What is the ideal number of blog posts you should upload each week? What is the best social media channel for which type of business? Many online business owners struggle with these types of questions.
Marketers or business owners who aren't sure what content cadence is, or unhappy with the results, don't worry. You're not alone, and you've come to the right place.
In this post, we'll explain what content cadence is, how to determine your business' best posting frequency, and how often marketers post content. You'll also learn how often to post blogs, videos, and social media content.
What is content cadence?
In order to achieve maximum engagement, content cadence defines how different types of content - such as blog posts, social media posts, videos, etc. - are consistently published on the right platform at the right time.
How to Determine Content Cadence
With the right content cadence, you can engage your target audience, keep your brand top-of-mind, and generate more leads. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It is possible that the best posting cadence for you is not the best cadence for others, and vice versa.
There are 8 steps you need to follow to determine the right content cadence for you.
1. Identify and understand your target audience
You're most likely to miss your target audience's content cadence if you don't understand and know them well.
Therefore, you should first identify your target audience and learn everything you can about them. What is their age range, for example? Who are they? What is their gender, marital status, income bracket, passion, hobbies, likes and dislikes, etc.?
2. Decide what topics to write about
By creating content on topics that keep your target audience's attention, you can get your content cadence right. For example:
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Topics that interest them should be written about.
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Provide solutions to their problems and challenges through content.
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Provide them with the information they are looking for.
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Answer their questions.
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Give them tips and tricks that will help them succeed.
3. Decide what type of content to create
Consider everything you know about your target audience before creating content. Are they more interested in short-form or long-form content? Would they rather watch a video than read a text?
It's also important to remember that your audience won't be at the same stage of the buyer's journey at the same time. Due to this, they will require different types of content based on their current stage.
The content you provide should include blog posts, in-depth guides, case studies, white papers, videos, etc.
4. Choose the right platform
Choosing the right platform is also crucial to the success of your content cadence.
Will you publish on your blog or on social media? You can't go wrong once you focus on your target audience. To put it simply, go where your target audience is.
It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the platforms, posting times, content types, and what goes where and when, but the best advice is to start small, but start!
When you are just starting out on social media, choose one platform at a time and then expand once you are comfortable and have established your content cadence.
Additionally, if you already have a presence or cadence and you're just tweaking things, you can introduce your new posting cadence gradually.
5. Identify the right content frequency
Frequency refers to the volume of content published within a specific period of time - how many posts are published per week, per day, or even per month, for example?
Consider a frequency that won't overwhelm your audience if you want best results. Or you.
6. Be aware of the best times to post
It is possible to mess up your content cadence and reduce engagement if you post on the wrong day or at the wrong time.
Discover the specific days and times when your audience is most active on different platforms. Consider this when posting.
You can get started scheduling content with the resources in the next section if you're just starting out.
Alternatively, if you already have a content calendar and just want to change your content cadence, you can slowly shift your content.
The best way to do this is to be methodical and make small changes. After that, you can test your posting time and iterate from there.
7. Create a content calendar
Content calendars need to be created once you know your topics, content types, platforms, and frequency of content.
Your content calendar (aka editorial calendar) is a list of all your upcoming content, where and when it will be published.
Keep track of all your tasks in advance, help you complete them on time, and keep you organized with a content calendar.
When you don't have an editorial calendar to help you manage all these moving parts, getting your content cadence right can be difficult.
Start with HubSpot's free content calendar templates to get started.
For years, we've used these templates as a starting point for content calendars, and whether you use one of them directly out of the box, or tweak it and make it your own, we've always appreciated them.
Make friends with your content calendar. Without one, your efforts will be pretty much wasted.
8. Conduct experiments, audits, and tweaks
Decide which engagement metrics will be measured for each platform. Afterward, experiment with relevant content and publish it for a certain period of time. The next step is to audit your audience's behavior and review the effectiveness of your content.
You can, for example, conduct:
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A website audit is a way to assess the content of your blog and website.
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An audit of your social media channels can help you improve them.
Your audits will provide you with comprehensive information and a detailed analysis of your content's performance and audience.
