Dan MoyleIf you’ve followed Impulse Creative for any length of time, it's no secret that social media plays a huge part in inbound marketing and our own marketing.
Posting relevant, engaging, and entertaining things to your Twitter, Facebook, and so on is very important to both attracting and keeping customers. But there’s more to it than that.
You can’t just fill everyone’s feeds with spam constantly and expect to see results. In fact, it is totally possible to post too much and get unfollowed for that reason. Instead of annoying everyone, post methodically and strategically.
So let's look at some best practices on the major social media platforms marketers use.
- 3 to 14 times per day
- Never more than once an hour
Finding a perfect number for Twitter is difficult because it depends on what you are using Twitter to try to achieve and who you are trying to reach. A younger targeted audience will be receptive to more than three tweets a day. Engagement rates are the highest at 3 tweets a day, but you can post up to 30 times a day to achieve the most retweets. Are you trying for brand awareness? Tweet more. Are you aiming for quality engagement back and forth with your followers? Tweet less.
- 2 times per day
- Early morning or in the evenings
As a general rule, posting once per week on Facebook was too low and caused a loss of connection with your audience, while posting more than twice per day was crossing the line into annoying. Again, your targeted audience matters here so take your buyer personas into account. Several studies have pointed to the fact that five to 10 posts per week was the optimal amount.
- Once a day
- Not on weekends
The most authoritative guideline for LinkedIn sharing comes from the LinkedIn itself, which published a marketing report claiming 20 posts per month allows you to reach 60% of your audience. Twenty posts per month equal one post per weekday. If the audience you are trying to reach uses LinkedIn often, probably a group of professionals, then plan your postings around when that type of person would be browsing the website. Right before work starts in the morning or in the evening when they have downtime will typically be highly-trafficked times of the day, but don’t forget about lunch breaks too.
- 1-3 times per day
- Use videos and Stories
TikTok
- Once a day to start
- 3-5 times per week
- Use trends like challenges and songs
The newest addition to many marketing toolboxes is the short-form video platform TikTok. When you're first building your audience, it's helpful to post once every day. If you have the content more than once, go for it. The key with TikTok is to look for trends like challenges and popular songs.
Sometimes sharing older content not recorded on TikTok can work well, too. Sharing older content is a great way to ensure that you’ve got something fresh to offer your audience, even if it is a #TBT moment.
When you post and how often you post are nearly as important as what you post. But remember the perfect blend for your company depends on your industry and who you’re trying to reach as well. Seem confusing? That’s where Impulse Creative comes in.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was first published on January 26, 2016. Social media changes. Often. So we've updated and republished it. The latest update happened on March 3, 2020.