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Anyone frustrated with the time and effort you put into social media? It’s definitely hard to keep up with what to do where and when, but understanding social media marketing best practices definitely helps.
Like anything else in life, you get out of social media marketing what you put into it.
You can’t just waltz over to LinkedIn whenever the mood strikes, post a nugget of wisdom, move onto a client project, and expect a flood of reactions, comments, and shares.
So, let’s run through some best practices with the channels I am most familiar with – LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube – and then I’ll share my recommendations to help you get the most out of your efforts.
Note that this is not a comprehensive guide of social media marketing best practices. Instead, I included information that my clients ask me often.
How often to post on which social media platform
Do a search, and you’ll find a lot of recommendations around frequency. Here’s what I know works based on what I do for clients and myself:
LinkedIn personal account: Post once to three times per week. You could post every weekday if you’re feeling ambitious, but no more than that. And don’t post on weekends!
LinkedIn company page: As I’ve written before, LinkedIn company pages don’t show up in newsfeeds, but you want to keep it active. One post per week is perfectly fine.
Instagram: For best results, post three to five times each week and use a mix of stories (they show up in feeds) and reels (they’re highlighted up top).
YouTube: Got a channel? Great. One new video a week is sufficient.
What time to post on each platform
Just like the topics you share on social media, your timing is really dependent on your audience.
For your LinkedIn personal account, early morning (7am to 9am) is considered the gold standard. But maybe your network checks LinkedIn when they’re standing in line at Sweetgreen for lunch. Or eating lunch. Or sitting in the carpool line at school.
If you’re not sure, post at different times during the day and track what time garners the most engagement.
Over on Instagram, you might get away with posting mid-day (right before or during lunch), but again, timing depends on your audience.
One of my clients wants to reach educators. Teachers don’t have time to scroll through Instagram during the school day. The best times to reach them are first thing in the morning – 6am to 7am – and evening – after 6pm.
As for YouTube, timing doesn’t matter. It’s up to you to share new videos on your social channels (and elsewhere).
What content formats to use
Since YouTube is all video, let’s talk about Instagram and LinkedIn.
Video rules on Instagram, but you need to keep videos really short – 15 seconds or less. You can also post moving images with a text overlay (just keep the text short!).
Carousels are interactive (since you swipe from one to the next) and therefore work well on Instagram. Keep the text short and be creative with your narrative or story. A series of tips works great.
On LinkedIn, text-only posts are the norm. As long as the content is valuable, your network will stop and read what you have to say. I love surveys – and so do LinkedIn users – so experiment with those.
Videos also do well on LinkedIn, but don’t post all videos all the time. LinkedIn users tend to like a variety of content.
My recommendations for social media marketing
Ok, now that we covered some social media marketing best practices, here are my recommendations based on what I do.
Track the content that people like
You won’t know what’s working unless you track it – obviously. But few people do.
Every two or three months, pull up the platform’s analytics and take a look at what topics or content type is getting the most engagement. Plan your next two months’ worth of posts on what’s working – and then track that. Rinse and repeat.
Be vulnerable
My network has outright said that being vulnerable – admitting mistakes, sharing lessons learned, even opening up about struggles in their business – garner the most engagement.
Those stories are real and raw. And we humans react to them with love and compassion. I have yet to see a negative comment on these types of posts.
If you’re comfortable, try it! (And if you’re not sure if a post is TMI, ask a trusted colleague or partner for feedback.)
Spend time growing your audience
I’m sure you get lots of LinkedIn connection requests – me too. But are you proactively reaching out to others? They could be potential partners (for me, that’s other marketing agencies), potential clients (if you target an industry or two), or thought leaders in your space.
On Instagram, find people to follow by looking up the hashtags you’re using. There’s a lot of quid pro quo on Instagram. If you follow someone, they are likely to follow back.
To grow your audience on YouTube, you need to findable. Make sure your channel is optimized for search. After all, it’s the second largest search engine on the Internet (and has been for years).
Leave comments on other people’s posts
If you want people to comment on your posts, you need to comment on theirs. Social media is SOCIAL. It’s a conversation, not a bull horn.
Plus, commenting on other people’s posts tells the algorithm you are an active user, and your posts will be more likely to show up in their feeds.
I knew a few people who are active commenters on LinkedIn, and their posts always get a LOT of engagement.
Don’t spend all your marketing time and effort on social media
Yes, I realize the point of this post is to help you make the most of social media. But don’t devote hours each week to it.
First of all, you don’t own your social media channels, and the algorithms are constantly changing what’s visible and why. Spread out your efforts on channels you do own – your blog (on your website) and email marketing.
Second, social media has a low ROI. BUT it can keep you top of mind and reach potential new clients. I use it for both. Can I pinpoint a particular project or client to social media? No – but that’s the way marketing is. It’s hard to measure, and it takes many touches across platforms for someone to reach out or make a purchase.
So how much time should you devote to it?
Well, your time commitment depends on how long it takes you to craft posts, so here’s what I’ll tell you:
- One or two posts per week on LinkedIn is fine. They don’t need to be long, just valuable. (I post once a week.)
- Two or three posts per week on Instagram. Remember, they MUST be short. (I don’t use Instagram for marketing.)
- Thirty to sixty minutes per week commenting on other people’s posts (per channel).
And reuse content wherever and whenever you can (like blog posts!). Social media is a time commitment – but it shouldn’t take over your life