Last week I was on a panel discussing social media at a conference here in Australia and a question from the floor asked about how often is ideal to post to Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest?
I was fascinated to hear the range of answers we gave as panelists and I thought it might be a good discussion to have here on ProBlogger.
What frequency do you publish to the social networks that you’re active on?
I’ll kick things off:
Facebook Pages: On the dPS Facebook page I try to update 3-4 times a day with posts spread out over a 24 hour cycle. I find if I do it too much more regularly that the posts don’t get as much engagement.
Twitter: On my ProBlogger Twitter account I find I can post at a higher frequency on Twitter as tweets tend to have a shorter life. Having said that most of my tweets are done live when I have something to say (and time to tweet).
Tweets go up automatically when I post a new post here on the blog or when a new job goes up on the Job Boards and I’ll often share another link to a blog post 12 or so hours later. The rest of my tweets are more personal/conversational and not scheduled.
Pinterest: on the dPS Pinterest account I’ve employed Jade to update our board.
Google+: My Google+ account is something I don’t update with great frequency. I use it more when I want to test an idea that I’m thinking through, ask a question or share something I’m excited about.
As a result there are days when I might post 2-3 times and then it might be 2-3 days before I post again! My posts there can be as short as a link or up to 2000 words!
LinkedIn: I’m a dismal failure on LinkedIn. Status updates are largely new posts on the blog and automated. I feel like I could improve a lot in this area.
What about you? What’s your posting rhythm on to social media? Do you update them all the same or have different strategies for each one?
Your updates are a lot more frequent than mine. I’ve not been posting much on my social media channels recently though as I am still working on lots of new content to share.
I like you almost never use LinkedIn either. There is lots of traffic there but I haven’t be able to tap in to any of it yet.
Great to see what your posting schedule is like Darren. Helps me a lot more.
I don’t really have a rhythm right now. I normally just post when I have something to say or when I write a new blog post. I do post the same across all platforms except for Twitter. I am much more active on Twitter. I also do not post to LinkedIn at this point.
Pinterest I also only post on when I have a new article or if I get in a Pinterest kick and start doing a bunch of re-pinning. I find Pinterest to be extremely useful in different niches than mine.
I never post automatically to any social networks. I always feel like people will think I am not trying then, so I try to make messages more unique and personable. Interesting that you do though, maybe I will try this out. You obviously don’t see a downside to this?
I would be really interested in the responses to this too. At the moment I tweet my most recent post a couple of times a day and personal comments about 3 times; I comment or share something about 3 times a day on Facebook, ‘pin’ when I can, and post three images on Instagram a day. Social media seems to take more time than my writing at the moment and I’m certain that shouldn’t be the right balance.
I post on Facebook every time a new post goes live on the blog, and then I engage with friends and colleagues at other times. My blog’s FB page doesn’t have too many likes, so I need to work on this. On Twitter, I post pretty much every day and link to new posts two or three times in the day it goes live. If a topic is in the news that I’ve written about previously, I might link back to it too.
I too fail miserably at LinkedIn. I’ve had very few interactions there.
To answer your last question, I do have a different strategy for each. Since I use my personal FB page to push out blog posts, I don’t try to fire off updates too often about the blog. I try to keep it pretty spaced out. However, since my Twitter account is directly related to the blog, I am often Tweeting about something related to the blog.
I forgot about Pinterest and LinkedIn…which kind of tells you how frequently those are updated. :) We’re working on it!
I post the same content to both twitter & Facebook… But am thinking I should start to diversify this a bit to take advantage of how each of these networks works. I try to post at least three updates a day… I do this by creating an editorial calendar & scheduling my tweets for the week with hootsuite
Instagram…. I post maybe a couple of times a week
I try to post a couple of blog articles a week but most weeks it’s at least one.
I’m not active on Pinterest… Yet
Linked in…. I don’t update my status alot but I do check out who’s looking at my profile & participate in groups & conversations… As a freelancer linked in is pretty important for potential clients & customers.
Thank you for the posting schedule Darren.
I primarily post to google+ about 3 times per week. The posts are announcements of my blog posts.
We use hubspot so twitter and Facebook are auto updated whenever I post up a blog.
