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Let’s be honest, we’ve all struggled to receive high engagement on social media. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a post go viral, you’ll be struggling to keep audience retention rates high regardless of the site you use. This article will give you a rundown on understanding the relevance of a social media post on different platforms.
Keeping up with trends and your social media presence can be tiresome, but it can also be less of a chore with the help of analytics to figure out when is the best time to post and what you should be posting in order to go viral. This article will also give you some tips on reaching out to your audience and help extend the longevity of your posts.
Here are some statistics on how long a typical social media post stays relevant (Source found on The Refinery)
| Platform | Life Span |
|---|---|
| TikTok | Instant Decay |
| 15-18 minutes | |
| 6 hours | |
| 24 hours | |
| 48 hours | |
| YouTube | About 20 days |
| 4 months |
TikTok
It’s no surprise that TikTok reigns supreme when it comes to its short lifespan for a social media post. TikTok is currently number one on the Top Charts list on the Apple App Store. According to Business of Apps, there has been a whopping 6 billion lifetime downloads of TikTok on the Apple Store and Google Play as of December 2020.
In the US, UK, and Germany, 35 percent of marketers have planned on using TikTok as a means to promote their content and brands moving into 2021. There have been an astonishing 1 million videos viewed every day by TikTok users.
TikTok has captivated young adults and adults alike worldwide, which definitely explains why the time your post is relevant is close to zero unless it miraculously goes viral. Similar to Twitter, there is so much content for users to consume that it’s difficult to stand above the competition.
Trendtok helps influencers track, discover, and predict trends that will make your videos go viral. Becoming viral is crucial if you want to gain traction on your social media posts. Remember to consider that tracking your analytics will help extend the life of your posts, especially on sites like TikTok.
Furthermore, you’ll want to consider posting frequently to stay relevant in the TikTok realm as there’s a lot of competition for popularity in this growing platform.
Want to know the differences between TikTok and Instagram? Learn about which platforms suits your business more here.
Twitter is the 6th highest ranked mobile app and is listed 23rd on the Top Charts list. According to Internetlivestats, the amount of tweets posted exceeds 500 million a day while users also post a jaw-dropping 5,000 tweets per second.
With these statistics in mind, it’s no surprise that tweets lose relevance at a much higher rate than most social media platforms. The second you post that tweet, your timeline is immediately flooded with new tweets that drown out your own.
In this case, it’s alright to post your content a few times or retweet your own post to bump it back to the top of people’s timelines. Refrain from using this tactic on sites that have higher longevity as this might annoy your followers.
Twitter analytics can be seen by visiting Twitter Analytics and signing into your account. From there, you can receive a total breakdown of your follower count, tweet impressions, profile visits, and engagements. With the power of analytics in your toolkit, you’ll be able to determine the best times to post based on your schedule.
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Not far behind Twitter is Facebook with the third-fastest decay of all big social media platforms. Facebook sits comfortably at 5th place on the Top Charts list. According to Omnicoreagency, Facebook has a total of 1.88 billion active users daily.
Although it’s unclear how many posts are sent each day, there are about 350 million pictures posted daily. To juxtapose Facebook’s relevancy in the social media world, 42 percent of US teens use Facebook, but only 2 percent considered it their favorite media app.
Understanding Facebook’s active userbase may contribute to Facebook’s slightly higher lifespan, but it’s wise to understand that posting too much won’t increase engagement – if anything, it might lower it. Posting back to back when Facebook has a decent lifespan will irritate your audience.
According to HootSuite, If your posts are spammed or are of low quality, Facebook’s algorithm will “demote content that users don’t want to see.” Likewise, any misinformation or disliked content will reduce the longevity of your post.
It’s important to recognize that TikTok videos can be up to a minute long (though TikTok has been considering extending this limit to 3 minutes) and Twitter posts can be up to 280 characters long, so content on these websites will get lost in a sea of posts compared to Facebook posts.
Unfortunately, Facebook analytics has been discontinued as of July 1st, 2021, but there are still ways you can check your analytics and find appropriate times to post. Creator Studio is an excellent program you can use for Facebook and Instagram to keep track of your analytics.
LinkedIn may not be your standard form of social media as it revolves around professional networking and employment opportunities, but that means the lifespan of your social media post is a bit longer than other platforms.
LinkedIn is currently 129th on the Top Charts list on the Apple App Store, which, admittedly enough, is still impressive given the platform’s audience. Business of Apps states that LinkedIn has over 750 million members, but there’s no information on how many users are active.
