Addressing the Myth of "Annoying" Social Media Posting

Many businesses hesitate to post frequently on Facebook and other social media, fearing they will overwhelm or annoy their audience. Research notes businesses looks socially disengaged when they post 2 or less times per week signally disengagement from customers, brand/company instability and potentially harming brand perception and organic reach. Like it or not, you need to be socially engaged as a brand.

Social posting, is not like sending email where constant emails leads to fatigue quickly. Businesses need to break the mindset that Social Posting = Sending Emails. Social means literally being social, and a business that only posts 1-2x per week is like that friend that only calls you once a year.

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The perception of posting too much on social media is often misguided. Social media algorithms prioritize relevance over frequency, meaning most followers will only see a fraction of a business’s content unless they actively engage with it. Ultimately, the ideal situation is delivering both high frequency and relevant social posts. As owners, you are engaged in your own content as an active follower, so you think it is getting annoying, but the reality is your customers really need to actively dig deeply through their feeds to find your 1-2x a week posts lurking at the bottom of their feeds.
 

Rather than frustrating users, consistent, high-quality posting with information rich content increases visibility, reinforces brand credibility, and keeps businesses top-of-mind. It is right to assume that too many email will get annoying, but social media is not email. If businesses are not posting frequently enough, businesses will simply not get visibility and constantly be fighting to get visibility against social platform algorithms that prioritize high volume quality over infrequency. Leading social platforms, including Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Pinterest, and others favor active brands, rewarding regular engagement (posting) with greater organic reach.

 

"We specifically created Social-Sizzle to deliver businesses a solution to make social work for them based on marketing best practices and the actual algorithms on social media networks. Social-Sizzle is giving the social media platforms & customers what they demand - consistent and relevant engagement, every day." According to Tony Arnold, careered CMO for brands like IBM & Berkshire Hathaway. He is the CEO and Co-founder of Brown Bacon AI.  "If you are not engaged at least 5-7x a week, the value of being on social platforms is lost. The noise the big companies can make with staff, promotional social budgets, and expensive social media management systems drowns the posts of the small companies."

Report on Minimum Facebook & Social Posting Frequency for Business Engagement

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This report outlines the minimum average number of Facebook posts per week a business should maintain to be considered socially engaged versus socially disengaged.

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Industry Benchmarks for Facebook Engagement

• Highly Socially Engaged: Posting 10-14 times per week are considered highly engaged. This tier of businesses reap extra benefits such as drastically higher "reach" to both followers and non-followers. They also are able to leverage paid advertising to springboard off this higher engagement level to achieve even higher exposure for the same budget.

• Socially Engaged: Businesses that post 3–5 times per week are considered actively engaged. This frequency ensures regular visibility without overwhelming followers.

  • Even dental practices should be posting 1-2x a day for effective social coverage in follower feeds according to a recent Social Practive Report​

• Socially Disengaged: Businesses posting fewer than 2 times per week risk being perceived as inactive or disengaged. Infrequent posting can lead to decreased organic reach and diminished brand awareness.  

 

Supporting Data & Insights

• Experts recommend 3-5 posts weekly as a minimum.

• Hootsuite (2024) recommends 3–5 posts minimum per week for optimal engagement without worry of audience fatigue. 2x daily posting is the baseline for highly engaged brands.

• Sprout Social (2024) suggests at least 3–4 posts per week for minimum visibility and interaction while balancing quality content.

• Social Media Examiner (2023) notes that businesses posting less than once per week often see declining engagement and reduced algorithm priority.

• CrushTech - On average each Facebook post only reaches 12% of your friends/followers.

 

Best Practice Recommendations

• Maintain a minimum of 3-5 posts per week to stay relevant and minimally socially engaged.

• Consistency, consistency, consistency...etc, every day, every week, every month.

• Preferably both quality & quantity. Prioritize quality over quantity, ensuring a long-form engaging post with rich content and valuable knowledge.

• Utilize Facebook Insights to track post performance and adjust frequency accordingly.

• Leverage a content mix, including promotions, user-generated content, industry news, and interactive posts.

• Look at Quarterly or Annual trends vs daily or weekly metrics.

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Businesses aiming for sustained social engagement on Facebook should target a minimum of 3–5 posts per week preferably 15-20+. Falling below 2 posts per week can signal disengagement, brand/company instability and potentially harming brand perception and organic reach.