Haven’t found FB to be that great so far and we are getting most of our leads through google+
My posts to social medias are still mostly random. However, I often use similar sites to the ones mentioned in this article.
Great Post.. Now I understand that social Media also a part of website, Thanks for sharing!!
I post on all the major social media outlets almost every day. I feel like I post just about the right amount for my followers :)
I almost feel like saying ‘snap’ to your posting frequencies. Like you, I try to avoid over automating things because it is that conversational, spontaneous nature of social media that makes it more engaging than an RSS feed.
I sort of feel I have to be present for the post to be genuine.
Twitter therefore gets most of my activity, though this varies depending on the day and my availability. G+ I play more in private groups which means my public posts look quite scarce in comparison. I need to work on that and experiment a bit more.
LinkedIn is one I’ve been actively trying to invest more time in recently. However, it still seems like Australian users are not as active in LI groups as our oversees counterparts. Therefore it takes more effort to get traction. I think this will get better over time though.
I always find it interesting to see which posts attract engagement in which networks. I can post the same link (mine or someone else’s) in all networks and get very different responses. One will get a number of likes in LI with great comments and be completely overlooked in Twitter for example.
Well,, I did 3 times in average, but sometimes I did it more than 7 times in a day. My blog isn’t good on SERP, so I use social media as an alternative to get traffic.
I post daily and religiously on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin and Google Plus and also share my post in groups of all social media; on Google Plus I spend half an hour daily to thank all who +1 or reshare my post; similarly I like the comments on post on Facebook; on Twitter however I am quite lazy and don’t Tweet other than my post; the end result is after Google organic traffic the second higher referals of traffic on my blog are from Facebook and Google Plus
more or less the same… however i tend to updates the same contents on all of these accounts.
For me i update my Facebook more often because I find the site with lots of traffic from my string of friends and extended families most of which is mingling and giving my opinion/opinions to a wide range of posts.
Here’s how I try to consistently do it:
Twitter – I schedule 4 tweets or so (Buffer + Follerwonk = Win!) and mix in my real-time tweets as they occur throughout the day. Of the scheduled tweets, I share 1 or 2 of my recent blog posts mixed in with any recent articles, podcasts, videos, etc. that I think my audience will find useful. When sharing a link on twitter, I always try to compose a custom message and include a shoutout to the @author who originally created the content. (if you want an example, look at my tweets @jasonstum)
LinkedIn – I work in Automotive Digital Marketing field and am connected mostly with my peers and colleagues, so I try to share some higher level content that my connections might find useful. I leave all the fluff to other social networks.
Google Plus – This one has been a struggle for me. I’ve been a member since closed beta, and have 350 or so people who have circled me. Yet it seems no matter how much I engage with those in my circles, I never get more than a couple of +1’s. I’m sure there is something here that I am missing, and am working diligently to crack the code. If you have any helpful ideas, let me know!
Facebook – For my personal Facebook account, I keep it personal. For the FB Pages I manage, I try to post once a day, every day.
Pinterest – This is the one Social Network where I find I don’t have to be consistent to receive regular repins and likes. I have a personal account and a business account for one of my blogs. I find as long as I have a nice mix of repinning others and adding new pins to the feed I engage my followers. In this case, it’s truly about the quality of your pins, not how often you are pinning.
Instagram – See Pinterest. With the use of #tags, it’s even easier to go dormant for a while and still pickup new likes and follows with each new post.
My Blog, MarketPunch.com – Originally I was content with posting once a week. I’ve recently decided to bump that up to twice a week in an effort to create more regular traffic and a loyal following.
That’s it for me folks! Looking forward to hearing about your posting rhythm.
Automated updates of my new posts. I’ve hooked up every social media account possible (this is via WP.com so not a plug-in). This means Google+ gets fewer updates.
If I post about job-related stuff I may uncheck the LinkedIn box. The reason for this is that I have my updates visible on my LinkedIn profile page and I don’t want visitors of that page to think that a post title is about any job dissatisfaction on my part.
On LinkedIn, interaction mainly takes place in groups, so you need to find out which groups have people with the right interests. I haven’t experimented with it myself but have seen others share posts with some lively discussions.
