I just read an interesting article from SumAll on how often you should post to social media:

• 5 pins on Pinterest daily
• 3 tweets on Twitter daily
• 3 Google+ posts daily
• 2 Facebook posts daily
• 2 Instagram posts daily
• 1 LinkedIn update daily
• 2 blogs posts daily

It’s nice to see a benchmark. And I suspect these numbers make sense most of the time – although they might be a little aspirational for many small businesses.  I think there’s probably a lot of wiggle room here too based on what your goal is. I think there are times when you just want to keep a channel open and alive and there are times when you want to do more and so more interaction is OK.

I post 1-2 times a day for the Blandin on Broadband blog – at least during the work week. I only post when content is relevant; I don’t have a goal to get to two a day. Truth is two a day is often a cap for me. It’s a cap I’ve had to forget at times – like now. Broadband is a big topic between the Minnesota legislature, FCC tackling Net Neutrality and 17 Minnesota communities receiving broadband grants from the State. Sometimes the information worth sharing speaks louder than any benchmarks. My purpose is to inform – not make a quota.

Another exception is events. I tweet at conferences; I could have dozens of tweets go out during a one-day conference. Again the information dictates the volume. I try to tag people appropriately. I interact with others tweeting at the event through replies, retweets and favorites. It’s usually the best time for me to pick up new followers. But again my goal is to inform, ask questions and enhance the conference experience for myself and others – some who are in attendance and for some who may be watching remotely via Twitter. So again the quota/cap is secondary.

Also I think for many businesses, attempting seven social media channels might be challenging. So pick the few that make sense to you. What do you like to use and/or what is your target market using.

Added not: if you are consistently surpassing these numbers with exceptions, you might look at whether it’s counter-productive.