For all platforms, you are probably wondering how often you should be posting, and what time is best to post. These are great questions, but unfortunately, they have no easy answers.
Start by posting according to the guidelines listed here, but as you become more fluent on your chosen platform, use your social listening to identify how often your community posts and when they seem to be the most active.
Start by posting to with the following frequencies, paying attention to what your community does and adjusting as you go:
- Twitter and Instagram: At least once per day, preferably multiple times per day. Post before work, at lunch, and just after work
- Facebook: Post at least a couple of times per week up to once a day. Post from lunchtime until mid afternoon
- LinkedIn: Post at least once a week up to once a day. Post during working hours
- Pinterest: Post a couple of times a week up to once a day. Post at lunchtime, just after work and on weekends
- Reddit: Post at least once a day, in the evenings
- Snapchat: Post at least once a day. Posts generally last for 24 hours before disappearing
- YouTube, Blogging and Podcasting: Post at least once a month to once a week. Choose a day and be consistent
- Emerging platforms: Participate in the community to see what general trends are and follow them
These guidelines provide a place to start, but the process of determining the optimal time and frequency to post doesn’t end here. As you develop your content and share it, keep a record (for example on an excel spreadsheet) of what time you posted, how often you posted and how well each post performed. This will allow you to continue to make adjustments until you’ve identified the optimal frequency and time frame for your content.
Now that you’ve got an idea of how to create different kinds of content and where to put it, you might want to consider issues of open access and copyright, particularly if you’re going to engage in the practice of content curation. The next section will discuss online copyright, and how you can best use content from around the web while still respecting the wishes of the creators.