LinkedIn users don’t post frequently when compared to other sites – only three percent of users post more than once a week. Socialpilot states that 2 million posts, articles, and videos are posted on LinkedIn daily. What does this mean?
Your followers will have a higher chance to see your posts when unlike sites like TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook. Remember to post regularly, but don’t go overboard. Users that post more between 30-50 times a month see an average of 56 engagements, but people who post less than 30 times will see higher engagement.
Interested in your analytics? If you’re a business, you can keep track of your analytics by following this guide. With Linkedin’s analytics, you’ll only be able to see a breakdown of each post separately rather than all together. However, Hootsuite is recommended if you’re interested in unlocking more information about your account and posts.
Want to learn more about LinkedIn’s Algorithm? Check out this blog for more information.
Facebook’s best friend, Instagram, is rocking at number three on the Top Charts list. According to HootSuite, over one billion active users use Instagram while 200 million users visit at least one business profile daily.
As of 2019, 95 million photos are posted on Instagram daily. During these 48 hours, posts receive about 75 percent of comments. Copypress states that top-tier Instagram posts gain the most traction between the initial post and 12 hours. Why is this the case?
Instagram does its best to show content to users that frequently interact with certain accounts. If your followers don’t interact with your posts, they are less likely to appear in their feeds.
For example, if you post high-quality content with hashtags, you’ll gain more reception and, therefore, increase your engagement. Regardless of the social media outlet, remember to post high-quality content to attract followers.
It’s better to post a few times a week but have posts of higher quality. Since people post more frequently on Instagram, it might be smart to post more frequently than you would on LinkedIn.
As listed in the Facebook section, tracking your analytics is easy with apps like Creator Studio as it consists of abilities to schedule posts during peak times of engagement, a breakdown of follower counts, and monitor engagement, though it is important that Creator Studio is a basic software.
If you’re looking for more advanced tools, HootSuite may be your best bet.
YouTube
Second in line, behind TikTok, on the Top Charts list is YouTube. YouTube has over 2.3 billion users worldwide, and 720,000 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube daily. New content is constantly being thrown at you, similar to TikTok and Twitter. So why is the lifespan of your post longer?
People usually post updates about their new YouTube videos on other social media outlets. Whenever you upload a new video, it’s suggested that you post an update to other platforms as this results in heightened longevity.
Madeline, the writer of the blog The Cappuccino and Fashion states that her videos have lasted longer than 20 days whenever they have good engagement. The reason for this longer shelf life is because there may be a chance your videos end up in the YouTube Suggested feature.
Engagement can only be achieved – as you might have guessed – through quality content and promotions on other social media platforms. The amount of times you should post is arbitrary as Think Media states “you just have to start” and establish a consistent posting schedule.
YouTube has an excellent analytics system that is found in the YouTube Studio. Be sure to keep up with your subscriber count, engagements, and views with this handy tool.
Want to learn more about YouTube Shorts and whether or not they can benefit your business? Check out this blog to gain more insight.
If you frequently post on Pinterest, you’re in luck. Pinterest has the longest lifespan of any social platform and is still top 30 on the Top Charts. Pinterest has about 478 million monthly active users while about 57 percent of Pinterest users use the platform once a week.
Because of Pinterest’s long lifespan, you’ll want to be informed as to why this is the case. According to Tinuiti, Pinterest’s algorithm is tailored to your domain quality, pinner quality, pin quality, and topic relevance. To keep things short and sweet, remember to post high-quality content and use appropriate hashtags when necessary.
Also, remember to pin quality content, refrain from re-pinning too much (this might annoy your followers and be seen as spam), and publish creative images to avoid reusing content.
Pinterest may not show your content to others if your keywords and hashtags aren’t relevant to your post. Because of Pinterest’s algorithm, your posts will remain relevant for longer and show up in searches frequently if you follow these guidelines.
As you might notice, there’s a trend – it’s important to check your analytics. Pinterest Analytics is an excellent tool to help keep track of your best pins, engagement, presence, and insights.
Quick Tips on Extending the Lifespan of a Social Media Post
Now that you have an understanding of the lifespan of your social media post across platforms, let’s summarize a few tips that will help you out moving forward.
- Always create high-quality posts.
- Keep track of peak times of engagement using analytics.
- Refrain from posting too much, but be wary of the lifespan of your posts.
- Consider repurposing some posts depending on the social media platform. (Twitter would be a good example because of its near-instant decay of relevance)
- Use hashtags to attract potential followers.
- Consider promoting new posts on multiple social media sites.
