There is disagreement over how often to post on social media and business websites. Some say, the more you post, the better chance they’ll find you. Other’s stick to the saying “less is more”. However, one belief every good marketer has in common is that all content published must be of good quality. So, where do you draw the line between quality and quantity to manage your resources effectively?
Prioritize Quality Above All Else
As we discussed above, quality should be your top priority in any content marketing plan you have before frequency of posting. That said, here are a few benchmark points your blog article posts should meet before you publish them:
- At least 1,000 words
- Include internal and outbound links
- Use <H2> header tags for section headers
- Include a mix of media (images, videos, gifs, audio clips, etc.)
- Write in 1st and 2nd person (I, you, we, etc.)
The point in creating and posting content is to actually help potential customers solve a problem or answer a question they have, not to just spread your brand name around. Always create and design content with your audience in mind! Creating content for your consumers also means posting your articles on various platforms and during times when they’re most likely to see and interact with it. Get to know where your audience spends their social media time so you can know if you need to be posting to Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Pinterest ect.
If you’re struggling to produce consistent, quality content, there are resources out there to help you, so you don’t have to sacrifice your marketing efforts! Even the least accomplished writers are capable of writing quality articles, you just need the dedication to get you there!
Here are a few resources you may want to consider when you’ve hit a writing roadblock:
You can actually find a lot of good ideas and content topics by simply reading the news and scrolling through your social media accounts. Another idea would be to find out what topics are trending in your industry or with your target audience and contribute to the discussion. Your target audience is more likely to interact with your content if it applies to them in some way.
And don’t forget to give your article a voice! Don’t be afraid to include contractions or use common (but business appropriate) sayings or slang. Your readers will be able to learn a bit about you by the way you write. Keep it interesting. If you write your articles in a compelling, comfortable, and common like manner, you’ll definitely have a better shot at reaching your audience and prospects!
Too Much, Too Little, Just Right
Alright, if you have quality (and optimized) content that’s ready for posting, you’re possibly wondering how often to post to social media, and on what platforms, to get good results. Well, it really depends on what your goals are in the first place. Are you trying to increase sales for a particular product? Do you want to increase your connections or followers? Or perhaps your goal is to try and obtain a higher CTR?
Unfortunately, there’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to the frequency of social media posting. But, there are suggestions for best practices so you won’t be completely in the dark. Let’s break it down by some of the most popular social site:
Posting on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the business professional network to be on! And, it’s so much more than just a connection platform, but that’s a topic for another article.
Because LinkedIn is a business style platform, the vast majority of users are logged on and interacting during normal business hours. You’ll want to schedule your posts to publish during those normal business hours of Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm. According to a HubSpot article, they suggest posting anywhere between 2 and 5 articles per week to LinkedIn.
We at Cazbah post much more frequently than HubSpot’s suggested amount because that’s the practice that will best accomplish our content marketing plan. Again, you need to do some digging on your own to find your posting ‘sweet spot’.
Posting on Facebook
Content on Facebook travels fast! Chances are if you see something catchy on Facebook, it will have reached the other side of the world the next week and gone viral. So, with Facebook, it’s not how much you post that will help you get recognized, it’s what you post.
Emotion is a highly considered factor in successful Facebook posts, so your content needs to connect with your readers in some way to reach its full potential. HubSpot does suggest posting 2-5 times per week, while prioritizing content quality over quantity.
Posting on Twitter
According to a Forbes article by Neil Patel, he found a study that states there are frequency differences depending on if you want to achieve higher post engagement vs generating responses.
Only posting 1-5 tweets per day is required if you want to work for higher engagement, but there actually isn’t a suggested limit to tweeting if you want to increase your responses. That line of thinking leads one to believe the more you tweet (or post), the more people that will see and respond to you – especially if there’s humor or emotion added in some way. Remember, people respond to connections and emotions!
If you want to increase your interactions on social media, you need to appeal to human nature.
In Conclusion
There’s no right or wrong amount to how often to post on social media. Hopefully the information provided above will give you a little insight in regards to some of the best practices for posting frequency. While the quantity of posts may by up for debate, the quality of anything (and everything) you post needs to be top shelf if you want to see any results from your social media marketing efforts. So, prioritize your time and effort to determine the best creation and posting strategy for you!