Social media marketing is the new face of advertising, and it has become a highly efficient way to attract more, engage more, reach more, or sell to more people.
For anyone who knows a bit about Social Media Marketing, Instagram is one of the best-suited platforms.
It is not just for marketing either. People with all kinds of businesses, pages, interests, and goals use Instagram to reach and engage their target audience with various but specific goals in mind.
But one of the first questions that come to the minds of such people is:
How much should I actually post on Instagram to get that optimal reach and engagement that will grow my followers and help me reach my goals?
In this article, let us talk about the statistics, techniques, and science behind how much you should post on Instagram, and why?
But before that, let us make a few things easier to understand and tell you why they matter.
Reach Rate
Reach rate is simply what it says in the name.
When it comes to Instagram, or any other platform for that matter, one of the most critical factors is your content’s reach. Simply put, the number of people coming across your content determines its reach.
It exposes new accounts and people to your content, which ultimately helps in the potential growth of your account. In Instagram, post frequency is directly related to reach rate.
Engagement Rate
Even if your content reaches many people, it doesn’t necessarily mean they interact with it.
Some people might see your post in their feed, but instead of opening it, liking it, or commenting on it, they might just choose to scroll past it. This is where the relevance comes in.
For effective Instagram growth, your content must reach many people and must be relevant to most, if not all, of them.
A higher engagement rate means that your content resonates well with your audience and constantly provides value for time.
Ideally speaking, to ensure the consistent growth of your account, both of these statistics must be high. But it’s not a perfect world, is it?
Now let’s get to the main event; how much should you post?
It all boils down to how many followers you have. If you have
Followers Less Than 1k
In such a case, the more you post, the better.
We experimented a bit and noticed that with such accounts, the more we posted, the more our engagement and reach were.
To make it simple to understand, an account with 500 followers that posts 20 posts per week will have its number of engagements up to 500 compared to the same account that posts only once per week, which will only have a number of engagements at 15.
For smaller accounts with followers less than 1k, a new audience matters more than an audience that engages a lot. In the initial stages, posting more frequently means that you’ll reach more people, ultimately getting past the 1k mark, after which your strategy should change a bit.
Followers between 1k-250k
Once your account crosses 1k followers, the relevance of content becomes a bit more critical.
You can keep posting 20 posts a week, but your engagement rate is going to take a hit. There will be no effect on the reach rate.
At this point, you must decide whether you want to keep reaching more people right now or are you more interested in followers that engage more with your posts.
It comes down to personal preference, and if you choose engagement rate, bringing down the post frequency to 12-15 posts per week might be better for you.
But if you go for reach rate, make sure that as the content increases, it doesn’t compromise the value.
Followers over 250k
Things get a little more complicated once an account crosses 250k followers.
Generally speaking, such accounts rely more on engagement with their existing followers rather than reaching new users.
Keeping that in mind, even if the reach rates decline a bit, it shouldn’t be a problem for such accounts.
But things get tricky when the engagement rate takes a hit, as it does when the post frequency is 20 per week after reaching 250 k followers.
Statistics suggest that in such a situation, it is best to limit your post frequency to 1 per week(yes, you read that right) to achieve the optimal reach and engagement rate. If you do insist on posting more, don’t go over five posts per week.
Engaging your followers with stories instead of posts is a neat way to keep your growth consistent after crossing 250 k followers without posting too much.
Is Post Frequency and Follower Count Related?
Yes, and this is probably the most simple metric of Instagram.
Statistics suggest that the more you post on average, the more followers you’re going to have. But it is not as easy as it sounds.
If you are running an account on your own as a side project or have a small-scale team managing it, you’re not going to be able to post as much as those big influencers with sophisticated systems in place.
This is why apart from post frequency, one factor that needs to be considered is the type of account under consideration.
Big accounts with a huge following are naturally going to be posting more than those who are managing multiple things at a time, so the comparison is futile.
It all comes down to patience and an effective strategy that will gradually help your account grow in your given circumstances.
Final Word
Instagram is the perfect tool for anyone who owns an online business, has something important to say, or just wants to get known.
With these statistically proven techniques, growing your Instagram account will be a bit easier, especially if you understand the science behind the quality of content and the value it provides for your audience.
