How often should you post on social media?
Two to three posts a week, plus regular stories. Here is a realistic rhythm for each platform, and how to keep it up without losing your evenings.
For a small business, the workable rhythm is two to three feed posts a week plus three to five stories, on one platform. Below one post a week your account goes quiet and stops being shown. Above five, quality drops long before your audience grows.
What is the right frequency on each platform?
Instagram: two to three posts or reels a week, and three to five stories. Facebook: two to three posts a week, often the same ones. TikTok: three to five videos a week, because reach there depends far more on volume. LinkedIn: one to two posts a week is plenty, and one every two weeks still works.
The absolute minimum, whatever the platform, is one post a week. Below that an account reads as abandoned — by the algorithm and by the person checking whether you are still open.
Why is one post a week not enough?
Because a single post is a single throw of the dice. Publish once a week and one bad week means seven days of silence. Publish three times and a weak post costs you nothing.
There is also a simpler reason. People do not see everything you publish — far from it. Reaching the same person twice usually takes several posts. At one a week, most of your audience sees you once a month at best.
Should you post every day?
Not unless posting is your job. Daily output is a rhythm for media companies and full-time creators, not for a business that also has customers to serve.
What daily publishing really costs is quality. Five rushed posts do less than two prepared ones, and they wear you out faster. The one thing worth doing almost daily is stories: they take two minutes, they are not permanent, and they keep you present without the pressure of a polished post.
How do you keep the rhythm without losing your evenings?
Stop producing post by post. Set aside two hours every two weeks, shoot and write everything in one go, and schedule it. That single change is what separates the accounts that hold from the accounts that stop.
Two hours a fortnight is a realistic budget for two to three posts a week. Any approach that needs a daily decision will not survive your busy season.
What if you cannot keep it up?
Then lower the bar rather than stop. One good post a week, every week, beats three a week for a month and then nothing. Consistency is worth more than volume, and an audience notices a gap far more than it notices a quiet period.
If even that is out of reach, that is usually the point where handing it over costs less than the visibility you lose.