Best Posting Practices I’ve Learned (as a Zoomer)
Although my first phone wasn’t a smartphone, I’m a digitally native 22-year-old, who likes to think I know a thing or two about the social-media world. My phone is in my hands before I even open my eyes in the morning, I’m part of the 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram, and I don’t know how to change a tire.
I’m the Gen Z prototype.
Being so young and active online, I’m often the target marketed on social media. So, I thought I was pretty familiar with trends, both socially and marketing-wise. That was until I became the one creating the posts. I made plenty of new discoveries every day as I started to learn about how things worked behind the scenes.
In The Comment Section
People love comments. Posting them, receiving them, reacting to them. The same is true with business accounts. But, it can be hard to figure out how to engage with your audience if you’re only posting a few times a week. Thankfully, I learned a few tricks on how to do that more effectively. Whether followers are excited about a promotion, mad about a canceled event, or asking a question, people are always quick to take to the comment section! Replying back to peoples comments is important and gives your profile a more personable and active feel. That being said, it is important to know how to respond to certain comments. Comments that may involve negative feelings or questions should be replied to and addressed in a direct message. It is also important to “like” people’s comments and even comment on other posts to engage on other posts as well.
Who, What, and When
Thinking of new content for a client can sometimes be tricky. So once you choose an image and develop its message, what’s next? Figuring out when to publish a post using an editorial calendar is an underrated element of your social channel strategy. Based on the demographic you want to reach and the platform you’re using, a lot can influence your decision.
A platform like LinkedIn, where most of its users have a 9-5 workday, sees a dropoff in activity after 5:00 pm. Additionally, they see less activity on Mondays and on the weekend. So, for a platform like this, you would ideally post Thursday through Friday during regular business hours.
Deciding on a day to post is fairly easy since there’s consistent activity on most days. Also, the number of posts doesn’t matter,that is, until it does. Similar to LinkedIn, once you publish more than five times per week (for most companies, that’s once per workday) engagement drops significantly. Facebook prioritizes “fresh” content and doesn’t want to overwhelm users with just one company in their feed, so when companies publish more than once in a day, their first post can be cannibalized by the next.
Last, but certainly not least, Instagram (in the biz, we call it IG). Instagram is like a second-generation Facebook. Same idea with almost the same post types and even the same owner, but they’re used in very different ways. The app is inhabited by a plethora of different kinds of users: personal accounts, companies, your local senator, artists, the list goes on. That being said, there are also a lot of posting habits. For example, the best times to post are in the morning when people first wake up, during lunch when they have time to scroll through their feed, and after 5:00 pm when they get off work. Even then, depending on what kind of audience you are trying to reach, you may have to adjust to their work schedules. For example, educators check their phones at different times than someone working in healthcare. When doing research, start with this this great resource to learn how to navigate different types of posting patterns.
The Art of Caption Writing
Captioning a post is another step that doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves. I mean, what do you say when a picture is worth a thousand words and you only have 140 characters, or 280? Not only will you have to change your messaging based on character count allowance, but also based on the platform (Twitter, IG, Facebook, etc) you’re using. Additionally, different platforms tend to cater to different demographics and are utilized in different ways. For example, Facebook is a great tool to inform your audience and tend to reach an older (30+) audience. Whereas Instagram is for posting more aesthetic and visual posts while reaching a younger audience. This being said, captions on Facebook tend to be more informative whereas Instagram can be more casual and witty.
Whether you’re behind the scenes or just a daily user, there is a lot to be learned about social media and how people interact with it. Nuances and trends change day to day. Aso as long as you’re using social media as much as your followers, you’ll never have to catch up. The best way to stay up-to-date is to be active and engage.
