How Often Should You Post on Social Media?

Can you post too little or too much? The short answer is yes. Just like a needy ex or a neurotic mother-in-law, frequency of communication matters. Knowing the right number of posts helps you engage (without being annoying). Each platform is different too – so how often should you post on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? We dish up the data below!

Instagram

According to Hootsuite, the best frequency for Instagram is 2-3 times per week (and no more than once a day). If you have more content to share, use Instagram Stories instead. This is great way of ramping up activity without jamming up people’s feeds.

Instagram chief, Adam Mosseri, shared insights on best practice during the Instagram Creator Week back in June 2021, stating that 2x feed posts per week and 2x Stories per day is the ideal way to build a following.

Facebook

As advised by Buffer, businesses should post on Facebook between 5-10 times per week. Although Buffer itself shares content on Facebook 2x per day, seven days a week, which is a little more. But one thing they point out is that every business is different, and there’s no exact formula, only best guesses. Their advice is to use well-researched data as a starting point, then customise and optimise your schedule accordingly.

They also note that some studies have shown a loss of connection when posting less than once a week, and a drop in engagement when posting more than twice a day. So it’s important to hit that sweet spot.

Twitter

Compared to Facebook, Twitter’s content life cycle is much shorter. Facebook posts reach their half-life point at around 90 minutes, which is almost four times longer than Twitter posts. The key takeaway is that the first two hours count, so timing is everything.

The reduced lifecycle also affects how often you should be posting. According to Hootsuite, anywhere between 1-5 times a day is ideal. This is echoed by Buffer, suggesting the best way to get the most value out of every tweet is to tweet about 5x per day, noting that engagement tends to drop after the third tweet.

LinkedIn

For B2B companies, LinkedIn provides a fantastic way to engage with prospects. The platform’s LinkedIn Page Best Practices video tells us that users who post regularly each week see twice the engagement as those who don’t. And HubSpot research says to limit posts to no more than 5x per week, with the highest engagement within the first couple of posts.

But a good piece of advice is not to worry too much about frequency. Focus on winning your audience with quality content instead. As of late 2021, LinkedIn has 65 million decision-makers on its platform, so giving them high quality, shareable content should be the priority.

So how often should you post on social media? A summary…

Here’s a quick round-up

• Instagram – 2-3 times per week (up to 2x Stories per day)
• Facebook – 5-10 times per week (no more than twice a day)
• Twitter – 1-5 times per day (first three posts are the most important)
• LinkedIn – at least once a week (no more than 5x per week)

We hope this data has been helpful for your social media marketing strategy in 2022!

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