As a digital marketing agency that has managed our fair share of social media accounts, one of the biggest social media marketing questions we get asked is:
“How often should I be posting on social media?”
It’s the burning question on everyone’s lips, but also the trickiest to answer. Everyone on the internet has an opinion on how often to post, posting strategy and the art of optimised scheduling.
But in all honesty, there isn’t one size fits all with social media posting. The fine line between keeping the convo going and annoying the hell out of your followers is what all social media marketers are aiming for.
We want our social media posts to land on people’s feeds, with exactly the right content, when they are online ready to engage with us.
How much posting on social media is not enough? And what happens when you post too often? Is there the perfect time to schedule that killer Tweet? Are there any more questions you can cram into one blog specifically created to answer your questions?!
Fear, not my friend, I have been compiling this guide to social media posting frequency for longer than you have been pondering an emoji for you thread of Instagram stories.
Here’s our guide to how often you should be posting to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to optimize your reach — without annoying your followers.
How often should you be posting on social media?
So, you’ve got your hands on a brand spanking new social media scheduling tool and your calendar of posts is blank. I bet you’re just dying to fill every gap with any content you can muster up, right?
There is such a thing as posting too often or not enough. Sway either side of the line and you could find a drop in engagement, followers or – worse case scenarios – be reported for social spamming.
Further down this post, I’ll break my guide to social media frequency by platform, but for now, let’s focus on the basics.
Before you start turning your social media marketing strategy into a full 365-day calendar of content, its 100% worth looking at a few things first:
1. What are your objectives for social media (by the platform as your TikTok likely serves a different role to your LinkedIn)
2. What days and times are my audiences online?
3. What content already meets your objectives?
4. How much capacity and content do you have to hand (this is important and we’ll discuss this later)
Knowing what and who all this is for before you start pinging out a plethora of content will make sure that your frequency is guided by solid insights.
A good place to start is always in your insights and analytics. Take a look at your audience stats. When are they online? What day, time, and platform do they hand out? Delve deeper, when do they engage with your posts?
It’s all good and well posting on social media like Facebook at 8 pm every day because that’s when most people are online, but you might miss that all your comments happen in the window of 12-1 pm when Sandra and her friends are chomping on their ham sandwich at their desk.
Pay attention to:
· Click-through rates
· Comment timings
· Competitor post schedule
· Website referral times
Don’t get too caught up with the optimised timings I’ll be sharing below if they don’t align with your insights. Sure everyone might be on Instagram at 9 pm every night, but so are all your competitors posting at the same time.
Don’t be afraid to test posting outside of normal hours as you could be the only one in the stadium with full attention on you.
Frequency Testing
I’m at risk of sounding like a broken so I’ll keep this brief. Regardless of whether it’s a well crafted Ad campaign or a killer SEO campaign, essentially all digital marketing followers have a similar formula:
Analyse + adapt + test + review + repeat
Despite all the advice on how often to post on social media, it boils down to this one thing: test it and see.
How often should I post on Facebook?
Facebook is the third most visited website in the world, with the average user spending at least 34 minutes of their life online here.
That’s plenty of time to feed a post about your brand-new ergonomic car seat cover surely.
The fact is that Facebook is also a very busy sphere and as with many platforms algorithms and ad space competition can get in the way when you are trying to reach the right people at the right time.
Frequency:
The magic number for Facebook posting frequency is generally agreed as between 1-2 a day at least 3 times a week. Any more than twice a day and it could be deemed a bit spammy. Any less than 3 times a week and you’re going to likely see a drop in reach and turn engagement.
Things to do today:
1. Check your Facebook Insights and specifically when you get the most action
2. Create a schedule of 3-4 posts a week to begin and test timings
3. Remember to be active yourself and use time online to engage with others rather than sitting waiting for the likes to roll in
4. Focus on sharable content to extend the lifespan of posts
How often should I post on Twitter?
Blink and you miss it Twitter is a favourite amongst those who like to stay in the know and be on the ball with the latest news. So if you’re wondering not to do posting on social media then don’t leave Twitter to fester for too long.
Most Twitter users spend an average of 15 minutes a day online here and jump on at least twice a day. Watch time on Twitter has increased 72% since last year.
It’s not for passive social media use which also means it’s a great opportunity for those active and aware.