LinkedIn likes don’t equal Twitter favorites; they’re more like retweets. If any of your connections likes your update, or comments on it, your update is shown in their connections’ home stream, and on their own profile page if they’ve added the update section like I have.
Facebook doesn’t work for me because I have not invested my time and effort there.
Now you’ve got me stumped… where’s the LinkedIn share button on this blog?
Interesting Darren,
I am actually post link to my facebook fanpage not too often. I’d prefer three times in a week or so. By this I have better engagement so far rather than post my blog link daily.
What do I learn is … social media is a crowd place for “get traffic” effort so if we do the other way round people will start to notice us. Besides it’s place to socialize not to promote, right?
Being rather new to the blogoshere in recent times ( I have blogged in the last few years with very small results) I often wonder about what criteria constitutes an effective number, for the frequency of posts.
That number is unknown.What works in terms of numbers will also be different for various different people.
I myself do the following currently –
On my Facebook Page – This is my youngest creation in terms of social communication with others. There has only been activity from the last three weeks. I can say at this stage, all that activity has literally, been from myself (and a few family members). Future communication will most likely be with a couple of posts/shares per week.
Twitter – This is a tool of social interation I use everyday since I started using it. I tweet about 6 times a day and retweet more often each day. I find with the immediancy of Twitter I get alot of short, useful bites of information in a very short period of time. I am finding one has to be in constant use to a see a fuller effect Twitter has with interacting with others on the medium.
Pinterest – I am not currently using at all. I am unsure of which picture product/platform/media I need for my social interactions and platform I need for using my pictures at this time. Instagram and PhotoBucket are options I am considering for this purpose.
Google+ – I have an account, yet I am actually to do anything with it. It has not seen any use at this time.
LinkedIn – I joined this service some time ago and filled out a basic resume on the site. Not really have I done anything with it since. I have 3 or 4 people I have linked with. Apart from the basic membership which is free, I have been put off with adverts for upgrading to paid membership. I also get an impression with other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook being more often used (not just a popular platform) than LinkedIn, it suffers from less use by Australians than the other two scoial media platforms.
Tumbler/Stumbleupon/Technorati – Other social media platforms I have become a member of but never really have done anything of significance with these bookmark media platforms.
I only use Facebook, Twitter and my single blog for posting currently, most often daily, some platforms several posts a day. I see this to be my main focus for the foreseeable future. LinkedIn and Google+ may get further use if warranted in the future.
well, I must say that your updates are more frequent than mine!
I post on Facebook two or three times a day. New blog posts are posted on my public page on the day they are published but I only share one or two a week on my private page.
I post about twelve to fifteen times a day on Twitter. Six are scheduled on a day with a blog post publication, five on days that are not publishing days. I know people that tweet 50 times a day, which I find annoying.
I don’t schedule Pinterest. I pin 3 to 4 times a week. My favorite site by far.
I touch LinkedIn and Google+ about once a week.
I have the most referrals to the site through Facebook and Pinterest but I know others get a lot of traffic through other sites.
I use Facebook primarily and have several pages for different niches. I schedule out two posts per day per page, usually on Sunday going back to my site and to other offers/interests. Two or three times a day I will go through and share items from other pages with my own pages. Creates good interaction.
I have recently changed my updates a bit. They my different outlets may vary a bit depending on what I have going on.
I heavy twitter day will be around 10 posts spread out by at least an hour suing buffer. (I may occasionally send out an unscheduled retweet)
For my facebook page I post 2 to 4 times per day.
My personal facebook profile 5 to 6 posts per day
Google + Whenever I think about
Linkedin – New blog post, and when I think about it. I am experimenting with posting to linkedin more frequently.
This has been a hard one for me to tackle so far. I have found that I seem to do better with Facebook if I post 4 times a day. I only recently figured this out, so still trying to play with it a little more to figure out about what times, etc. Twitter, I do about the same amount of times for the most part, but truthfully Twitter is a little more of a challenge for me to get into just from a personal standpoint. I just don’t seem to enjoy Twitter all that much. Pinterest has been sporadic, as has Google +. Linkedin, I am basically not even on the chart. I have alot of work to do to clean some of this up. I really am trying to figure out which place my target audience spends most of their time, and then spend more time there. So far, it appears to be Facebook and possibly Pinterest.
