Here’s a quick one – Facebook has started sharing how many posts a day each Page publishes within their on-platform search results.
Spotted by digital media advisor Greg Baroth, the option’s likely designed to give regular users some idea of what to expect from each Page – but it could also help provide additional context for social media marketers who are trying to get a better understanding of their optimal posting schedule.
Traditional Facebook best practices have advised a level of restraint when posting to Facebook, as you don’t want to overwhelm your audience’s feeds – particularly considering that they’re more likely to be on Facebook to see updates from family and friends, as opposed to businesses. The general magic number is around one to two posts per day, which should help keep your Page top of mind without pushing the boundaries of civil participation.
But the evolution of the News Feed algorithm has changed that slightly. According to Facebook’s own advice for journalists, published as part of their Facebook for Journalists certificate program (launched last April), Pages should look to:
“Post frequently – Don’t worry about over-posting. The goal of News Feed is to show each person the most relevant story, so not all of your posts are guaranteed to show in their Feeds.”
In another section of the course, Facebook notes that some Pages are posting up to 80 times a day and seeing good results. Of course, these are news Pages, so they generally have more timely content to publish, but given the limitations on post reach – which now mean that you’ll be lucky to have more than 5% of your audience see each of your updates – and the low amount of people who actually see content on your Page itself (with the majority of post views coming in the News Feed), it makes sense that posting more frequently can have benefits.
Ultimately, your own response data will tell the tale, but it may be worth experimenting with – and now, you have an easy way to benchmark your Page against competitors. Just look them up in search (make sure you click on the specific ‘Pages’ tab in the results) and check out how often they’re publishing.
Are the more successful Pages publishing more frequently than you? Might be worth considering.