Social Media Outlets | Posting Frequency

Over the last several years, online marketing and social media has become an even bigger priority in how I manage my brand. Whether sharing my message, keeping people in my online communities aware of pressing issues or promoting new products and events, I employ a variety of strategies related to the use of social media outlets.

Ask 20 different marketers how often you should post to your social media outlets and, rest assured, you’ll get 20 different answers. That’s because most marketers think there are rules to content quantity. But what leading marketers know is that it isn’t about the quantity, it’s about the quality of what you post. Sure, you should definitely post frequently so that you stay relevant, but then again, you don’t want to inundate your followers with so much stuff that they hide you from their feed. How often you post really depends on how much you have to say and the specifics of your business.

According to Gary Vaynerchuck, who wrote the exceptional Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, the most important thing to realize about social media outlets is that they are all about conversations. That is, if you’re just posting and never taking the time to check back and respond to comments, people will lose interest in your brand, or worse, they’ll start trashing it. Indeed, thoughtful banter with the people who care enough to comment will do more for your brand than 10 posts a day.

And how you post is also much more important than how often. Do you only post things that promote something about your brand? If you are, you’re making a big mistake. Because people on social media outlets aren’t there for the hard sell, and they’re sophisticated enough to see through your self-promotion.

Instead, adopt Vaynerchuck’s principles that, for every post that promotes your brand, which he calls a “right hook,” you should post at least two things that don’t, but that are relevant to the social conversation. Those are what Vaynerchuck calls “jabs” and they’re crucial to brand building.

Social media is both an art and a science. You need to be discerning in what you post and when. It takes 24/7 effort to do it well. But, if you expend that effort, you will see the rewards in greater engagement, a larger community and increased goodwill for your brand.