I mix it up as much as possible and only share/post/comment when I write or find content worth sharing that will fit with the appropriate social channel. If I go a few days w/o posting to any given channel I don’t worry about. I’d rather share great content than share for just the sake of sharing.
Hi Darren,
Its a tricky question really. I personally believe that you should only promote your social profiles where you are active.
i agree with the posting frequency you’ve mentioned for Facebook 4-5 times is the optimum. However, for Twitter, I believe the better strategy is to scheduled your tweets through the 24 hours…I would say 1 Tweet for every 1 hours (pre scheduled) would be good…This includes the interactions as well.
I post on my blog three times a week and have them automatically go through to my Tumblr blog (I joined because I found many Blogger people left for Tumblr), Facebook profile, author page, 3 book pages, and two others, and Twitter (which is connected to Linkedin and I don’t use at all).Google+ I upload my blog posts to by hand. So I’m only online for three mornings a week and don’t interact much unless there’s something to talk about or reply too.
I also have a Myspace page which I don’t use, Youtube/Vimeo/Dailymotion channels I no longer upload to as I stopped making videos, I have 3 Pinterest boards I no longer upload to and an Instagram I’ve never used. AT.ALL!
I’m on Stumbleupon and Technorati, using neither, and a bunch of author/book websites for my books.
I also have About.Me and Flavors.Me profile pages. Not sure I need those either.
Being on so much social media gets very tiring and it’s no wonder pages/profile go by the wayside. A friend of mine is culling her social media, deleting her Myspace and Flavors pages yesterday.
I’ve also been culling over the last year and let Digg and Delicious go because their websites changed too much and became confusing. Smaller websites like Fanpop, Formspring etc all went and I’ll be culling more by the end of the year.
Darren, have you done posts on which social media sites are the most important to be on these days? Considering so many of us who replied here have left or not used some sites for so long I think it’s time we all culled our social media down to a neat little package we can deal with.
Interesting to hear how other people do this (especially Darren!).
As a part-time blogger and SAHM, I’ve figured out a) what I have time for and b) what suits me.
I blog on a Tuesday usually, once a week. When I blog, I post to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Not sure if I’ll get my article finished today – aarggh!
I use Twitter daily because I really enjoy it, also attend a couple of Twitter chats a week (geeky – #blogchat) parenting – #dadchat).
I post on my Facebook pages at least once a day in the mornings and sometimes at night if I have time. Other mums may pop on then after the kids are in bed.
My main FB page is slowwwwly growing, so are my Twitter followers (IMHO ‘paid’ followers are an oxymoron, by the way). Pinterest seems to do really well for me so going to research that more. I pin on a Friday usually, seems to work for me.
Sarah
A Mom On A Spiritual Journey!
Thank you for giving us examples of your SM frequency posting and I agree with most of your targets. My blog is more photo centric so I do tend to increase the frequency of posting to more friendly photosites like pinterest, google+ and various fb groups that are also photo focused. Also in terms of new posts, there is a major ramp up each time to the all the SM channels to introduce this new article so it gets distributed completely through my blog interface. Great post btw.
Thanks for sharing, Darren. My schedule looks something like this:
Facebook: I post 1-2 times per day and try to comment on other pages every day.
Twitter: I tweet at least 5-10 times per day. I love Twitter.
LinkedIn: I post time per day and am mindful to participate in groups once a week and I recommend and endorse one person in my network who I value once per week.
Google+: I post about 1 time a day and I participate in communities every day (writing, blogging, WordPress, SEO)
Pinterest: I can take it or leave it right now. It doesn’t warrant too much of my time at the moment.
Instagram: I post once or twice every day or two.
Tumblr/Vine: I opened an account, but I don’t use it much.
Hey Chris I am curious to know what groups on LinkedIN you are active in. The conversation topics for some of the groups I have tried to participate in tends to be a bit “weak.”
Ha, I should have just read this earlier. Hi Jade!