Everyone understands that a business must be present on social networks. However, it is often very difficult to determine how much time you need to devote to this issue so as not to waste it.
Social media can be extremely valuable for a business. But the opposite situation may happen: they will take a lot of time and, at the same time, will not lead to the desired result.
The trick is that every entrepreneur should find out how much time he should devote to a particular social resource. As a rule, a clear and clear answer to this question can be found, but research in this area in large companies is still being conducted. So, several companies tried to answer the question: “How often should posts be posted on social networks?”
Results of a study on the frequency of posting on social media
First of all, the answer to this question depends on how active you are in a particular social network. Below is information on how many posts a day need to be published in the three most popular foreign social resources in Russia.
Facebook: 1-2 posts per day. HubSpot, a business software developer, found in its study that the number of subscribers will influence the frequency of messages. Most well-known companies have come to the conclusion that if you publish more than two posts a day, visitors to a company’s page on a social network will be less interested in reading such posts.
Twitter: 5-10 posts per day. On a fast-moving platform, more frequent posting increases your chances of being seen. To achieve maximum effect, try to distribute your posts throughout the day. Users are most active on this network from 8:00 to 16:00. This is true for most days of the week.
Instagram: 1-2 posts per day. Resource Union Metrics, engaged in web analytics, found that well-known brands try to post an average of 1.5 posts per day on this social network.
Thus, now you are the owner of a simple version of the answer to the question. But the reality is much more complicated.
What does this mean for your business?
These answers, as well as the results of numerous studies and tips for business, are only partially true, since all types of businesses are different and have different target audiences. Best practices will never be suitable for everyone, without exception. The figures suggested above are suitable at the initial stage of planning a strategy for promoting your products on social media.
In any case, you should be guided by the following principles.
Quality texts written in smaller numbers will bring much more benefit than many template messages repeating day after day.
Control the frequency of messages depending on your analytics on social networks.
In social media, more attention should be paid to the systematic nature of messages than to their frequency. It often happens that a novice businessman quickly gets tired of the constant publication of a large number of messages on different social platforms and completely stops doing this. As a result, he makes a big mistake. It’s better to set yourself up at the very beginning to publish fewer posts, but do it systematically.
Social Media Ad Tips
Posting on social media at the recommended frequency requires a certain amount of free time. To spend your valuable time profitably, try to follow a few simple rules.
Do not try to be present in all social networks
There is no need for your business to be represented on every social resource. Try to figure out which ones are most preferable for you. Try to focus on specific resources depending on the following factors:
- Identify the social network where your potential audience spends the most time.
- Choose the channels that are most relevant to your business and your abilities. For example, if you are not producing a visual product, and creating images is not your forte, then probably Instagram will not suit you. On the other hand, if you are engaged in the creation of works of art, then Instagram will be the most preferred resource for you.
Thus, if you understand that the presence on each social resource is an absolutely impractical step, select the social networks that will be most useful to you.
Follow the information on popular accounts in your field of activity and share links to them with your subscribers
The trick is that you can significantly save your time by sharing links to new posts from other people. In each social resource where you are present, find accounts related to your industry or topics that match your occupation. Keep track of these accounts and their content. As soon as you like some news, share it with your subscribers. If possible, try adding your own comment to this post.
This will kill two birds with one stone: you will be in full view of people who are popular in your industry and make it easier to add news to your page. You will not need to invent something of your own, it will be enough to take advantage of what someone came up with earlier.
Share content from sites that should be interesting to your audience
Your social networks are a great place to promote your websites and your content, but don't just think about yourself in this situation. Try to keep track of information on sites that are interesting to your audience, for business blogs dedicated to your topic, and for influential people in your industry. Share any good content that you find online on your topic.
If you help your audience find useful information for it, this will give them an additional incentive to closely monitor your channel. In addition, this will relieve you of some pressure - you will not need to create a lot of decent content yourself.
On channels with a large volume of messages, use the same link to the news several times
Pages on channels with a large number of messages, such as Twitter, fill up so quickly that your audience does not have time to notice all new messages. Do not worry that you will bother people who will watch the same text several times. Most of them will not pay any attention to this. In fact, studies show that reusing the same link increases the likelihood of clicking on it by 192%.
Post while your users are most active online
In order for your news to work for you, people must see it. Try to add news when your subscribers are most likely to be online. You can find information about this on other social networks, but at the same time remember that this rule works mainly at the initial stage.
Do not forget to chat with other people
No wonder social networks are called social. Some of your messages may be replies to other people's posts, an attempt to start a conversation. Ask questions, answer your subscribers, join various groups.
Automate the process of adding news
One of the best ways to make the process of adding new messages effective is to automate it. Tools like HootSuite and Buffer allow you to plan ahead for news feeds. Instead of logging onto the platform several times a day, you can devote a few hours a week to writing news and create a schedule to add them.
But do not get carried away very much with automation - you can skip the answers to your publications and lose contact with the audience. Plan to check your account at least once a day, use any opportunity for real-time communication with your subscribers in real time.
At the initial stage, the use of social networks for doing business can present some difficulties. But when you develop a strategy and are attentive to the results that your actions will bring, you can significantly increase the effectiveness of your work.