How often should I post on social media?

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Have a question for Cheyanne? Email her at [email protected].

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 nurture relationships with clients who already follow you? Or both?

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 minimum

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.

Sporadic posting throughout the month will work against you when you are trying to grow your following or maintain your followers' attention. 

I encourage you to start posting at least three to four times a week on any given platform, and then stick with that one platform for a while. 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 have: 

  • What is the overall goal for our social media accounts?
  • How often can we realistically post while keeping a consistent posting schedule without burning out? 
  • How often would we like to be posting? 
  • What topic ideas, photographs, videos, and written copy do we need to create posts?
  • Who else at our practice can support us to make this happen?

Getting clear on these questions will help you formulate what a flexible and reasonable posting schedule looks like for you. 

Once you have your desired schedule, plan out your posts using some kind of system to visually see your calendar and prepare upcoming posts ahead of time.

This might be a project management system, a spreadsheet, or even a paper calendar at first—whatever works for you to track and plan your content so you’re not scrambling at the last minute.

Did you find that helpful and want to learn more? Email me your questions at [email protected], and I'll answer them next time!

 

Cheyanne Flerx is a former veterinary assistant turned veterinary social media marketing coach. She teaches veterinary professionals how to become confident social media marketing managers and how to use social media more effectively and efficiently for their hospitals. To learn more about her, more about social media, or social media management, visit her website at HeyCheyanne.com.

 Photo credit: © electravk E+ via Getty Images Plus   

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