How Often We Should Post On Social Media

Social media is a very powerful tool.  Unfortunately the "power" can work both ways...for us and against us.  By now, we all understand that by simply opening a Facebook, or Twitter account we will not magically have clients and customers running to us with their credit cards in hand.  There is still work to be done.  One of the biggest mistakes I see in social media (besides hard selling ) is posting frequency.  It's hard to build a relationship online if we're only heard from once every couple of months.  On the contrary, we can become overwhelming and appear desperate if we post every other second.  I can pick on these over-posters because I started out that way ;)  I want to quickly go over how often we should post to each social media platform to have the right balance of exposure without being annoying.



Facebook:  Although there is an algorithm that Facebook has that only shows us content that it feels we want to see, it is counterproductive to try to force our way into people's news feed by posting several times per day.  The magic number is 1.  No more, no less.  If we "show up" everyday in a safe way (good, helpful content), we will always remain in sight and in mind.  People, on average, check Facebook 13 times per day, but it's easier to catch up on the day so if our posts take up the news feed we will be tuned out and sometimes "unliked". One great post per day will keep people coming back and wanting more.


Twitter:  This is a completely different platform than Facebook and it moves at more of a rapid pace.  If we only posted once per day on Twitter, it would be like a needle in the haystack and get lost.  To gain presence here, businesses need to be posting throughout the day.  At least 4 or 5 times.  Don't worry, if you space them out over the day, it will not be overwhelming to your followers I promise.


Google Plus: Google Plus is very similar in structure and function to Facebook.  Obviously there are many differences, but the posting frequency is the same. Once a day to your wall.  The big difference is you can have side conversations in different "circles" and "communities" throughout the day, but multiple wall posts will beat down our followers.



Pinterest:  Pinterest is becoming one of my favorite marketing tools. Let's face it, pictures sell and Pinterest is nothing but pictures! My advice on how often to "pin" here is similar to Twitter: a couple of pins throughout the day.  We definitely don't want to put up 4 or 5 pins a row and dominate someone's feed.  That's too much.  However, people jump on multiple times per day and it's nearly impossible to catch all the pins (like Twitter) so pinning a couple in the afternoon, then again in the evening is a good strategy to get exposure to your brand.


The key to any marketing strategy is consistency, especially when it comes to social media marketing.  The common theme above is that to gain traction, we must post to multiple platforms each and everyday (I do not post on Sundays as I take that day off completely).  We do, however, need to avoid over-exposure or else people will get sick of us regardless of content.  Business that provide helpful content to their followers in the right "doses" per day will gain trust and referrals.  Please share with anyone that may find value in this article and I appreciate you taking the time to read it.