Everyone likes learning about new things, right? Of course, you do! But, when it comes to social media posting, do you really ever master it, or do you just become as skilled as you can?

Social media has become a phenomenon for a multitude of reasons. It allows customers to connect with brands, it allows customers to be social with people millions of miles away and it helps broaden horizons. However, many small businesses aren’t mastering the art of social media.

Why is social media an art? Because you’re talking to people who want and who like your brand. So, what do these people want to see, what do they want to read, etc. It can be hard to find those things, but don’t fret, I made a guide for you, 17 Ways to get Great Social Media Content.

But what about posting times? How do you know when to post? Posting on social media should be one thing, it should be consistent. If you’re going to agree to post two times per day, do it. If you’re going to agree to post three times per day, do it. Not being consistent is one thing that hurts the credibility of small business brands.

Posting on social media doesn’t need to be complicated. Social media for small businesses is easy, all you need to do is plan. Come up with a strategy and stick with it. It’s kind of like math. You need to try it multiple times before you got the right answer.

There are some dead times on social media, this infographic shows them. Keep in mind though, dead times are just general and it does depend on your time zone too. Dead zones should be taken lightly. Just think, are you awake at 3:00 AM to read social media? Probably not, therefore… dead zone!

I’ll give you an example of keeping it consistent, which I also give in this article, How To Avoid Content Suicide. 

You’re shopping for new shoes. You want some great work shoes and you want them to be reasonably priced with great customer reviews (you’re buying them online after all.) So you see Company A’s Facebook page. It’s being updated daily with specials, quotes, why these shoes are worth their weight in gold, just kidding, but this page is killing it! You understand their brand and see the time and quality that they place into their shoes via their Facebook page.

Now you keep searching and come across Company B. Their Facebook page doesn’t have a profile picture, doesn’t have any updates since 1999, just kidding, FB wasn’t invented. But really… need I say more? You’re probably going to be interested more in Company A’s shoes.

Just by looking at someone’s social media pages you can gauge a lot about them. If they constantly update them, you may be able to insinuate the following things:

1. They have great customer service: If they’re updating their pages, they must care about the customer experience because they care about their image

2. They’re still in business: So many times when I run across a stagnant social page as a consumer, I wonder if they’re still even around.

3. They care about their brand: Personally, this is who I tend to trust. If they have a great social presence, have a cover photo, a logo for their main picture and they have some reviews. Boom. I’m more likely to go with them.

Here’s the social media avenue I take:

Facebook: at least once per day

Twitter: at least three times per day

Google+: at least once per day

Instagram: 5-6 times per week

LinkedIn: at least once per day

Many people think they’re posting too many times and that it will get annoying. Well, not everyone in your audience is on social media at the same time, which is why you can spread the posting times out. If you post to Twitter three times per day, most likely if someone sees your first post, they won’t see the second two the rest of the day because they may only check Twitter once. Twitter is a constant feed of information and unless you’re posting once every second, have no fear, you’re not being bothersome.

So overall, the moral of the question, How Often Should I Post on Social Media is as often as you think you can consistently do. There are great sites to analyze your social media posting times to see when the peak ones are. One that I love using for Instagram is SimplyMeasured. This is amazing because it shows you when your peak posting times are, SOOO post then! There are other tools out there too such us Pinterest Analytics, Twitter Analytics and so on.

Do some A/B testing too. Which is simply scheduling similar posts different times to see which ones get the most exposure and interaction.

The thing to ALWAYS remember is social media is SOCIAL. When you act “like a business” or “like a robot” your customers will pick up on it. Act like the human you are, show some emotion, show some personality and everyone will interact more and be more open to growing and learning about you!

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