There is no universally correct answer, but through trial and error and quantitative analysis, you can determine what works best for your brand or organisation in terms of how often it posts.

Besides the obvious caveat that what works for your neighbour may not work for you, there are a few other important points to keep in mind before we get started.

So, first off, what exactly does a post entail? Naturally, it’s important to share branded or external content that you believe your followers will find valuable with them. But remember that the ultimate tool of any marketer is customer feedback. This super-post shows your audience that you’re paying attention and can be counted towards your weekly quota.

Bear in mind that the optimal frequency of posts varies greatly from channel to channel; what may work well for your brand on Twitter may not be the same on Instagram, and vice versa. Come with me as I break down the frequency of social media channel postings.

Insta-Gram Posting Frequency

Our most recent Social Media Industry Benchmark Report found that Instagram was the most engaging social media channel when it came to post frequency.
The typical brand updates their Instagram account 4.5 times per week, or once per day. We found that sports teams and media companies post the most frequently, with a median of 11 and 12 updates per week, respectively.

When it comes to Instagram, how often should a brand post in order to maintain a high total engagement rate? Posting about 3.5 times per week on Instagram, the top 25% of brands by engagement rate are actually posting less frequently than the median brand. Can the frequency of your posts be reduced to increase interaction? Not necessarily, but it is indicative of the success you can expect from concentrating your efforts on the material that your followers will find most interesting and useful.

TikTok Posting Frequency Advice

As more and more companies start posting videos on TikTok, engagement rates have increased, but users still don’t use the platform very often. In the middle, you’ll find the brands that upload an average of 1.9 videos per week to TikTok. On TikTok, media companies and health and beauty companies with 4.3 and 2.6 videos posted weekly, respectively, lead the pack.
By comparison, the median brand only makes one social media post per week, while the top-performing brands make 2.1 posts per week. We predict these figures will increase dramatically over the next few years as more and more companies learn to leverage the power of video.

Facebook Update Frequency Guidance

It’s no secret that Facebook is where most brands post the most often, with the average company publishing 5.8 times a week. Media companies and sports teams went all out on Facebook, with 21 and 87 (!) posts, respectively, on a weekly basis.

Brands in the top 25% by engagement rate posted slightly less frequently than the median brand, at just 5.1 posts per week, reminding us that figuring out the optimal posting frequency is difficult. Have we mentioned that the only way to find the optimal posting frequency to maximise engagement without annoying your audience is to conduct research to see what works for your brand and followers?

Twitter Update Frequency

At 5 tweets per week, the median tweeting frequency is not dissimilar to that of Facebook. Media companies posted an average of 75 tweets per week, while sports teams posted an average of 41 tweets. All of this activity is to be expected from a channel that places such a premium on informing its viewers. With only 1.8 tweets per week, Health & Beauty brands were the least active on Twitter, followed closely by Fashion brands at 1.9 tweets per week.
Somewhat surprisingly, the top Twitter performers in terms of engagement rate tweet about as often as brands earning median engagement rates: about 5 times per week.

TikTok: How Often Should You Post?

TikTok’s engagement rates are so much higher than those of any other platform that we can safely say there is no posting limit on this platform. Post at least twice weekly to stay competitive, but don’t be afraid to test out more frequent updates if you can handle the load.

In Conclusion

To help you determine how often to post on social media, we hope the information provided in this primer will serve as a starting point. As data nerds, we can’t stress enough the importance of conducting experiments and then analysing the results with either native analytics or one of our preferred social media analytics tools to find the sweet spot between optimal engagement and overwhelming your audience.