Social Media Series for Small Business: Are You Integrating Good Posting Strategies into Your Social Media Plan?

To post or not to post, that is the question. With so many different social media options available to your small business now, how do you know how often to post and when you’ve gone over the top?

You want to strike the best balance in your social media postings so you are engaging your audience but not pushing them to the point of hiding your posts.

Let’s look again at our Social Media for Small Businesses Infographic for some tips to incorporate in your social media plan using the major social media sites.

As you’ll see, different social media sites require a different level of commitment. You shouldn’t, for instance, post on any other site the same amount you post on Twitter or pin on Pinterest. You will have followers, friends and circles running for the hills!

Let’s examine good netiquette for each site:

Facebook

For Facebook no more than 2 - 4 posts per day are recommended, but keep in mind that includes shares, likes and comments you make to others’ posts which will also show up on your wall and be seen by your followers. We post our own content a few times per week to our ProfessionalEdge Facebook page and then share, like and engage in conversation for the rest of the week.

Instagram

Instagram is more of a gallery of photos and video so posts per day don’t really matter, as long as whatever posts you make are relevant to your followers.

Google+

Regular and consistent (ideally daily like Facebook) posts and conversations are key to making the most of Google+. You may have a different audience here so you can re-post some of the things you have pinned and posted everywhere else.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is all about the conversation. 2 - 4 posts per week is a good measure, but it is more important to participate in conversations with group members and connections to make the most of this service.

Pinterest

Pin away to your heart’s content – it’s addicting! For your business, post as much as you can to your boards and then re-pin often so it’s fresh and seen by followers. One note here – be sure to use the description wisely as it can only enhance the story told by your picture. Share meaningful

Pinterest pins to your Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter pages as well (but count them as posts on those sites when you do!).

Twitter

Twitter has become a massive universe all its own and it never stops. It too can be addicting if you let it! Pre-schedule tweets for your business in advance to maximize your time investment. Using one of several tools available this can take a bit of time every few weeks, but it is well worth the effort not to have to remember to post specific topics each day. Then you can take a few minutes a couple times a day to browse through other’s tweets, retweet and engage in conversation.

YouTube

With YouTube, you should commit yourself to uploading a new video once a week or once a month (whatever you’re capable of) and stick to it. Remember, YouTube is owned by Google so posts by design increase your search engine standing. Be sure to include relevant meta tags to help searchers find your content.

The bottom line when you are posting to social media sites is to be consistent, but don’t overdo it. Don’t be that “friend” who likes and shares every post she comes across and then makes them public so you have to scroll over them to get to something worth reading. Or, worse yet, hide her content so you don’t have to navigate around it.

The goal is to come up with a strategy that works best for your business and meets your goals and objectives. Make true connections and enhance your success!

Let us know what you find works best for your business!

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Kerry Brooks is Co-owner of ProfessionalEdge Associates, offering a wide range of marketing, event planning and support services to businesses that want to increase their success, but aren't in a position to add to their staff. Learn more at www.gettheprofessionaledge.com.