How often should I post on social media?
Is a few posts a week enough on social? How much is too much posting? We asked veterinary social media marketing coach Cheyanne Flerx to weigh in.
Hey! I’m Cheyanne and I’m honored to be able to share my knowledge about social media marketing with you in this advice column!
Your posting frequency depends on the goal or reason why your practice wants to use social media, as well as your bandwidth. For example, are you looking to gain more followers in order to attract more clients, or are you looking to keep an active presence in order to keep in touch with your existing followers, and nurture relationships with clients who already follow you?
Knowing this will help you be strategic in your approach to your posts and realistic about the time you have to create and publish your posts. I say this because any social media algorithm rewards accounts that are active and consistently present, so I want you to be able to use that information to your advantage.
Consistency is key: 3 to 4 times a week is the minimum
Regarding your posting frequency, I recommend posting as often as possible on your page’s main feed (not including stories) and doing so consistently within the time and resources you have available. Meaning if you can only post three times a week, every week, keep that schedule up rather than posting for five days in a row one week and not posting at all for two weeks and then picking up posting again.
Sporadic posting throughout the month will work against you when you are trying to grow your following or maintain your followers’ attention when you do post.
If you aren’t sure exactly how much or when you will be able to post, I encourage you to start posting at least three to four times a week on any given platform. This schedule will provide you with a decent spread of posts and help keep you consistent. Ideally, the more you post, the more chances your followers will see your posts and interact with your account.
How often to post “Stories”
Now, if you want to incorporate “Stories” into your posting schedule, you’ll want to update your Facebook or Instagram stories at least four times a day and at most 10 times during business hours.
Develop a posting schedule
At the end of the day, it’s all about your bandwidth and staying consistent. So here are a couple of questions to help you develop a posting schedule that works for you and within the resources, you do have:
- How often can you realistically post while keeping a consistent posting schedule without burning out?
- How often would you like to be posting?
- What topic ideas, photographs, videos, and written copy do you need to create your posts?
- Who else at your practice can support you to make this happen?
- What is the overall goal for our social media accounts?
Getting clear on these questions will help you formulate what a good flexible, and reasonable posting schedule looks like for you.
Once you have your desired schedule designed, plan out your posts to help you stay accountable using some kind of system to visually see your schedule and prepare your upcoming posts ahead of time. This might be a project management system calendar, a spreadsheet, or even a paper calendar at first—whatever works to help you track and plan your content so you’re not scrambling at the last minute to stay on schedule.
Did you find that helpful and want to learn more? Email me your questions at [email protected].
Photo credit: © electravk E+ via Getty Images Plus