Help! How Often Do I Need to Post?
A common concern.
The great news is there are some optimizations you can do. Allow me to be upfront with you. Your answer is specific to you and your channel. There is no universal magic number. It’s just your magic number, and we are going to look for it in this post.
Why is this important?
If you do not know, you might not be ready to answer the question “How often do I post?”. A high-level evaluation is required to maximize your channel presence.
You will need a decent understanding of your niche. Your audience and your marketing plan. Your business as a whole. Profit, non-profit, it does not matter. The principles are the same.
Confident you already have a handle on this? Take it to the next level!
Suppose you have this down.
Now you are ready to optimize. So, why should you know how often to post? Because you want to ensure you are meeting audience expectations. You want to ensure you are running at maximum efficiency. So you plan your release schedule.
So how much content do you need to provide? To answer that question, we first need to do some evaluation of your channel.
Allow me to put two prerequisites before you.
Consider these first when planning a posting schedule. Make sure these two things are taken care of before you commit to any release.
Quality and consistency.
These are your laws. You should always ensure they are satisfied before considering anything else. Quality. And. Consistency.
The caveat to this is if the content is time-sensitive. As a case in point, consider a breaking news report. The reporter bringing this immediate info might not have had time for makeup or a wardrobe change.
If the content requires sacrifice or it will lose value, then that must be considered. Also, our scenario above is atypical and not a standard operating procedure. Please remember this.
If it takes you three days to complete a quality video, do not commit to uploading daily videos. If you do, you will either produce lesser quality videos or break your consistency. Obviously, but what goes without saying is still likely to occur when not said.
No one has time for that.
With those two things understood, now evaluate the kind of content you provide.
In this case, finish production before ever releasing an episode.
This will prevent delays from being pushed into your release schedule. You will also need content to show in the meantime to fill your publishing commitments.
There is much to learn from the network approach to scheduling.
The truth is, this is not necessarily accurate.
Netflix does not release new content daily. Almost daily. But that has not always been the case. Of course, much of this is 3rd party too. If your audience is interested in your channel daily, but you can not produce daily content, you should be looking for 3rd party content.
How is that possible?
Look, there is more content vying for our attention than ever before. Xbox, Netflix, Amazon, Play-station, mobile apps, YouTube, TikTok… the list is long. You can’t expect to displace these. Especially, at the beginning. If you consistently release quality content once a month, your audience will appreciate your effort. If they value it, they will return when you post next month.
So to answer the question “How often do I post new content?”
First, answer these:
- How long does it take me to make a quality episode?
- How often can I produce the content for each episode?
- Do I have access to 3rd party content to fill in any gaps?
- How often can I use the 3rd party content I have, if any?
- Have I taken into account my other obligations?
- How often does my audience consume this type of content?
- Can I commit to my audience a specific number without breaking their confidence?
Now, after evaluating the above, you have the result. Look at whatever above requires the most time. Decide if any 3rd party content is available for you to release as well. The most content you can commit to is the length of time the longest part above takes divided by the number of 3rd party pieces provided to you.
Committing to anything more than this will likely reduce rather than add to your channel’s value.
Some of you see the economics of this intuitively but just needed to be assured. Others might find this approach novel. Either way, this is the truth of the matter. We want you to succeed in the long term. After all, your success is ours as well.