Content, Content, Content

One of the questions I get asked all the time is, “how often should I post?” The common theory has been that if you post too much, your audience will get tired of you and unfollow you. However, the new algorithms on Facebook and Instagram lead us to a different conclusion. Content, Content, Content.

Nowadays, it is less about carefully crafting perfect posts and more about quantity. The way the algorithms work now, each individual is almost 100% unlikely to see all of your posts. That means, even if you wear it out with posting, it is unlikely each member of your audience will see everything and get annoyed. Rather, Facebook will show them the types of posts they have engaged with before.

As an example, Facebook AI learns that Person A really likes dog posts. Sarcastic humor, not so much. Person B interacts with sarcastic humor, but not anything with cute animals. You post a funny meme with a dog. Person A is most likely going to see the post, but Person B won’t. You post something a sarcastic meme, vice versa.

We don’t want to just slop the hogs, get completely off-brand, and share random memes and musings that have nothing to do with anything, of course, but do spend less time worrying about perfection. Be a content machine. If you get stuck for ideas, do a 2 minute search on google using key words for your industry. You will quickly be bombarded by things to talk about, articles and memes to share, and thoughts to ponder.

Its now a numbers game. If you want to stay front and center in the news feeds of your target audience, you are going to have to give Facebook more opportunities to find things that will be interesting to them. As it learns, so can you. You will quickly discover which types of posts get the most engagement. Rinse and repeat.

You can additionally throw in more sales-type posts when you share more often. If you go with the rule of thumb that for every 3 misc posts you make you can share something promoting yourself, think about how often you will be able to promote in opposition to if you only posted daily.

Keep an eye on those algorithms, though! Zuckerberg has a tendency to changes things abruptly and without notice, so we must always stay vigilant.