Social Media 101 -Them Blasted Algorithms – The Importance of Posting Consistently

Remember, way back in the day, when you would log on to Facebook or Instagram and see the posts of the day in chronological order? Well, that doh happen again. Facebook got rid of chronological feeds in 2014, and Instagram followed suit in 2016. Twitter has experimented back and forth, but has settled on giving users the option to choose between chronological and relevance-based algorithmic feeds. YouTube’s homepage has always used relevance-based algorithms to display what the user is most likely to want to engage with.

Social media platforms’ use of algorithms is designed to do one thing and one thing only: keep us on the platform for as long as possible. The infinite scrolling feature, coupled with these algorithms, can easily keep us online for hours on end if we’re not careful. And each social media platform changes their algorithms regularly to make sure they capture and keep their users’ attention. Usually, when these changes occur, people are up in arms for a few days and then happily (or grudgingly) accept the new changes and move on. 

So, what can business owners do to make sure their businesses are seen on social media?
In short, the answer is to consistently post content that is relevant to your potential clients’ interests. Here is the recommended posting frequency for the more common social media platforms:

• Instagram: At least once a day
• YouTube: At least once a week
• Facebook: At least three times per week
• Twitter: Extremely variable, but usually at least three times per day
• TikTok: At least once a day, up to three times daily

Posting with this frequency helps maintain engagement and aids in growth.  It may seem that TikTok has a very demanding posting requirement, but TikTok creations are relatively low effort and very easily batched.

Temporary posts, called Stories on Facebook and Instagram, Shorts on YouTube, and Moments on Twitter, are also a good way to remain engaged with your audience. These are best posted daily, but require much less effort than typical posts.

A note about quality
Additionally, posted content should be appealing. Content should be aesthetically pleasing, clear, and well-designed, where necessary. For example, if the sound quality on your YouTube videos is regularly poor, it would be hard to build a following since people would have a hard time deciphering your message. Similarly, poor-quality pictures or ugly graphics on Instagram and Facebook don’t lend themselves to growth on those platforms. Here are some tips and tricks to improve the quality of your images.

The good news is…
Once your content passes the “algorithm test”, i.e., proven to get engagement, the algorithm will gladly promote your future posts. That said, business owners, get out there and start posting quality content regularly to keep your potential customers wanting more!