“How often should you post on social media?”
It’s a question that haunts every business, creator or brand looking to grow their social media accounts on top of all their other, day-to-day duties.
There’s just one problem…
One article will suggest posting twice a day on Facebook, while the next presents an exact formula of one link post in the morning, one photo in the arvo, and going live in the evenings.
And that’s just Facebook!
Over on Instagram, you have caffeine-powered influencers recommending no less than one Reel per day (no weekends off here, ma’am), three static feed posts a week, one IG Live a week, and a minimum of 10 Instagram Stories every. Single. Day.
It’s confusing at the best, and exhausting at worst. And, it’s enough to give anyone a crippling feeling of overwhelm. How are you supposed to keep up with such an insane content demand, especially when you’re a team of one?
The good and bad news is, there is no magic formula for figuring out how often to post on social media.
Sure, there are guidelines (which we’ll dive into next), but what works for one account doesn’t translate as an instant success for yours. So, you can go ahead and take the pressure off, and ditch the social media shoulds.
In short, how often to post on social media for business comes down to three things:
• Consistency (it’s more important than frequency).
• The volume of high-quality content you can handle weekly
• Creating content your audience looks forward to consuming
Your social media strategy shouldn’t feel overwhelming or impossible to achieve. There isn’t an imaginary baseline you need to hit to be successful. As long as it includes those three things and you use the guidelines as guidelines (not hard rules), you’ll find it easier to show up online consistently and grow an audience.
That said, there are some rules of thumb for how often is optimal for each platform — here’s what you need to know,
How Often to Post on Instagram
According to Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, posting two feed posts a week and two Stories per day is more than enough to build a following on the app.
However, he does state in this video that there is no silver bullet he can give creators. You do need to test and see what works best for your audience.
• How often to post on Instagram grid: 2-3 times per week (this includes static, carousels, reels, and IGTV)
• How often to post on Instagram Stories: Twice a day
How Often to Post on Facebook
Unlike Instagram, no one from Facebook has come out with a recommended posting frequency for Business Pages.
All we have to go on is data collected in studies and advice from the pros.
According to HubSpot’s Not Another State of Marketing Report, your ROI drops once you publish more than five times per week. The report recommends publishing two to five times per week on Facebook to keep your engagement and clicks consistent.
For Facebook Live, the platform suggests going live frequently to keep people engaged but doesn’t recommend a specific amount.
• Facebook Posts: 3-5 times per week
• Facebook Live: As often as you can
How Often to Post on LinkedIn
The LinkedIn report, The Definitive Guide for Marketing on LinkedIn, found that 20 posts per month can help you reach 60% of your audience.
Once you publish more than that, your reach starts to drop.
Why?
LinkedIn doesn’t want users’ feeds to feel oversaturated by the same person or company. Posting more than once per day can cannibalize your performance and see fewer likes, clicks, and comments.
• LinkedIn Posts: 1 post per day (Monday to Friday) or 2-3x per week.
How Often to Post on TikTok
TikTok is a social media platform where it pays to pump out content. The more videos you can post, the more chances you have of attracting new followers and the more content the app has to recommend.
In a one-month experiment by Réka Barabás, she increased her TikTok posting from 1x a day to 4x a day and saw a huge jump in followers.
While the posting frequency doesn’t guarantee you a steady influx of views, it does seem to grow accounts. If that’s your goal for the platform, post as much as you can.
TikTok does recommend staying consistent as one of its six keys to success. So don’t hop onto the 4x a day train if you can’t sustain such a volume of content.
• TikTok videos: 1-3x per day.
How Often to Post on YouTube
VidIQ, a YouTube keyword research tool, recommends creators upload at least one video per week. The more content you create, the more opportunity you create to rank in search results, get subs and become a successful Youtube Channel.
Once you get to 50 or 100 videos, you can analyze your performance and see what works best for you and your audience.
But remember, filming and editing Youtube videos takes time. If you can only handle a once-a-month schedule, stick to that and don’t burn yourself out with the ‘eat, sleep, create’ rat race.
• Youtube videos: 1 video per week
Stay Consistent With A Social Media Content Calendar
Remember, quality always trumps quality. Choose a frequency to post on social media that suits your capabilities and go from there.
Once you know how many pieces of content you want to create every week or month, log into Plann and schedule your content ideas.
Upload all your Instagram feed posts, Stories, Reels, Facebook and LinkedIn posts, set each one to go out at the optimal time, and turn on the auto-post feature. You can even use our custom calendar events feature to get
It’s the easiest way to stay consistent and never accidentally forget to post again!