Frequency:
It is generally recommended to post 1-2 times per day, and no more than 3-5 times per day. This is account dependent. BBC News will go way above this whilst a local community orchard may only post once a day.
Specifically, it depends on what you want to measure. The engagement per tweet measure can tell you at what point your tweets reach their maximum performance levels. Track Social found this to be a similar number to Social Bakers. Per Track Social, response per tweet peaks at five and then drops off.
So, if you want to wring the most value out of posting on social media then tweet about five times each day.
Remember: quality always trumps quantity so don’t start tweeting like a mad man for the sake of it!
Things to do today:
1. Check your Twitter Insights for optimum timings
2. Consider the rule of thirds: ⅓ of tweets promote your business, ⅓ share personal stories, and ⅓ are informative insights from experts or influencers (also applies to LinkedIn – see below)
3. Create a schedule of 2-3 posts a day
4. Include retweets, GIFs and regular commenting in your schedule
5. Set up lists to keep up with relevant areas
How often should I post on Linkedin?
With 40 million users searching for jobs each week, and over 10% checking in several times a day, LinkedIn should be missed in your social media strategy.
What’s more LinkedIn’s research proves frequent posting leads to a doubling of engagement.
Frequency:
LinkedIn confirms that 20 posts a month is the optimum frequency for posting, roughly once a day 5 days a week.
Hootsuite found:
“LinkedIn itself has seen brands that post once a month gain followers six times faster than those who keep a lower profile. That pattern continues with more frequent posting: companies that post weekly see twice the engagement, while bands that post daily gain even more traction.”
Things to do today:
1. Be clear about your strategy for Linkedin – it’s likely different to the other platforms
2. This is an inside job – ensure all company members are on board and active with their profiles
3. Tag staff and partners to encourage shares for a longer lifespan
4. Consider the working hours of your audience and whether this is the time they are likely online.
How often should I post on Instagram?
We end on my personal favourite platform for the variety and frequency of opportunities it can offer. I mean, if you’re looking for opportunities to reach people often and at the right time, Instagram is your platform!
Instagram has an estimated 3.7 billion visits every day, 500 million story views and an average user time of 30 minutes a day. And the stat all businesses love to know: 81% of Instagram users are there to research products and services.
I for one land on someone’s grid before I browse their webshop. It’s like flicking through someone’s holiday snaps before you book a flight with them: you got to check their vibe first!
Frequency:
If we are talking about posting on social media alone, the consensus is to post to your Instagram feed 2-3 times per week, but no more than once a day.
If you’re looking for a regular stream of updates this is where stories can be utilised. Arguably time invested in stories and reels will win you a higher reach and engagement than posting every single day.
During Instagram’s Creator Week in June 2021, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri suggested that posting 2 feed posts per week and 2 Stories per day is ideal for building a following on the app.
Things to do today:
1. Check your insights for times your audience is online AND active with your account
2. Schedule stories on days you are not posting content to keep a regular flow of engagement
3. Jump on at least 10 minutes a day to respond, like, comment and generally be present
4. Keep a check on changes in story view numbers as well as post likes
Consistency and quality over frequency
Ultimately, quality and consistency win over frequency every day on every platform. I talk a bit more about this with regards to Instagram specifically in this Instagram focused post. But when you are building a community and turning heads, you’ll stand out more with damn good content that shows up time and time again.
Create a super-hot plan and stick to it (analysis and adaption permitting, obvs).
Though your audience might not yet be sat waiting in the dark for your latest post to post into their feed, they will notice that whenever they drop into their favourite social media platform you are always there, consistently, with wicked content that ticks all their boxes.
Make sure your social media schedule is full only of the best content you can muster, and you keep the flow going – regardless of how often you post.
Summary
OK, Trudi, so I’ve read this whole post, but I still want to know how often should I post on Facebook?
The simple answer is: as often as you want!
Because, honestly, the proof will be in the delectable pudding of steam of like, loves, shares and comments.
Create a social media strategy and content schedule that keeps great quality content flowing consistently and is mindful of who and when people are hanging out on each platform.
Check-in regularly with your social objectives to make sure your content is doing what you want it to, and don’t be afraid to test, tweak, adapt and sack off anything that doesn’t work.
