Ever wonder where, how often, and when to post on social media? With this quick guide, an optical business’s social media posting schedule is solved

for the past two years, I have had a love-hate relationship with my social media.

Let’s just put it out there. Social media is a lot of work. Social media is confusing. Social media is overwhelming. But at the end of the day, social media is the future. More than 80% of our new patients are Internet referred, with Instagram cited as the most popular source. That’s powerful stuff.

Today I’m going to talk about the three most work-creating, confusing, and overwhelming parts of social media: where to post, how often to post, and when to post. Let’s break it down.

Oakland Vision Center Optometry employs fun photos to drive engagement on its popular Instagram page

Where Should I Post?

With so many social media channels, picking and committing to the right ones can be overwhelming. Add the popularity of video apps, and it gets even more confusing.

Where to even start? Although each social media channel has its merits, they all have one thing in common—they can suck a lot of time with no results.

The best thing I ever did was ignore all the distractions and stick to the obvious. When it comes to running a business account, I decided to pick two social media channels and commit to them.

#1 INSTAGRAM
#2 FACEBOOK
#3 EVERYTHING ELSE IS A DISTRACTION

With more than 500 million monthly users and a visually appealing, easy-to-use interface, Instagram is my No. 1 pick.

Instagram makes perfect sense for ECPs. We are in the business of selling clarity and, with its photo-centered app, Instagram is the perfect platform to show this off. Remember: high-res, high-res, high-res. (High-resolution photos, that is.)

With more than 1.7 billion monthly users and an incredibly powerful tool for buying targeted ads, Facebook is my No. 2 pick. Unlike Instagram, Facebook offers the ability to post our blog post links, which allows better brand storytelling.

How Often Should I Post?

When I first started with social media two years ago, I went a little crazy. I posted three times a day, seven days a week. I was a social media posting goddess on a mission. In hindsight, I would have been working smarter, not harder, if I followed this posting tip:

POST TWO TIMES A DAY MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, ONCE ON SATURDAY, AND ONCE ON SUNDAY. NO MORE. NO LESS.

Actively posting but posting too many times a day can do harm in a couple of ways. First, it’s terribly time consuming and takes away from other projects that need attention. Second, hammering any audience with social media posts gets annoying. This gets me to my next point.

Not quite Fight Club, but the first rule to social media posting is that we post only one photo/update at a time. Never two. Never three! And, aghast, never four!

Ever scroll through Instagram and see what seems like a million pics from the same poster? It’s super annoying, right? Most social media users don’t want this in their feed, and they will simply Unfollow you. Because, unspoken Internet rules.

An array of popular shots from Oakland Vision Center Optometry’s Instagram account

When Should I Post?

After two years of trial and error, I have figured out what works and what doesn’t work. What doesn’t work is the free-spirited, “I’ll post when I’m available” philosophy.

So what’s the answer?

MON.-FRI. 9 A.M., NOON, OR 5 P.M.
SAT. 8 P.M.-MIDNIGHT
SUN. 8 P.M.-MIDNIGHT

As a local business, we want to post when our audience is most likely looking at their smart phones. Monday through Friday—that’s right before work, during lunch, and right after work.

We pick two of these times and post as close as possible to 9 a.m., noon, or 5 p.m.

Finding effective posting times on the weekend was a bit more challenging. After months of trial and error, we discovered that Oakland peeps interact most between the hours of 8 p.m. and midnight—right before bed. Makes sense, right? How many times have I mindlessly scrolled through my social media feed right before bedtime? Rituals.

And, voilà! With this simple posting guide, social media just got that much easier. Enjoy—and see you on Instagram 10 times a week, xo.

—Tanya N. Gill, O.D.

Tanya N. Gill, O.D., is the owner of Oakland Vision Center Optometry in Oakland, CA. Dr. Gill is obsessed with ocular surface disease, kick-a$$ female entrepreneurship, never saying never, eating vegetables daily, and brightly colored sneaker pumps. She is the founder of We Love Eyes, a company that makes natural cleansing products for the eyes. You can find her posting at instagram.com/oaklandvisioncenter.