Article by Emma Gosper, Digital Advisor, Western Sydney Business Centre
One of the most common questions people ask about social media is how often they should be posting their content on the platforms they use.
The answer is, there is no across the board rule for how often you should post, but with some experimenting and monitoring, you can definitely figure out what works for your business and the platforms you are using.
You don’t want to over post, so that you lose your fans and followers by flooding them with content, yet you don’t want to under post, so that you get lost within the social world or look like you don’t actively use your socials to promote your brand and keep in touch with your clients/customers.
For Facebook and Instagram, as a general rule, you’ll want to start with a post at least once every day. As a bare minimum, start with at least 3-4 posts per week. First, this gives your followers consistency; people will be more likely to continue following you if you’re providing them with a consistent flow of content. Second, this shows your commitment to being active. New prospective followers who browse through your older posts will see how consistent you are in posting every day, and will be more likely to follow you. Twitter and other fast-paced feeds, typically favour multiple posts per day.
Time is more valuable than others when it comes to social media posts. For example, most platforms see a spike in activity after people finish work between 5pm and 8pm. You can aim to post at the most popular usage times to get in front of more people, but keep in mind that others are pursuing this strategy as well—it may be worth testing your posts during off times, when your content is less likely to be lost amongst the noise – possibly before work or during lunch breaks.
You can jump on your Facebook page and visit the Posts page in the Insights tab to see what times and days your fans are most active. Use this as a guide for the rest of your socials too, as people tend to browse different platforms at the same time.