Posting styles on the internet can (and should) change
There is no one right way to post on the Internet.
The truth is, here at the beginning of the world wide web, we are all just figuring things out as we go.
Should you post every week, or every day? On this social media account alone, or syndicate across networks? With so many options, how do you choose how often, and how deeply, to post?
For me, the answer always comes down to style.
How often do you like to post? More importantly, how often does your audience like to hear you?
Your audience will tell you, through their engagement (or lack of it) what’s effective and what isn’t. That’s why it’s important to change your strategy, trying new things, and adapting to what you’ve learned.
Last year, my posting strategy went like this:
- Post a photo on Instagram
- Repost that photo on Facebook, and Twitter, and Tumblr
- Write long captions that encourage people to scroll past the point where they could even ‘like’ the photo
This worked for a while, but recently my engagement had decreased, and I haven’t been having as much fun. So now I’m changing things.
‘Post once, deliver everywhere’ is a good syndication strategy. Some clients that I work with get great results with a similar style. Other clients need something completely different, because of their voice, or their audience, or their topic.
What works for one person might not work for you, because everyone’s audience and platform is unique. But what I’ve learned, working with so many different brands and entrepreneurs on their content, is that the only constant right answer is continual change.
This year, now that I’ve settled down from my recent move, I’ve decided to shake things up again on my own accounts:
- Instagram posts stay on Instagram. They don’t get automatically published elsewhere. If you want to follow my photos, they are on Instagram, and you won’t see re-runs in your Facebook feed.
- On Twitter and LinkedIn I post on similar themes for the month, but the timing, content, and composition of those posts are unique.
- Professional posts go on my Facebook business page, not my personal profile.
I’ve got some fancy planning techniques that enable me to do all my composition once a week, and all my posting once a day. These new posting strategies will last for a few months, maybe a year, and then they will change again.
Our styles are meant to change. Like with our clothes, hairstyles, and slang, sometimes we crib notes from the crowd. Our style might be a reflection of how well we understand the zeitgeist, or an indication of how far we turn against it.
Social media posting is a style. I write a newsletter once every week, because I like it that way. I used to publish on my personal blog often, because I enjoy writing about my adventures and my family. When I’m busy with other projects, I don’t publish so often, and it’s not a big deal to change.
I’ve got 2 pieces of related news that inspired this article:
1. I finally collected my photos from the recent move (our 11th move in 11 years! The first one involving a boat) and published a post about it on my personal blog:
https://caelanhuntress.com/2021/08/01/11-move-11-years/
2. I finally got a Facebook Business Page set up for myself as an author:
https://www.facebook.com/caelanhuntress/
With my book Marketing Yourself coming out this year, I thought it was high time to set up the right infrastructure. I’ve got a lot of things cooking on the back end, and I’ll share things with you as they mature and ripen.
Could you do me a 2-second favor, and like my new Facebook page please?
Thanks!
