Why Quality Beats Quantity for Authors on Social Media

For many modern indie authors, social media is a key part of their marketing strategy. Posting on websites like Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, and TikTok help authors connect with new readers and promote their books. It can even be part of a larger body of work.

Recently, I'd been hearing that more social media posts were critical for getting the most engagement. Some people I trusted were suggesting as many as five posts a day. That sounded strange to me, but it made some amount of sense. An account can get more engagement if there are more things to engage with. But would making more posts actually do more than having better posts? I conducted a study to find out.

In short, the answer was "quality beats quantity." I'd like to discuss this study, engagement metrics, and how you can use this information to optimize your social media accounts.

Understanding Engagement Metrics

Engagement metrics is the boring term for "ways people interact with your posts." That could include likes, shares, comments, reposts, watch time, and other interactions. Each social media platform will have a different list, but usually, you can find it by looking for an "analytics page" in your settings. If you're not sure where to find it, try Googling the name of the platform, the device you're accessing it on (usually "computer" or "mobile"), and "analytics". For example: Instagram analytics on mobile.

Engagement doesn't always correlate to quality. A post might get a lot of attention because it's interesting, or because of something irrelevant. A post with lower amounts of engagement isn't always bad. Quality content makes people more interested in what you have to say. Too many posts at once can tire your audience out.

The Experiment: Posting Frequency vs. Engagement

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try an experiment on the Siretona Creative social media accounts. For one week, I would post three social media posts a day, up from my usual one post every weekday. I wanted to see if posting more often would lead to more engagement, and specifically, more engagement per post than posting once a day. I would track the engagement rates using analytics.

I created the posts on Canva and scheduled them to publish in advance, so I wouldn't need to make a post three times a day. That lessened the workload a little bit. I varied the style and content of the post so the audience wouldn't be bored.

Despite the higher quantity, overall engagement decreased. Some of the posts only got one interaction, usually a "like". This surprised me at first. But the more I thought about this, the more sense it made.

I usually focus on five posts a week. Instead, I had to make twenty-one. That's so much more work! The overall quality per post dropped, and I'm certain our audience could tell.

The Importance of Quality Content

Quality posts let your audience genuinely connect with you. They provide some sort of value -- being informative, entertaining, funny, or heartfelt. Over time, high quality posts build loyalty. That loyalty can turn into readers for your books, or suggestions that other people read your books.

Strategies for Fostering Quality over Quantity

Creativity and thoughtfulness are keys for creating quality content. I like using the EIEIO method, which stands for Educate, Inspire, Entertain, Inform, and Offer. The method helps me create a variety of posts without overloading Siretona Creative's audience with "please buy our things."

Using social media analytics can help you identify things an audience enjoys. In general, pets tend to do well. People like animals.

Conclusion

Social media looks complicated, but it doesn't have to be. Just stick to creating high-quality content and having a good time. Don't force yourself to do more because some guru says the algorithm would like it. Building a community is more than talking at a wall. It's connecting with real people.

Do you have any social media tips? Let us know!