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With the social media industry booming in recent years, more and more businesses are taking to social media to communicate with and provide value to their target audience. These days, businesses are posting more content on social media than ever before. But how much is too much? And how can you make sure your posts are seen by the right people?
In this article, we’ll discuss some of the best social media practices for both small and larger businesses and the number of social media posts per day you should be posting to attract the right eyeballs in 2023.
Related: Ultimate Guide to Social Media Automation for Agencies
How Many Posts?
So, this question is pretty subjective, and the truth is there’s not a one size fits all answer.
That’s because it all depends on your business, your industry, your audience, your goals and the content you want to create and what platforms you use - this can differ from one business to the next.
However, no matter the size or type of your business, it’s a good idea to follow the below steps to give you an indication of how often you should post on social media.
Step 1 - Define Your Goals
Before you draft content, create the graphic and hit the tweet button, you’re going to need a proper strategy in place if you want your efforts to be 1) relevant and 2) successful.
Posting on social media is going to be a pretty pointless task if you’re not really sure what you want to get out of it.
The first step in your strategy is to define your goals. Ultimately, what you set out to achieve through social media.
If you’re a small business, your primary goal could be to give a voice to your brand, raise brand awareness on social media and look professional, reliable and trustworthy.
For larger or more corporate businesses, your goal could be to drive growth through organic social media content.
No matter the size of the business, popular social media goals include:
- Boost sales
- Build relationships
- Reach larger audiences
- Grow customer engagement
- Boost brand awareness
- Drive traffic to the website
- Improve SEO results
- Create a brand voice
- Build authority within the field
- Generate leads
Of course, you can mix and match some of these goals and break them down into long-term and short-term goals, but it’s important - at least at the start - to think about one main goal. Trying to achieve too much is likely to hinder your content and the results.
Your goal will inform the strategy you put in place, and that will determine how many posts you should be publishing and scheduling in order to achieve them.
Step 2 - Research Your Audience
As a business owner, you’re going to have a pretty certain idea of who your target audience is, and the people you want to reach with your communication efforts.
The likelihood is that they’re on social media, so developing and implementing a social media strategy is a wise move to get in front of the right people.
However - in order to achieve your goals - social media marketing shouldn’t just be a tick-box exercise, it should be tailored specifically to your audience.
The key is to do your research.
Where is your audience?
Which platforms do they predominantly use?
If you’re a b2b business, you’re probably more likely to reach them on LinkedIn.
If you’re a b2c business - whose customer base are Gen Z - TikTok and Instagram is the most obvious choice.
Narrowing down the platforms that your target customers use will show you where you need to focus your efforts. From here, you can then determine the number of social media posts per day you should be posting, as each channel will vary.
For example, it’s a good idea to post more frequently on channels like Twitter than it is on the others.
Step 3 - Define Your Brand Voice
All businesses can post content but in order to truly stand out, you need to discover and define your brand voice.
Your brand voice and how you portray your business through your accounts will determine what content and messaging you will provide via social media channels.
Not only will it bring personality to your social media accounts, but it’ll make for a more engaged audience.
After defining your voice and the type of content that you’ll be posting, it’s vital that you showcase this consistently across all of the social platforms you use.
Step 4 - Determine the Best Time to Post
Choosing the best time to post is essential to ensure that your social media posts perform to their best potential and reach your target audience.
This is also where your audience research comes in too.
Think about both the days and times that your target audience are most likely going to get some downtime to scroll on their social media apps.
You’ll need to consider your customer distribution globally too - are they all in the same time zone?
If you’re a global business with an audience spread across the world, it’ll be worth mixing up your posting schedule to reach multiple audiences. It’ll probably mean that you’ll post more times in a day so that your messaging is evenly distributed.
A good hack on Twitter is to retweet yourself to give your tweet more exposure at different times of the day, and so to people in different time zones.
Step 5 - Create Engaging Content
Once you’ve defined your goals, researched your audience, given your brand a voice and worked out the best times to post, you’ll be ready to start creating engaging content.
Chances are, your existing and potential customers are going to check you out on social media before they purchase your products or services.
Your content shouldn’t just be about selling your products and services though. This can get quite tedious for your audience and therefore can be counterproductive where engagement is concerned.
Instead, you can show your best side by highlighting customer reviews, demonstrating your expertise, showing that you’re more than just serving your clients, and proving that you participate in and care about your community.
The content you produce will be a huge factor in how often you should be posting across social media everyday.
You should strike the right balance between engaging your audience and not overposting on social media.
For smaller businesses with goals of building a brand voice, increasing brand awareness and looking professional, it’s enough to post once a day on social media. If you don’t have the content or the means to produce this much content, at least three times a week should be enough to provide value to your audience, and look reliable and trustworthy.
Bigger and more corporate businesses who are looking to drive growth through organic social media content should post more frequently. To be successful, posting everyday should be the bare minimum, and we would suggest posting 2-3 times a day.
Step 6 - Analyze and Optimize
The key to getting your content schedule right is often through trial and error. It’s so important to analyze your strategy and content to find out what’s working and what could be improved.
Analytic reports will inform you if you need to change up your social media strategy - how many posts per week, the content and the time of day you post.
Overall, as a general rule of thumb - for most businesses - posting once a day across all platforms is the most effective way to connect with audiences. However, it’s best practice that all the content that you post provides value to your customers whilst being engaging, educational or entertaining.
If you don’t have the capacity to regularly post engaging content, check out MixBloom’s White Label Social Media Management Services to help you reach your social media marketing goals.
