Publishing Content: How Much is Too Much.

Know Your Limits. Publish Responsibly.

Whether you are a small business owner, salesperson or just someone trying to increase followers on social media, you hopefully know you need to be creating content.  You’ve tried a post here and there, with little to no success. You haven’t hit a million followers and aren’t InstaFamous yet. But if you follow my two-step program with three easy down payments… kidding!   But seriously, today I am going to share with you the same advice I share with my clients on how much content you should be posting. You know you should be publishing content. The question is, how much?

The simple answer is this: as much as you can muster. 

Here are two key guidelines to get you started: 

1. POST AWAY, RESPONSIBLY.  Post as much as you possibly can while remaining consistent. Think of it this way: you don’t want to be the friend on the Vegas trip who goes hard the first night only to spend the rest of the weekend nursing ginger ale back at the hotel. You’ve gotta pace yourself. Establish a base and build from there. 
2. DEVELOP A STYLE. Rome wasn’t built in a day and Monet trashed at least fifteen of his water lily paintings. Begin posting knowing that your style will evolve over time.

ASK YOURSELF – How much content can I produce consistently?  Runners know the importance of pacing and so should you: you can’t sprint mile one of a marathon and expect to hold that pace. The goal is to maintain a pace for 26.2 miles cross the finish line. Awards don’t go to those who run the first mile the fastest, they go to those who complete the race.  Pace yourself. Approach content creation with the same level of intention and care as a marathoner. Find a pace that you can create and publish content, consistently.

Creating ten posts from amazing photos all in one day thanks to coffee and inspiration?  Fantastic! 

Releasing all ten posts in a single day? Inadvisable! 

It sets a publishing pace you just can’t maintain. Plus, you’ll likely upload ten super similar posts with ten super similar photos. Sometimes ten posts can seem a bit…one note. Does that align with your content strategy? Check out Carolyn Edgecomb’s mixology-inspired take on mixing things up for more content strategy wisdom.

Remember it’s important to know what your ability to consistently produce content is. Your style will evolve and that’s okay.

SETTING YOUR POSTING PACE – Whether it’s once a week, twice a week, or every other Wednesday, it’s important to know and own your pace. Consistency is key. If your posting pace is twice a week, perfect!.  Be consistent and post twice a week. I highly recommend posting on the same two days a week in order to help you stay consistent. However, if you’ve got unpublished posts stacking up, consider adding a third day to your posting schedule. You. Are. Crushing. It!    

A brief word of caution: I’ve had a number of excited clients over the years ready to sprint that first mile. They want to post post post so their site doesn’t appear “empty.” This can come back to bite you. The thing is, your style will evolve… and just like your running or dating skills evolving, that’s a very good thing.

You’ll refine your style over time. If you dump ten posts all at once? You’ll likely regret it. As you consistently publish more, your style will evolve into better quality content.  Why? Simple. The more you publish, the more opportunity you have to learn what generates likes, comments, or reposts. This will drive you to create more content that generates more attention… and THAT is the name of the game!  

Make no mistake: social media is one big popularity contest.  You want your customers to like your content better than your competitor’s. Being consistently present on social media is a huge part of that.

So, How Much IS Too Much? The ultimate question.

Just like any unquantifiable stat, the answers are all over the place.  

Here’s the answer I believe in.  Are you ready? 

THE LIMIT DOES NOT EXIST!

This may be hard to fathom, but the truth is that there is no current limit on how much you should publish.  Here are two reasons as to why we say this.

1. SO. MUCH. CONTENT.  There is so much content being created around the world every second that what you published an hour ago is already buried under a thousand cat videos and selfies. And cat video selfies?  That’s right, Susan from accounting didn’t purposefully ignore your puppy meme, she probably never saw it.
2. THERE IS NO LIMIT.  As of yet, we haven’t determined the threshold of when your publishing will be rejected, a.k.a. “unfollowed,” “unfriended,” or ” unloved,” by your target audience due to overload.  Confusing, huh? Let’s put this in a formula:  

{PQ x QC} = AR  

Here is a legend to clarify….

PQ – Publishing Quantity, stands for the number of times you publish, post, in a week. QC – Quality Content, is the quality of your content. AR – Audience Rejection, well this is when you are posting too much and your content sucks so you annoy someone enough to “UNFOLLOW” you.

While my formula is completely fabricated, the point remains that you should publish consistently and responsibly to have the best chance of achieving your content marketing goals… a.k.a. – winning the popularity contest. Now get out there and post.