagram. Stats showed that 9am was the prime time, this was closely followed by 11pm Eastern time.
Bare minimum: Once per week. Improvement: 3 times per week. Ideal: once or twice per day.
Avoid: Sharing a bunch of posts too frequently or disappearing for weeks at a time.
How Often Should I Post on LinkedIn?
Try to post at least twice per week. LinkedIn recommends sharing 20 posts per month, these averages amount to about once per business day. I recommend posting in the mornings as well for optimal reach.
An important one to take note of is with LinkedIn it’s not how often you are posting, but it’s the type of content you’re sharing with viewers. It is a professional networking site, so try to keep it that way.
Bare minimum: 2 posts per week. Improvement: 3 to 4 posts per week. Ideal: once per day
Avoid: Try not to let your posts steer off topic of the ‘Strictly business-related’ posts for LinkedIn.
How Often Should I Post on YouTube?
Once again, consistency is key.
Try uploading a new video weekly. Don’t over commit, YouTube videos take time so I suggest creating a stash of videos that you can post at scheduled times that work best for you.
Don’t ditch YouTube simply because you cannot post weekly and don’t post junky videos just to have some content uploaded.
I am aware I’ve said this before, but its because it’s so important – consistency and quality are key, they are what works for the audience.
So, the best times for uploading to YouTube are Thursdays and Fridays, it should be between 12 and 3pm in the time zone that majority of your subscribers are in.
And Monday and Tuesday are the worst days to upload to YouTube.
How Often Should I Blog?
I thought I would include Blogs as it is sometimes lumped in with ‘Social Media’.
A tip for if you’re new to blogging - more content will definitely shift you up in the search rankings. If you have a more established blog with plenty of content, you should focus less on how much new content you can create, and more on updating and optimizing your current content.
Bare minimum: Once per month. Once per weeks is ideal, and if you can post two or three times per week that’s even better.
Avoid: Posting mediocre content to simply meet a “quota.” Don’t go publishing a ton of blog posts when you have time to write, and none when you’re busy. Again, consistency will help the search engines –and your readers – know what to expect. But make sure it’s quality.
Conclusion: How often should I be posting on social media?
Posting more frequently doesn’t mean your content will be seen more!
The algorithms of various social networks’ each work differently to each other, but the engagement and relevance are key to all!
Here’s a great overview with stats about social media today:
· Facebook orders meaningful interactions highest.
· Instagram orders content by relevancy, popularity and a user’s relationship with the account posting.
· Tweets are sorted by relevance to the user and time posted.
· LinkedIn content is ranked by the degree to which you are connected with someone on LinkedIn or have mutual connections and by engagement.
· Pinterest ranks content based on previous user interactions.
Don’t forget about these key points for how often to post on social media:
· Consistency outweighs your posting frequency.
· When it comes to content – quality over quantity.
· The best way to find out if posts are successful is to set an objective for social media.
· Be sure to check your stats so you know what works best for your account!
I hope you found this article useful or at all helpful. Feel free to get in contact with us if you have any queries.
I’m Jack, the Motion Director here at OK Social. I’ve been working in the world of motion design and animation for nearly 10 years. I had the pleasure of working with leading agencies and brands around the world, such as Samsung, Ford, Shell, Deliveroo, and Starbucks, to name a few.
From a young age, I’ve always been interested in animation, from making stop-motion films in my room as a kid to learning animation on my first computer. It started as a passion and still is to this day. Part of what I do now is more than just animation. I help craft the narratives of the stories we tell to ensure they make an impact to the audience and remain worthy of their attention.
So how do I do that? It starts with asking the right questions, leading to solving the right problems. First, diagnose what the problem is. Then, we can start to see if we can help. I believe that communication plays a key role in delivering a smooth and successful project. Looking into the future, I’m excited to expand my knowledge into creating more engaging stories that make a difference.
