Hi,
Welcome to Content with Stefan, a newsletter and vlog about the process of creating content. If you want to subscribe to get free advice and insights directly to your inbox, you can do so here. Or just read on…
I posted about this vlog on LinkedIn, and got a question about posting frequency and content quality:
“I get told to publish all the time by those best practice blogs. But I have a business to run. How do I balance posting frequency while making sure my content is high quality?”
Well, here’s the answer (PS - don’t like video? Scroll down. There’s a written explanation of the video content.)
Psst - liking this content? Why not share it?
Instead of asking the question of “how often should I post,” the question around balance is critical. Every organization or person will have a different balance, so don’t fret about what everyone else is doing.
Here are my 5 strategies for finding your balance between frequency and quality.
When you read those best practice articles, look at the reason they provide for why you should publish all the time… so you are in constant communication with your audience.
So take an outcome-first approach. You don’t necessarily need to publish all the time. Instead, what you need to do is communicate with your audience.
This could mean:
Sharing someone else’s (relevant, but not competitive) content.
Providing more context on something you’ve already published.
Re-featuring top performing content with a new twist, story, or proof point.
Sharing relevant news to your industry or work.
Repurposing is probably my favorite strategy. I like it because it makes sense from an effort and from an audience building perspective:
Repurposing is easier than creating net new.
Some people like to consume content in different ways.
Repurposing can be simple — take your content (for instance, a blog) and you can create:
A slideshare presentation.
A podcast commentary / audio version of the article.
An infographic.
A vlog of you explaining the same content.
This gives you the opportunity to connect with your audience differently. Don’t take it for granted!
Twitter versus LinkedIn versus Facebook. Besides the fact that they all use blue in their logos, these platforms are wildly different. That’s a good thing for you.
Whether publishing new or looking to repurpose, you have a chance to edit and shift how you communicate depending on which platform is your primary versus secondary. As you think about posting frequency, also think about how you can change the tone and style of your communications for each platform:
Twitter: Short, snippy, realization based.
LinkedIn: Longer, professional, more story based.
Facebook: Communal vibes.
Think about what your audience wants from you. If they are accustomed to in-depth content pieces that really scratch an itch for them, daily blogs about nothing won’t cut it. In fact, it could even harm you and your business.
If you’re not sure what your audience wants, you could try:
Run tests - shift up your publishing frequency and see if you get negative comments or feedback.
Ask them - if you have an engaged user base, ask what their preferred timelines are.
Talk about quality - if you can, run tests to see how “low” of quality your audience is willing to engage with. You may find that you can publish a bit more frequently by putting out some more basic content around your high quality pieces.
Side note here: realize expectations are not everything. Many people don’t know what they want, so don’t take feedback as a requirement. It’s simply another piece of data to look at.
A lot of people worry about hitting best practice numbers. However, the real challenge is figuring out what works for you then actually doing it.
The worst thing that could happen is this:
You get excited about publishing daily because that’s what you were told you had to do.
You publish daily for 2 weeks!
You miss a day due to an emergency.
You feel like crap.
You stop publishing daily.
The reason this method fails is because you’re trying to brute-force it. That can only last for a short period of time. Instead, do this:
Figure out a frequency you can absolutely commit to.
Commit to that frequency (ignore “best practices”).
Continue committing to that frequency.
Soon, you’ll start to feel a pull to do a bit more.
Continue your committed frequency and try a bit more. If it doesn’t work, fall back on your committed frequency and try again later.
Have any questions about content / the process of creating content you’d like me to answer? Leave a comment!