Content Pacing: How Frequently Should You Post?
You want to create content for your brand, but it feels like a lot. How are you supposed to keep up with what your competitors are doing? And do you need to be posting every day on every platform?
We don’t believe in posting multiple times a day on any platform UNLESS that’s a calculated decision your brand is making based on a solid strategy AND you have the resources available to do it. But for the average small business owner, we advise starting slow, getting familiar with a platform, and only expanding to additional platforms once you feel comfortable.
Otherwise, and trust me when I say that we’re speaking from experience here, you will burn out⚠️🔥. And then you will think content is the stupidest thing in the world, and you won’t try it again.
Instead, let us guide you in the right ways to do content pacing to reduce overwhelm, frustration, and burnout.
Let’s start by defining what content is
When we talk about posting content, we’re talking about any and every type of content you can produce and distribute to your audience. Depending on the industry you’re in and the type of business you run, that might look like this:
📧 Email campaigns (monthly newsletters, welcome campaigns, drip campaigns, nurture campaigns)
📱 Social media posts (video, audio, graphics, images)
📝 Blog posts (short or long form)
📄 White papers, case studies, testimonials
🎨 Advertising copy and design
🎙️ Podcasts
Now, obviously, each of these types of content is going to take a different level of effort to produce. A quick social media graphic might take 30 minutes all in, while a blog post or podcast episode can take much longer to research and produce.
So given that you’re a busy business owner with limited time, you can’t jump into everything all at once. That’s why you need to develop a strategic approach to content pacing, and we’re gonna help you do it in four simple steps.
4 Steps to decide appropriate content pacing for your brand
Every good marketing plan starts with a strategy.
Develop your strategy
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again…and again….and again. You need a strategic approach to your marketing efforts. It’s going to save you SO much time later while creating the best results for your business. When you think about content pacing across platforms, strategic direction can go in one of two ways:
Depth and then width: With this approach, you go hard on one platform until you’re posting several times a week, then move to another platform. If you plan to start with social media, this can be an effective way to build your audience. You can focus on a single platform, like Instagram, and really hone your posting, going deep into figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Then, a few months down the road, when you’re in a position that feels like you know what you’re doing and can continue to do so effectively, you look to take those learnings to expand onto another platform.
Width and then depth: Some people would rather cast a wider net initially. With this approach, you’d choose 2-3 platforms to post on now, then increase the depth and frequency of content over time. We would only recommend doing this if you have someone who can support you with content creation or entirely take it over. Trying to figure out the ins and outs of multiple platforms is a lot for an owner who is also splitting their time with other tasks.
As you decide on the right strategy, think about these questions:
How big is your team?
If it’s just you, how much time do you have?
Which social media channels are most appropriate for your business?
Do you plan to try and rank in organic search through SEO?
Is email marketing a priority?
From here, you can determine what your highest priority is. We recommend making a list. Here’s what our content priorities look like at Big Bad Marketing.
1️⃣ Podcast 🎙️
2️⃣ Blog posts 📝
3️⃣ Email marketing 📧
4️⃣ Social media (Pinterest) 📌
5️⃣ Social media (Instagram) 📸
6️⃣ Testimonials and case studies 💬✨
7️⃣ Social media (LinkedIn) 💼
When you couple this with our depth and then width approach, it means that we’re going to focus on podcasts until we feel really comfortable on that platform, then we’ll move to blog posts, then email, etc. And it might be a year or more before we actually get around to marketing on LinkedIn, but by that point, we’ll have six other channels that we’re able to be consistent on.
2. Figure out how many posts you can do and still add value
Next up is figuring out how much time you have to devote to content creation, and be honest with yourself here. You might have a pie-in-the-sky vision of 5 hours/week, but if not prioritized appropriately, that can turn into a measly 1 hour on Friday afternoons.
Consider what’s realistic. If a channel blows up and becomes widely successful, you can always hire someone else to help. But if you only have an hour each week, you may be better off going with a depth then width approach and focusing on a single platform for the foreseeable future.
3. Choose consistency over quantity
We say it all the time, but posting regularly always matters more than how frequently you post if you’re just gonna burn yourself out and stop. Only begin creating content for another platform when you can commit the time and energy to doing so. And be sure you’re super clear on who owns it and that they have the appropriate time to dedicate to content development.
4. Content pacing should match the channel you use
You might decide to publish a new blog monthly, whereas posting on Instagram might warrant a bit more regularity. In general, these are our big bad thoughts on content pacing based on the platform you use.
📧 Email campaigns: The cadence of your email marketing depends on the intent, but 1-2 times per week is probably good as a general touchpoint. If you’re promoting something, you might need to reach out more, for example, to promote the scarcity of a sale that ends soon by sending an email 48 hours out, 24 hours out, and 1 hour out.
💬 Social media posts: This is highly dependent on the platform and the type of content you’re sharing (video, audio, graphics, images). 2-3 times/week is probably good, but more ambitious brands might post as frequently as once per day.
📝 Blog posts: 1 time/week is probably right unless you’re writing short daily blogs a la Seth Godin. If your blogs are more like white papers that are super in-depth and over 2K words, 1 time/month might be the most appropriate cadence.
🎧 Podcasts: The number of podcasts you can produce in a week largely depends on the format and length. 1 time/week is probably right unless you have a shorter format or different types. Unless, of course, you’re Joe Rogan, in which case you should release 3-4 2.5-hour podcasts a week and bask in the glory of your audience absolutely eating it up.
Key points as you decide your content pacing
No matter your posting cadence, always check in with what’s being successful, then do more of that. Use your analytics to dissect what your audience is loving. Then, give the people what they’re asking for!
Need support from a team of content experts to plan your content strategy and pacing? We thought you’d never ask! We’d love to help. Schedule your free 15-minute consultation call so we can get to know you better and reduce the overwhelm of content creation and marketing.
