One question I get asked often is, “When and how often I should post to social media?†Well that all depends on who you’re trying to reach. Are you in a 9-5 professional line of work? Are you a bar/restaurant owner? If you’re a law firm you’re not going to post at the same time as a bar would, right?
Let’s talk about Facebook
No matter what business you’re in, the recommended amount of posts is 1 or 2 a day. You don’t want to post much more than that, because you want to be able to engage with your audience. When posting, be aware of what times you are posting and make sure that you space them out. You don’t want to have a post at 8am for example and then have another one at 8:30am or 9am. Once that second post is made the first one almost gets forgotten.
As for the times you should post, that will depend on your target market. Ideally experts say the 3 best times to post are 9am, 1pm and 3pm. Keep in mind this data was taken from a survey on Hootsuite and it was taken with a wide range of businesses. You know your target audience, so you will know what times are best.
Why 9am, 1pm and 3pm? These are more for the 8-4 or 9-5 type jobs. What’s the first thing you do when you sit at your desk in the morning? You check your email and Facebook. If you post around 9am your going to catch that audience that is just getting to work before they start their day. A post at 1pm has the same idea, that’s the after-lunch crowd and between 3pm and 4pm is just before they leave work.
What about Instagram?
Instagram is a little bit different, but you still don’t want to “spam†your followers by posting to much. The amount you should post to Instagram is like Facebook, but you can add maybe one more post. Experts recommend no more than 3 posts a day. With Instagram, like Facebook you don’t want to post back to back and seem “spammyâ€.
With Instagram being a platform to share images you have the capability to share up to 10 images in one post. This will help with not posting back to back images. Times are also dependent on your target market, but experts say that the best times to post are between 8am and 9am or around 5pm.
Twitter is just a little bit different…
The average tweet lasts only about 20 minutes. Yes, that’s it! Once you tweet, after about 20 minutes the chances of it being seen are slim. Twitter you can post often and even back to back without being “spammy†like other platforms.
With twitter you want to tweet anywhere from 7 to 15 times a day. Now, you don’t have to but those are the recommended amounts. Mind you, I have seen a twitter account post once per day and it’s very affective. This like any other platform is all dependant on your target audience.
When tweeting the best times are in the afternoon from 12pm, 3-4pm and up to about 6pm.
What are your thoughts? Have you found that you post more than this or less than this? Do you post at completely different times?
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Nick Russell
519.792.9303
