Maintaining an effective social media presence for your business is different to your personal accounts. If you want your LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram to be part of your overall marketing strategy, posting for your business will work best if you have a regular posting routine or schedule. How often you post and when you post on your platforms will depend on a few things – the habits of your customer base or target audience, when they are most likely to check their feeds, and the kind of posts they engage with most.

In this post, we’ll explain the best ways to create a social media posting routine for your business.

Learn your audience’s habits

There’s a lot of opinions floating around about what the best posting frequency is. Some people will say every day. Others will say a couple of times a week, or just once a week. Too often, and your followers will feel bombarded. Too little, and they’ll lose interest. It really depends on the social media habits of your target audience.

Look at data patterns

One of the most helpful ways to learn about your audience’s social media habits is data. You can access data in a few ways. If you already have business social media accounts, you can access analytics or insights in your business account. These can show you which posts have been viewed and when. You can look for patterns of activity to give you clues on the best times to post.

Do you see more activity on certain days of the week? At certain times of day, or even times of year, around special events? Pay attention to these patterns. Because these could be the ideal times for you to post. Also, looking at statistic sites such as Statista can tell you wider demographic trends in social media usage.

Research your competitors

Looking at what similar businesses in your market are doing can tell you a lot. Find a few successful business social media profiles in your industry and take a look at their feeds. Take note of how often they tend to post. Do they tend to be on particular days of the week or even times of day? Perhaps they post certain types of content more often on the weekend, or other kinds on weekdays. This could be helpful to consider when creating your own posting schedule.

Make a posting schedule

Now that you have all your information, you’re probably ready to create your own posting schedule. Consistency is important, as your audience can know what to expect. Many businesses choose to post around particular themes on the same day. For example, a law firm might post client testimonials on Mondays, helpful tips around family law on Wednesdays, and corporate law on Fridays.

Once you’ve decided on the best times and frequencies of your posts, you can plan your posts in advance. If you have a scheduling tool such as Buffer or Hubspot, all your posts can be made in one place, allowing you to schedule times for them to automatically be placed on your platforms.

Here at Harlow Business Centre, our affordable office space houses a range of small businesses in the local area. Our fully serviced offices are flexible, and our team are always here to help.

To find out more about our business spaces for rent, click here.