You know social media is important, but you also know that it’s time-consuming and it drives you crazy!

It’s hard to keep up with and to always make new content, especially if you’re posting every single day (or multiple times a day) on Facebook and Instagram.

At the same time, you know social media is an awesome tool that can help your business grow. So then you’re left wondering, how often should a business post on social media?

But let me tell you a little secret. You don’t actually have to post every single day to have a successful social media strategy.

Let me say it again for the people in the back. You don’t actually have to post every single day to have a successful social media strategy. 

What’s More Important on Social Media: Quality or Quantity?

For a while now, there’s been an ongoing debate about quality versus quantity when it comes to your content on social media. Is it better for a business to have a lot of content and post all of the time, or is it better to post solid, knockout content much less often? 

The answer to that question is that it depends on the platform that you are using. 

Pinterest is more of a search engine than a social media platform, so a business should post a little bit more often on there. But when it comes to Facebook or Instagram, it’s okay if you pull back a little bit!

When social media first came out (& even up to  just a few years ago), it was all still brand new, so the algorithms really favored the quantity of posts that people were putting out. They just wanted content on their site, so the more the merrier!  

Back then, the more often a business (or anyone) posted content to Facebook and Instagram, the more likely it was that a lot of people would see that content. 

Now that it’s been around for a little while, we have had the chance to see how social media actually works and how people consume content. Because of that, Facebook has changed the algorithm a few times so that its platforms better align with how people are actually using them.

• It is very, very hard for anyone to post good content 365 days a year!
  • Even professional sports teams & big brands don’t have enough good stories to tell every single day. It just doesn’t happen.
• People are more protective of their newsfeed than ever before!
  • Consumers are aware that businesses post on social media often, and they don’t want their newsfeeds to be taken over by posts from a business they follow
• By focusing on quantity instead of quality, you can actually lose customers
  • Just because a business posts something, doesn’t mean the audience actually wants to see it, especially if it doesn’t provide any value. Don’t annoy your audience because you are posting just to post.

How Often Should A Business Post on Social Media?

The way it works now is that the algorithm favors quality content over quantity of content. That just means that it is better to have a few solid posts that get a lot of engagement than a lot of just okay posts that don’t do as well.

Facebook owns Instagram, so they actually share the same algorithm and ad platform policies. If the Facebook algorithm favors quality over quantity, then so does Instagram!

It’s much better to have 4 posts with 100 likes and 27 comments, than it is to have 17 posts with only 2 likes each and no comments. 

The algorithm is based on our interests and targeting, but it also factors in how people are interacting with the content we put out.

If it consistently sees that a business is posting content that people don’t engage with (they don’t like it, comment on it, or share it) then the algorithm is going to show that content to less and less people, because it thinks people don’t like what you’re putting out.

But if a business was able to put out a post that got 100 likes and 27 comments every single time, but they only posted twice a week, then algorithm would see that people love that content, so it would show it to more people. 

It is going to vary on how often each business should post on a social media and that is because each business and industry is different. A good rule of thumb is to post at least 2-3 times per week, minimum. That way, your feed will be updated frequently and you will have more time to focus on making quality content over sheer quantity.

Why Should A Business Post Less on Social Media?

Focusing on quality over quantity is good for so many reasons!

• You can spend less time on social media because your business doesn’t have to post every single day
• Your audience (and users on Facebook) have a better experience because they enjoy better content from your business
• New people and other potential customers get a better first impression when they stumble on your content
• Facebook & Instagram shows more people your content for free
• Your content reflects your business and brand better because it is more aligned with your audience
• Your business can get a reputation for producing a high quality of work and potential customers may perceive your products to be higher quality as well

A few years ago, when social media was still new, everyone focused on putting out a lot content, as often as possible. It was all about quantity and posting as much as you possibly could. 

But now that things have changed, the algorithms really favor quality of content over the quantity of content. That means that a business should post better content, less often, on social media! 

Gone are the days of posting every single day (or multiple times a day) and endlessly spinning your wheels to try to make this social media thing work. But you can still use this awesome tool to grow your business!

The best part is that you can actually save time and work less on social media, while seeing even better results than before! Win-win.

The post Quality or Quantity: What’s Better on Social Media? appeared first on Simple Socialite.

(Psst) I have to let you in on a little secret. How many followers you have on social media doesn’t really matter all that much! There I said it…

Growing the number of followers on platforms like Facebook and Instagram is the one thing almost every business owner I talk to is concerned with. While it’s true that this used to be very important, the truth is, that is one of the last things you should care about when it comes to social media.

That is of course, as long as you have some social media followers and aren’t starting completely from scratch. I’m not saying you don’t need any followers on social media (because you do). I’m just saying, the number of followers isn’t all that important. Your time is better spent focusing on something else and here’s why…

1. People Don’t Like To Follow Brands

Our news feeds are filled more click-bait and ads than ever before, and the amount of spams emails we get on a daily basis is overwhelmingly high. The worst part is, once it all starts, it feels like it’s almost impossible to stop, no matter how many times you unfollow or unsubscribe.

Consumers have taken notice and now they are much more guarded with their online activities. They know once they follow your brand on social media, they are going to hear from you, consistently, and that you are going to be selling to them.

They also realize that the algorithms are going to show them other, similar content because it is something they are “interested” in. That can easily start to take over their feeds, which ruins their social experience (and frankly, annoys them), so they would rather just not follow you.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but think about it this way. Can you think of 5 brands/businesses (that aren’t your friends or family) that you like to follow? What about 10? If the answer is no, you are just like most people, and that’s perfectly okay!

2. You Can’t Take Likes To The Bank

It’s as simple as that. Even if you have the most likes, comments, shares, and followers in the entire world, you can’t walk into a bank and cash them in. It doesn’t work like that. 

On their face, followers are worth a total of $0. Leads, sign-ups, and sales are where the money is at and that is what you should be focusing on.

Just because someone follows you doesn’t mean they are going to buy your products/services. In fact, most purchasers don’t like, comment, share, or follow the brands they buy. They linger.

Most people are too busy with their normal lives to take time out to engage with a brand regularly. Instead, they poke around, quietly doing research until they are ready to buy. Those are the people you want to focus on, not your social media followers.

3. There Is A More Important Metric

Follower count is nothing more than a vanity metric. It looks nice to outsiders, but it doesn’t give you an accurate idea of how many people are actually seeing your content on a regular basis. That is where Custom Audience’s come into play.

Facebook and Instagram allow you to create Custom Audiences based on people who have engaged with your pages, in a custom time period that you set, up to 365 days. (Personally, I like to set it for at least 7, 30, and 365 days). From there, you will be able to see how many people engaged or took some action (like, comment, share, click, etc) on your page.

When you compare those numbers to the amount of new followers you got in the same period, 9 times out of 10, you will see that the engaged with the page numbers are much, much higher. It all goes back to people not wanting to follow brands and quietly engaging in the background instead.

The real beauty of this metric is that it can also be used to retarget those who have engaged with your content in the past. That means that you can show those people, who already like you at least a little, your high converting sales content in an effort to make money!

As long as you have some social media followers (500+ is a solid number), you probably don’t need to worry too much about gaining even more. That fact of the matter is, gaining followers is hard, and it doesn’t necessarily do much for your business.

People are hesitant to follow brands because they are already annoyed and bombarded with marketing messages; followers do not equal sales because most buyers are quiet lurkers; and there are simply better metrics to measure your success.

At the end of the day, social media followers look nice, but they don’t bring home the bacon!

The post 3 Reasons You Should Ignore Your Social Media Followers appeared first on Simple Socialite.