Revealed: The Sweet Spot for What and When to Post to Social

“If you want to catch fish, fish where the fish are.”

That goes way beyond fishing. It’s an expression used in everything from investing to job hunting, and now it’s very applicable to social media. That’s where your audience is. And if you wanna hook them, you need to know what and when to post. In other words, frequency and timing are key. Get either one wrong and you’re in trouble. Get them both wrong and you may be doing more harm than good. Let’s start by taking a look at frequency. 

Frequency Matters: Consistency Builds Trust

When someone subscribes to any of your social media channels, they’re opening the door to let you into their lives. That’s a big hurdle you’ve already overcome. But making sure they stick around is just as important, and a huge part of that is cadence. Establishing a regular posting rhythm is essential to keep you visible, and relevant, in the feeds of your followers.

So how much should you post? Too little and you fade away due to the way most platform algorithms work. Too much and you can become annoying, or even turn them off so much they unsubscribe. This is called feed pollution, and you’ve no doubt experienced its suffocating effects yourself. 

Both The Digital Branding Institute and LinkedIn advise putting out 1-2 posts per day. And yes, that includes weekends (you can schedule posts to go live ahead of time). This is the Goldilocks number. Just right. It keeps you top of mind without becoming an intrusion, and any additional posts will result in diminishing returns. 

In an experiment conducted by Uhuru, a client received an average of 140 additional (219 total) brand impressions after a day of just posting once. That’s triple their daily average for days with no posts at all. The 2nd and 3rd posts in a day resulted in 60 and 40 additional impressions respectively, with a significant loss of impressions for any subsequent posts. The juice just isn’t worth the squeeze, and you’re losing time, money, and followers by bombarding them. 

But what should those 1-2 daily posts contain? That comes to the second part of the equation...quality. 

Quality Trumps Quantity: Crafting Relevant and Engaging Content

Now that we've established the importance of frequency, let's turn our attention to the quality of your social media posts. It's no secret that throwing random content at the wall in the hope that something sticks is an ineffective strategy. Instead, successful brands on social media, such as Wendy's, Airbnb, Target, Converse, and UPS, understand the art of capturing their followers' attention through careful planning and engaging content.

A big part of this is planning ahead. Look at the holidays that are coming up. What special events are dominating the news cycles, or will be next month? Getting this content in the bag and ready to hit on the day is what separates great brands from mediocre ones. 

And another major part of the content is what kind it is. Video is highly engaging, making up 81% of all consumer internet traffic. And authenticity is also paramount, which is why User Generated Content (UGC) continues to resonate so effectively with audiences.

Sourcing content is easier than ever these days, with UGC cloud-based platforms like Cinebody making it foolproof to capture, direct, and access the videos taken by your followers anywhere in the world for use in endless sorts of content initiatives.  

With a few social posts putting out a call to arms, and a simple link, you can onboard content creators quickly and efficiently. These can be product testimonials, company updates, recruitment posts, special events, and even company culture pieces. You can direct the footage remotely, and edit it the same day it's taken (it uploads to the cloud instantly) so that you can create the genuine, relevant video content your audience craves. 

Social media is big business and can make or break a brand. Follow the frequency and timing guidelines and you’ll see your subs grow.