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How often should you post on social media?
Of course you want to get the most out of your social media. So it makes sense to ask how often you should ideally post on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok or Pinterest. You do not want to post too little, but certainly not too often either: posting every day can hold back reach and interaction, because each new post steals attention from the previous one. Add the different algorithms per platform and it gets complicated. No panic, we will explain.
Analyse the lifespan of your posts
Start by looking at how long a post of yours stays effective. Once you know that, you know when the next post can go live. One way to map this is to track how many people each post reached and set yourself a threshold: the next post only goes out once the previous one has reached a certain number of people. That takes time, so below are our guidelines per platform.
Post on Instagram once every three days. More is not necessary: thanks to the algorithm an Instagram post has a relatively long lifespan. After the fourth day reach drops and your new post can shine. Does your account have more than 5,000 followers? Then posting more often pays off, from every day to every other day. Users see that you are active and follow you sooner.
The same guideline applies to Instagram Stories, even though they disappear after 24 hours. Think of a story format that returns every week, for example. Stories that belong to a feed post, such as a small teaser, do not count towards the frequency.
Post on Facebook once every two days. Reach is highest on the day of posting and lowest after three days, which makes day three the moment for a new post.
TikTok
TikTok needs a different approach from the other platforms. The content calendar you are used to for the other socials matters less here, because TikTok is built on trends. The best strategy is to watch the platform closely and jump on trends and popular sounds often. That means making a lot of content ad hoc to stay current.
There is no perfect TikTok frequency and it differs per company, but aim to be actively present at least two to three times a week. Also check your TikTok analytics: they show on which days your audience is most active.
As on Instagram, once every three days is the ideal LinkedIn frequency, because posts have a relatively long lifespan here too. If you are keen you can post every day: as a business platform LinkedIn lends itself to that. The condition is that every post adds value, so your content is never read as spam.
If you want to go all in on Pinterest, ideally post 15 to 25 pins a day. That is quite a task, so post at least three pins a day for a good result. This platform is all about visuals, which makes content quicker to publish than on the other platforms.
In short
Bombarding your followers with content every day is not how you improve your visibility. Start with the frequencies above and spend your time on quality: three good posts a week beat seven mediocre ones. Quality always beats quantity, and that is how you keep your audience interested and surprised.
Suddenly full of inspiration? Save good posts for later: you always have something in reserve and spread your content better. Two important announcements on one day? Post one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Need more help planning your content? Get in touch.