Yasmin Bendror — May 29, 2018 — May 29, 2018
This question has been coming up a lot lately. Business owners have been asking me via email, messenger, social media and at networking meetings, “Yasmin, how often to post and what to post on social media?”
Let’s get right to it:
If you’re a brand using social media to raise awareness of your products and services, build an engaged community of fans and customers, and drive visitors to your website, you really need to be updating all of your channels once a day, every day.
If this is too much for you, then a minimum of three times per week. Once a week or less doesn’t cut it.
HOW OFTEN TO POST
Facebook: Once a day is best or you’ll start to feel spammy. Curate or re-share a post every other day.
Instagram: 1-2 posts per day. Curate and repurpose posts and always give credit.
LinkedIn: Once a day. Curate or re-share a post every other day.
[Research shows posting on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn one or two times per day receives 40% higher user engagement compared to three or more posts per day. This shows that it’s not the quantity, but the quality.]
Twitter: 5-10 tweets per day. Twitter has a very fast throughput on content and the lifespan of tweets is short, about, 2 hours. Most re-tweets happen within an hour after tweeting, so a higher daily frequency is best. Retweet or curate about 5 tweets per day.
Pinterest: 5-7 pins per day. Pinterest is a high-volume channel, so posting only once a day will not lead to much success for your business. Make sure to post high quality images and take advantage of vertical photos which take up more screen real estate and are proven to have higher engagement. Tip: Use keywords in your descriptions to make it easier to find in searches.
GAME CHANGER! PLAN YOUR CONTENT
5 Reasons To Plan Your Content with a Calendar:
- Creates consistency [this is key!]
- Allows you to plan time-sensitive content
- Gets you organized
- Frees up your time
- Facilitates well thought out, valuable content
Planning your content is a game-changer! It stops you from being in “I have to post something-itus” panic mode and posting content you randomly come across while scrolling that’s the flavor of the day or week!
CONSISTENCY is KEY because this is how the formula works:
Consistency = your content gets in front of more people/clients = seeing your posts often = more engagement and sharing = your posts will show up ORGANICALLY more often in the News Feed as Facebook strives to show people content that is more relevant to them! Remember January 2018 Facebook News Feed Changes?
NOTE: Boosting Posts on Facebook
Doing the above will organically improve your reach to your fans. But only 1% (YES…THAT’S ONE PERCENT) see your posts in their News Feed. So if you have 2,000 followers, only 20 see your post. What a waste!
It’s pay-for play now. Putting money behind your posts (a.k.a. “boosting” them) to “People Who Like You Page” so many more of your followers SEE it in their News Feed is KEY.
Choose 2-3 strategic posts per week to boost.
5-3-2 RULE FOR SOCIAL POSTING
5 posts should be VALUABLE, EDUCATIONAL and HELPFUL original content from you or others that you are re-posting.
3 posts should be content or promotion from you, your company, products, services. *
2 posts should be personal updates that build your brand. *
[Note that the 5-3-2 is not a daily quota but rather a ratio for any group of 10 updates you post over any timeframe.]
* Company or Self-promotion can work when you add value and engage! Company, product or self-promotion has a bad reputation because it’s so often associated with marketing, advertising, and pitch, pitch, pitch! You can be promotional and still provide value. Promotion can be a good thing if your content is outstandingly useful and always adds value. Do so in a helpful, actionable, quality way, so you are doing right by your audience. Value takes a front seat, and promotion sits in the back. Both elements are there, but the high value of outstanding content is what matters most.
WHAT TO POST
The best type of content is one that is valuable, helpful, inspires emotion, authentic, bonds with your audience, and will drive engagement: likes, shares, reposts.
Here are some ideas. Start by choosing ONE of these types of posts per day.
Content That Inspires Emotion
- Humor/Something Funny
- Entertain
- Weekend inspiration
- Intellectual
- Challenge
- Daily nugget
- Motivation
Content In Story Form
- Narratives
- Stories on case studies
- How customers found you
Open-ended Content
- Ask A Question ** see below for some fun stuff
- Q&A
- Survey
- Ask Me Anything
- Voting/Poll
- Discussion – What Do You Think?
- Fill in the Blank
Informational Content
- Tips
- Guides
- Trends
- Popular misconceptions
- Infographics
Product/Services Content [TIP: Don’t just post ‘boring’ content on your products or services]
- Ask your followers for their input
- Ask them to share their thoughts on how to improve your products/services
- Behind the Scenes
- An employee or customer using the product
- Customer submitted photo
- Fan photos
- Freebie
- Customer Love/Testimonials
- Special offer/promotion
- Exclusive offer
Personal Content
- Sharing your feelings, an experience
- Problem/Solution
- Share your expertise
- Prediction
- Celebration
- Throw Back Thursday TBT
Your Blog
- Post your full blog once
- Break it up into 3-4 smaller bite-size pieces to post over 2 weeks
POST FORMATS
- Video! Pre-recorded or Facebook Live is being syndicated and pushed into News Feeds and gets the highest level of engagement. People are 85 percent more likely to buy a product after viewing a product video.
- Visual Content/Compelling Images/Photos. Posts that include beautiful images produce 650 percent higher engagement than text-only post.
- Animated GIFFs are fun! https://giphy.com
- Boomerang for Instagram: mini videos that loop back and forth.
** Ask A Question – Some Fun Stuff…
Questions are one of the best ways to spark dialogue and engagement with fans. There are many types of questions that you can ask your fans. Here’s an example from Mozart Summer Festival Fan Page:
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