Figuring out how to manage your business's social media calendar.
There’s a delicate balance between posting too much on social media and not enough—and when posting too much becomes just outright annoying. As content creators, we want our audience to see the posts we’ve created specifically for them, however, finding that sweet spot for posting on social media requires constant testing and measuring results. Everything from distribution channels to audience retention and valuable content are important when figuring out when to hit that infamous, “Send” button.
Here are some general guidelines to help manage the frequency of your social media calendar posting strategy.
Facebook: When Facebook launched back in 2004, it was only about connecting with friends and family. Ten years later, it’s one of the best ways for brands to connect with audience members and share newsworthy updates. The downside to Facebook is that fans get frustrated with businesses that post *too* much, and clog their newsfeeds. Make sure each post that goes live on Facebook is full of value for your audience, includes a great image and links to your website. Keep it short, sweet and unique.
- Ideal posting: No less than 3 or no more than 5 a week
- Ideal times: Between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
- Low volume / high value network
Twitter: Thanks to its fast-paced nature, it’s customary to post on Twitter multiple times a day. Since the lifespan on one single tweet is only 18 short minutes, it’s imperative that as a business, you’re utilizing hashtags and trending topics when it comes to sharing content for your brand. Ensure your content is as informative as it can be, given the cutoff length of 140 characters.
- Ideal posting: Up to 5 times a day
- Ideal times: Between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., roughly every 3 hours, never more than once an hour
- High volume / high value network
LinkedIn: While this platform is certainly more popular within the business and technical industries, it’s a wonderful networking tool for brands to interact with employees and influencers. Keep the content in line with your brand’s objectives considering your LinkedIn page reveals numerous details about your business. Aim for a more formal style of content, relatable to both your business and the industry.
- Ideal posting: Once a day
- Ideal times: Morning, between 8 - 9 a.m. as people are arriving to work and checking their LinkedIn pages.
- High volume / low(er) value network
Google+: The more you post on Google+, the better. With every post you share on this network, you’re giving Google more content, keywords and expertise to share and reflect back in their search pages, which is what every brand wants - hooray for SEO! Make sure you include images and a working link with each post to direct people back to your website.
- Ideal posting: 5-10 times a week
- Ideal times: Late morning, between 9 - 11 a.m.
- Low volume / high value network
Pinterest: If you are lucky enough to find that your audience spends time on Pinterest, take full advantage and post as frequently as possible. Because Pinterest is such a photo-heavy social network and because so many people are pinning multiple times a day, it’s important to not only distinguish yourself with unique images, but post often so people are able to interact with what you share. Don’t forget to use hashtags and clickable links in your pins as well.
- Ideal posting: 5 times a day, pinning to multiple boards and repinning
- Ideal times: Weekends, 8 - 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. - 12 a.m.
- High volume / high value network
As marketers, the best thing we can do when it comes to determining frequency for social posting is always be testing. Find your sweet spot for engagement, even it it’s 9 p.m. on a Monday on Twitter. Conduct Facebook, Twitter and Google+ tests. Improve in areas that need a bit of help and soon, with proper posting, great images and clickable links, the engagements will begin to arrive.
About Yakkety Yak:
Yakkety Yak is a full-service content marketing company that produces custom written content for businesses, including blogs, website copy, case studies, newsletters, social media marketing, public relations and more. We want to be an extension of your marketing team to help you connect to end users and decision influencers, based on the principle of one common voice, for one target audience. Yakkety Yak helps you find the words you were looking for —so let’s YAK.