When your business achieves your desired level of engagement, you've found the right content cadence. If not, use insights from your audit report to tweak, optimize, and iterate on all your previous steps. Once you've achieved your goal, experiment again.
Every organization has a different content cadence.
How often do marketers publish content?
HubSpot surveyed over 1,200 marketers to determine how often they post content across various channels. According to the results:
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A third of marketers publish content more than once a week.
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33% publish content once a day.
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There were only 13% of respondents who reported publishing content multiple times a day.
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A 10% of respondents said they publish weekly.
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6% said they said it more than once a month.
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4% said once a month or less.
But which posting frequency is the most effective?
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The majority of marketers (35%) who publish once daily described their 2022 marketing strategy as effective.
Despite this, 33% of marketers who publish multiple times a week said their marketing strategy was effective, 39% described the same cadence as neither effective nor ineffective, and most (43%) called it ineffective.
This just reinforces what we said earlier: how often you should post content depends on when and where your audience is most active online.
How often should YOU post content?
Next, we'll share some tips for posting blog posts, videos, and social media content. In addition, you can use what you learned from your experiments and audit to inform your decision-making.
What is the ideal frequency for marketers to post blog content?
The frequency with which you publish blog posts depends on a variety of factors, such as:
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Your goal
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Preferences of your target audience
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Resources and budget
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The age and size of your blog
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Number of new and old posts on your blog
Having optimized content posted on a regular basis is recommended if you are primarily concerned with boosting organic traffic.
You can keep your blog posts fresh and consistent by including educational content like how-tos, listicles, and campaign roundups.
For organic traffic:
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A small blog should post new content three to four times a week.
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Larger blogs should post new and updated content 4-5 times a week.
If you want to raise brand awareness, you won't need to post as frequently as you would for organic traffic. Rather than boosting numbers, you need to focus more on building your brand's voice.
In order to boost brand awareness, you must also diversify your posts and provide more informative content.
For brand awareness, therefore:
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Once or twice a month, small blogs should post new content.
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Three to four times a week should be the minimum frequency of posting new and updated content on larger blogs.
How often should marketers post social media content?
There are so many social media platforms out there that how often you post depends on the platform, how it works, and when your target audience is online. To get you started, here are some suggestions:
Facebook
On Fridays and Saturdays, post multiple times between 12 PM and 3 PM.
Instagram
Post multiple times per day between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
LinkedIn
Post multiple times per week from 3 PM to 6 PM on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
X (formerly Twitter)
Fridays and Saturdays, post multiple times a day from 12 PM to 3 PM.
TikTok
On Fridays and Saturdays, post multiple times between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Pinterest
Post multiple times a day from 12 PM to 3 PM on Thursdays and Saturdays.
How often should marketers post video content?
The consumption of video has increased over the years and continues to do so. For instance:
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89% of consumers want to see more videos from brands in 2024, according to Wyzowl.
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In 2023, companies hosting their videos on Wistia saw video plays jump by 15% and total watch time soar by 44%.
According to Kyle Denhoff, senior director of marketing and audience development at HubSpot:
“There are two changes in the market indicating a need for more video content.
AI is disrupting the search landscape. Second, we’re seeing a shift to a video-first consumption of content for audiences.”
Marketers can take advantage of the fact that consumers are watching more videos than ever before.
The frequency with which you post videos will depend on the following factors:
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What the platform is and how it works.
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Video content appetite of your target audience.
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Different types of video content.
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The video's length.
Tips for maximizing your video content output
Post content on:
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Your blog. Every time you publish a new blog post, include a video. You can repurpose your blog post into a video and publish it within or somewhere else on your blog. Your audience can read the post, watch the video, or do both.
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YouTube. You should post videos three times a week, or even daily if you can. You can also start posting once a week if that is not possible.
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Other social media platforms. Utilize the posting frequency for each platform for your social media content, including videos.
Getting Your Content Cadence Right
Various businesses have varying content cadences, so you shouldn't copy others blindly.
Furthermore, you will be able to nail down the right cadence by using industry benchmarks - as well as your own experiment results.
Experimentation is our number one recommendation. Getting the right posting cadence isn't always easy, so give yourself time to experiment, iterate, and see what works.