For many small business owners, consistent social media activity is challenging. There is just so much to do, and social media tends to be pushed further and further down the list in favour of other business activities.
But is it really an issue? What happens if you just “post whenever you get around to it”?
After all, it’s not as if you are getting paid to do it, right?
So let’s see…
What happens if you don’t post – and don’t engage – consistently on social media:
1. You are not really visible.
There are two sides to this specific coin: On the one hand, social media is busy. There is an insane mass of content being pushed out. If you want to post once every week or two, your content gets lost in the sheer volume of other content competing for your followers’ attention.
On the other hand, we have to keep in mind that getting people to trust your brand – or even to consider your product – takes repeated exposures. The average person requires up to 7 exposures before they make a buying decision.
Now if you only post once in two weeks, and your potential customers only see one in ten of the posts you put out…
They only see your posts once in five months.
Theoretically, they should be ready to buy from you in about three years. But in reality, if you only see a brand once every 20 weeks…
Will you even remember it the next time you see it?
2. People cannot reach out to you.
Keep in mind that – in this case – we are talking about people who (mostly) don’t even know about your website yet. If you are visible on a regular basis, people can ask questions, which you can respond to – which in turn will be there to see for others who may have similar questions.
It also gives you the opportunity to connect with those people, and move the conversation off the platform to email or WhatsApp.
But if you are not visible, people cannot talk to you. It’s as brutally simple as that.
3. The algorithms bury your content.
In case you don’t know, this is how most social media algorithms work: Your new piece of content is pushed out to a small number of people. If enough people engage with it (view/like/comment/share), it is then shown to more people.
If you do have a following, it is shown to them first – mostly. Normally, your followers are more likely to engage with your content, which will then help it to gather momentum, and be shown to more people on the platform.
On top of that, most social networks reward you for regular activity on the platform – the more you watch/like/comment on other people’s content on a consistent basis, the more your own content is shown to others.
This way, even if you have zero followers, you can – literally – “work” for your initial exposure. On TikTok it happens relatively quickly, but on Pinterest it takes around three weeks of consistent daily activity (even just a few minutes per day) before you see an increase in the reach of your pins and re-pins.
4. Non-existent growth.
If you do not post and engage on social media consistently, don’t expect to see any meaningful growth. Think logically: If you post once every week or more, and not even on the same day, why would anyone want to follow you?
Aside from that, when the algorithms bury your content…
How many people will you reach (that would be willing to follow you)?
Social media growth is a matter of compounding momentum. As you gather more and more followers, more and more people will engage with your content as you publish it, making it visible to more people who don’t follow you. Some of those people will, in turn, follow you.
And more followers mean – in turn – more exposure (because of more and faster engagement) sooner, which in turn gets you more followers.
Unfortunately, it is a numbers game. If you don’t reach enough people, very few people will follow you. And it will simply take so much longer for the numbers to add up.
In conclusion:
The brutal reality is this: If you are not visible on social media on a regular basis, you can just as well not do it. Your chances of getting customers will be very slim.
You don’t have to post every day. But if you could just share something every day (make sure it is something good though), and maybe leave a comment or two every day, that alone will show the algorithm that you are actively engaging on the network.
If you don’t have much time, don’t try to operate on several social networks at once. Pick one that you feel comfortable with, and just spend a little time on it every day.
You will see the results for yourself.