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An artist on my Facebook feed recently asked, "How often should I post to Instagram?"

While there were a multitude of answers, a lot of people answered specifically, regarding Instagram, that artists should only post once a day.  Many people even suggested only posting 2-3 times a week.

At BoldBrush, when we started getting serious about social media about a year ago, we were actually given that same advice:  no more than one post a day.   But the more I think about it, and the more I observe social media influencers,  I don't think that advice is correct.   It's an artificial limit and one that can hurt your growth on social media platforms.

Obviously, posting once a day is better than not posting at all, but you will grow faster if you post more often.

Our BoldBrush social media accounts did not truly take off until several months into our first social media campaign.  And the change that really allowed them to take off was this:  we threw out all the rules we had been given and re-crafted our own strategy with our own rules.

Rules that we learned by observing what influencers were actually doing rather than listening to what people were telling us worked for them.  And, more importantly, rules that we learned by trying different ideas and paying attention to what resonated with our audience. 

There’s one truth I’ve learned in social media posting, email marketing, and, indeed, even in artwork sales.  And that truth is this: more activity leads to more engagement.  If you want to sell more art, then you have to make more connections and more phone calls.  If you want to increase your visibility with your fans, then you have to send more email newsletters.  And if you want more followers and engagement on social media, then you have to post more often.  Activity breeds action.

I was very active on Twitter when it first arrived, back in 2008 and rapidly grew an account with thousands of followers.  And there was only one thing I ever did that correlated with how fast my follower number increased: and that was to tweet more.  The more I tweeted, the more the follower numbers grew.  If I stopped tweeting, the numbers stopped growing.  It makes intuitive sense, doesn't it?   After all if you don’t say anything, people don't know why they should follow you.   Activity breeds action. 

With that in mind, let's return to the original question:  what is the right frequency to post on Instagram?

On the low end, there is the original suggestion to post once a day or less.  And, on the high end you have people like Gary Vaynerchuk, with his 'document don't create' strategy, who recommend that you post as often as you possibly can.  I've seen him recommend to people to post upwards of 9-10 posts a day or more.

So what's the "right" strategy?

By experimenting and watching what successful influencers do, by following lots of artists, and by doing a bit of thinking, here is my unscientific answer:  A goal of three posts a day on Instagram "feels" about right to me.  Anything more than three a day may start to feel burdensome for most artists, plus, by targeting three posts a day, you have room to back off to one or two posts if you're currently too busy to actually get to three every day.

Three posts a day can be spaced out nicely, is often enough that you stay relevant and in front of people and, especially if spaced out, not so much that you are likely to burn your followers out.  It also gives you some leeway if you are running out of things to post.  If you've prepared three things to post one day and realize you're going to not have anything to post tomorrow, then you can simply re-adjust and space things out a bit more.  Three posts a day also feels achievable, especially when considered to be a sort of upper end goal.

Three posts a day also gives you the ability to add some spontaneity.  For example, let's say you want to announce an upcoming exhibit today.  In the meantime, you start a new painting and everything is flowing perfectly with this new painting, so you want to post a "work-in-progress" shot.  Right about then, your friend, who happens to be a relatively famous artist drops by your studio, so you guys take a selfie and post it.  Those are three great posts and you don't have to drop your planned exhibit announcement to stick to some outdated "one-post-per-day" rule.  Three posts a day allows for a mix of planned and spontaneous posts.

If you are concerned that three posts a day is too many, there is another important factor you need to consider.  Instagram (and Facebook) used to display posts in your newsfeed chronologically.  So, back then, if you posted several times a day, then your followers would likely see all of your posts, and in chronological order.  But today, these platforms have changed how they display the newsfeed, and have switched to what they call the algorithmic feed.  The algorithmic feed attempts to show each person the type of content that he or she is most likely to engage with.  What this means for you is this:  even if you post three or more times a day on Instagram, it's unlikely that all your followers will actually see all three posts.  It is the same with Facebook.  In fact, I’ve read in multiple places that when you post something on your Facebook page, as little as 3% to 5% of your audience will actually see the post.

My "Three posts a day" rules solves this issue nicely.  With three a day, it's likely that most of your followers will see at least one of your posts each day.

So, that's my current thinking on Instagram posting:  One to three posts a day. 

How often are you posting on Instagram and what results are you having?  Let us know in the comments!

Sincerely,

Clint Watson

BoldBrush/FASO Founder and Art Fanatic

PS - You should follow me on Instagram at https://instagram.com/clintavo!