Previously we’ve looked at the Pros and Cons of Posting Daily on Social Media so this week look at flipside.

Is Weekly Posting Enough for Social Media Growth?

So , why do people ask us is weekly posting enough for social media growth?

There are several reasons behind the question of Is Weekly Posting Enough for Social Media Growth?

And it is often down to one of or all of 5 reasons

Lack Of Creativity – Creativity most people don’t describe themselves as creative. I often say that that education system is failing creativity. At primary school you tell stories and create art every day and the moment you go into high schools creativity gets side-lined for remembering facts and figures. By the time someone launches a business they might not have been in the habit of being a creative person for 15-30 years.

Lack Of Time – there are the huge time pressures for business owners and team members. Social Media is often something people do alongside their regular job. So the time taken to write a social media post is felt, especially if they don’t have a strong content plan to base this on.

Lack Of Visual Media – In the early days of social media text only was enough. Nowadays as well as strong copywriting skills we also need to have media assets such as photos and videos to be part of your social media plan.

Fear of Over posting – Remember you are the only person who sees every single social media post you post. I post every day and most of my audience might only see 3-4 posts out of 7. If I post once per week I might only have a touch point with them once a month.

Lack Of Confidence – And last but not least. All of the above lead to a lack of confidence in posting on social media consistently.

What is the sweet spot for posting on social media?

You’ll hear wild claims on how often you should post on social.

At one extreme you’ll see TikTok Creators say you need to post 10x a day. And on the other extreme you’ll hear people say “Just post when you feel like it or have something to say”.

Neither of those will work.

There are caveats here, but for most businesses we recommend 4-5x a week.

That comes from the experience of working in social media marketing for over 16 years.

To give you an idea of how often businesses are posting

• the average number of feed based posts on Facebook and Instagram is a about 1.7x per day.
• On LinkedIn the average user is a lurker and doesn’t post – so the small percentage that do stand out and win
• On TikTok benchmark data reveals that typical brands average only about 2 videos per week

Different platforms. Different benchmarks.

How many customers do you want, impacts the level of social media posts?

Effort = reward

At the start of a social media training we’ll have a discussion about what the businesses ambitions are and how many customers they want or need.

That is generally a good starting point for framing your approach to social media.

We’re a training business. At full capacity we’d be delivering 188 training sessions a year. In order for us to fill those slots we’ve got to work hard as well as working smart. We can’t expect to put in part time hours into part time marketing and still expect huge results.

On the flipside we often train businesses who due to family situations or the stage of their career they might only to want to work with less than 10 clients a year. Those people don’t need to turn up every single day on social media to grow their business to the level they want.

To make this clear here are some examples of High Volume or Low Volume Businesses

High Volume: Restaurants, Bars, Retailers, Hair & Beauty, Tradesmen, Personal Trainers, Trainers
Low Volume: Business Coaches, Fractional Consultants, Wealth Managers etc,

What is your nearest direct competition doing on social media?

Someone else does what you do. It’s very unlikely that you’re reading this and have a total monopoly of the market.

As a business owner you have to be aware of what the “competition” or industry is doing.

Not obsess. Not spend every waking minute looking at their social media. But being aware of it.

All other things being equal such as quality – a business posting prolifically will out perform a business posting once a week.

You don’t break through the noise of social media by being average.

So what actually happens if you post once a week

• Visibility Is Minimal: Once a week is better than nothing if you’re currently on zero. But in many cases once a week will result in minimal visibility.
• Data builds slowly: How do you know what is actually working when you’re only posting once a week? With such limited data points it’s hard to spot any meaningful pattern. Someone posting daily will understand in 2 months what it takes you one year to understand.
• You rely heavily on each post: Once a week doesn’t allow flexibility. It has to hit hard and it has to hit home. If I was doing 1 post a week it 100% would be a case study or client success story. But that doesn’t allow space for educational posts, personal posts, networking posts or any other type of post that gives a more round picture of my business.

Conclusion: Posting once per week on social media is not enough on it’s own

For 90% of businesses 1 post per week on social media is not enough.

The 10% that it is ok for generally fall into the following categories

• Monopoly of the market
• Low Volume Business

That said we aways recommend that social media is a part of your marketing plan rather than the whole marketing plan.

So look at how social media helps you move the business forward alongside areas such as Networking, PR, Blogging. Referrals and other areas of marketing.

Here’s a look at the impact that increasing posting frequency on social media helps local businesses

ADAM HORNER, MCHALE & CO
“Posting has become a habit , I like to reflect on what I’ve done and it also creates interaction with others which often leads to furthering the relationship and work as well as recruitment opportunities”

SUE ALDRIDGE, ALTRINCHAM & SALE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
We recognised that the Chamber needed to raise its profile on social media — both to attract new members and to make sure the wider business community understood what we were doing and the value we were creating.

It was important to me that the message we were putting out was consistent, professional and reflective of the Chamber’s reputation. Our board are all volunteers with limited time to dedicate to the organisation, so it was important that this element of our marketing was outsourced to a specialist who could give it the attention and consistency it deserved, rather than treat it as an afterthought.

The impact has honestly been transformational. Our following has grown significantly, engagement from existing members is far stronger, we now use our platforms as a genuine advertising medium for member businesses, and it has given the Chamber a credible, visible presence that we simply didn’t have before. It has become a real platform for growth — for the Chamber and for our members

Jordan Sheppard, Sheppard & Co

Before meeting Alex, I was more of a ‘browser’ as opposed to ‘poster’ when it came to social media. I feel I’m naturally quite innovative with marketing but putting a plan together and making posting more of a daily habit helped me build confidence but also connect with my audience.

At first, it felt awkward – who am I talking to? What do I need to say? Where do I look? The more I posted the more natural it became and with my business being highly focussed on customer service, that’s exactly what I wanted to deliver, on and off social media.

I love building relationships, helping people make their property move and providing a personal service, posting more on social media has helped me spread that passion I have. 

NEED HELP WITH SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Looking for authentic ways to grow your social media

Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation

We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you

Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services

We offer Social Media Training on
* LinkedIn
* Instagram
* Facebook
* TikTok
* Blogging

We can do this
* 121
* Corporate Workshops
* Group Workshops
* Face to Face or Via Zoom

Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk