For about as long as social media became a natural component of digital marketing, brands have wondered: “How often should I post?”
Obviously, no one wants to post too much or too little. As of 2022, there are about 4 billion social media users across all platforms, and the average amount of time an adult user spends on social media is higher than ever at 95 minutes per day.
Your target audience is part of these statistics, and you don’t want to miss the opportunity to connect with them by not posting at the right frequency.
If you’re not posting enough, you risk being forgotten by your audience. If you post too much, you risk being a nuisance to your audience and probably even the platform’s algorithm that you’re posting on.
Simply put, the perfect frequency on any social media platform is to post as often as you can consistently that’s quality content (not just posting for the sake of posting). But let’s break down the official recommendations by platform (on both frequency and timing) so that you can see how your brand stacks up and whether there are any opportunities to optimize your posting frequency in your social media marketing strategy.
Social media posting on Facebook
The general best-practice recommendation on Facebook is to post once per day, with a maximum of two posts per day.
Pages with fewer than 10,000 fans experience about a 50 percent decrease in engagement per post if posting more than once per day.
On the flip side, you’ll want to post on your Facebook page at least three times per week at minimum.
As far as timing, general recommendations suggest the afternoon, but it’s important to test this out with your own audience. Keep in mind that your specific audience might have different usage habits, and simply following a general recommendation that everyone else might be striving for could just leave you lost in the crowd. Experiment and pay attention to your Facebook Insights to understand what times work best for your brand.
Check out our six Facebook marketing tips that you should know.
Social media posting on Instagram
The general best-practice recommendation on Instagram is to post at least once per day but no more than three times per day.
The bare minimum is at least once per week, with a better, suggested minimum of at least three times per week.
Definitely avoid publishing several posts in quick succession or disappearing for weeks at a time. It’s all about consistency.
As far as timing, general recommendations suggest early morning or midday, but just like on Facebook, you’ll want to experiment to determine what timing is most successful for your audience. Keep an eye on Instagram Insights as you test out different times.
Check out our 16 Instagram marketing tips that you should know.
Social media posting on Twitter
Studies on Twitter posting frequency do vary wildly, with a suggested range of once per day to 51 times per day. But general, best-practice recommendations advise three to 30 times per day, which can still be a big range to consider. This is because tweets have such a short “shelf life,” so regardless of what frequency you go with, you’ll want to make sure to spread your tweet out throughout the day.
Truly, the bare minimum frequency is once per day, but you will do better with three to 6 tweets per day. The optimal sweet spot for many brands is about 15 to 23 tweets per day. Definitely avoid disappearing from Twitter for weeks or months at a time because you’ll lose followers.
As far as timing, weekday mornings typically perform well, but you’ll want to experiment for your audience. With timing and especially because the frequency recommendation is such a big range, testing is key. Monitor your Twitter Analytics to find the best mix for your brand.
Check out our eight Twitter marketing tips that you should know.
Social media posting on LinkedIn
The general best-practice recommendation on LinkedIn is to post at least twice a week but no more than once per business day.
Ideally, you’ll want to post once per business day.
Just like with other social media platforms, you don’t want to disappear for weeks at a time. Consistency is always key.
As far as timing, mornings are best. As always, monitor the performance of your LinkedIn posts. You never know if a general recommendation is best for your audience until you test it.
Check out our six LinkedIn marketing tips that you should know.
Social media posting on YouTube
The general best-practice recommendation on YouTube is to strive for uploading a new video weekly. Of course, the challenge is that video content especially can require time and resources to produce quality content. While the recommendation is once per week, don’t overcommit to what you can realistically do.
You also should set appropriate expectations with your audience by sharing your posting frequency on your YouTube channel. Resist the temptation to disappear for weeks, though. Setting a plan and sticking to it can help maintain consistency.
As far as timing, midday on Thursdays and Fridays is recommended, while Mondays and Tuesdays are considered the worst days to upload on YouTube. Test it out, though. Your audience may always vary from nationwide trends.
Check out our 20 tips to grow your YouTube subscribers.
Social media posting on Pinterest
The general best-practice recommendation on Pinterest is at least three posts per day, with a maximum of 25 posts per day.
Because this is such a wide range (similar to Twitter), consider your bare minimum one pin daily, with a better frequency being three to five pins daily and the optimal frequency being 10 to 25 pins per day. Of course, this entirely depends on your brand’s bandwidth to create and publish new pins for Pinterest.
Make sure that you’re focusing on new pins since Pinterest has been prioritizing them since 2019 and not overly relying on re-pins. You don’t want to repeat pins frequently or post them to more than 10 Pinterest boards.
As far as timing, late night is a recommended time for publishing on Pinterest. Make sure to test this with your audience to see what the best time might be for your brand.
Check out our six Pinterest marketing tips that you should know.
Social media posting on TikTok
Even though TikTok is a newer social media platform for brands to consider, it appears that the general best-practice recommendation is to post at least one quality video per day. But three videos per day is best.
At bare minimum, you at least need to post several times per week.
As far as maximum videos, opinions vary. Many suggest no more than four or five per day, while some suggest that there is no such thing as posting too much on TikTok.
As far as timing, general recommendations suggest early morning or late night, but experiment with your content and audience to find what works best for your brand.
Check out our 15 TikTok marketing tips that you should know.
In conclusion
Again, the idea of optimal social media posting frequency for your brand truly comes down to:
- Your resources and bandwidth to create quality, engaging content.
- Your target audience’s behaviors and social media usage habits.
If you are considering increasing your posting frequency to meet generally optimal levels, a content calendar can help you stay organized.
While you’re evaluating your social media posting frequency and timing, consider leveling up your digital marketing strategy. DailyStory specializes in automation, email marketing, audience segmentation and more. Level up your process, and schedule a free demo with us today.
