11+ weekly posts. For real?!?

Hey, Paige here!

Before we get into today’s best marketing research… 

In today’s release: 

• What the data says about posting cadence for growth on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, podcast, and email

• Scaling for quality engagement… not filler content

• The truth behind “more is more”

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DEEP DIVE

Have you been on LinkedIn for more than 2 seconds this week? (I bet you have, you beautiful marketer, you). Odds are, you’ve seen the news: LinkedIn growth works best with 11+ posts a week. 

Hold up. Let’s all let out the collective “WOAH” right now. That’s a lot of content.

So today… let’s break down what the data says for posting frequency beyond LinkedIn too. How much content do you really need? How much is more of a nice-to-have? And how the heck can you scale without losing your mind? (I’m looking at you, fellow scrappy teams 😉) 

Spoiler: The algorithm doesn’t care if you post too much. Your audience doesn’t hate you (yet… hopefully). The only real enemy here is irrelevance.

Across LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, and email, the story is the same: more content works… but only if it’s good. The problem isn’t frequency. It’s crappy, misaligned content.

So, let’s cut through the myths and get into the data-backed frequency guardrails that actually work, according to research. 

LinkedIn: Starting with the star of the week

The Data:

• Sweet spot: 2–5 posts/week → +1,182 impressions per post; +0.23pp engagement rate over 1×/week.

• Scale up: 6–10/week = ~+5,001 impressions per post and +0.76pp ER.
  

• Maxing out: 11+ posts/week gives you ~17,000 more impressions per post and 3x the engagements. No penalty, just flattening returns beyond this point.
  

• Formats: Carousels (PDF posts) might be the cheat code: 278% more engagement than video, 303% more than images, and ~600% more than text.

(p.s. Please remember content performance is sooo niche specific. Yeah, this study says carousels crush it. At Sweet Fish, we’ve had clients that find tons of success with them. But others? Literal crickets. Test. Everything. With. Your. Own. Audience.)

The Reality Check:
Sure, you can post 11+ times per week, but unless you’ve got a repurposing engine (text → carousel → video → snackable snippet), that’s a straight shot to burnout. Think of 2–5 posts as your sustainable gym routine. Scale to 6–10 when you’ve built the muscles or support. 

👉 Guardrail: If engagement rate per post drops >20% over three weeks, you’re in filler territory. Slow down, refresh your hooks.

TikTok: Where the young’uns live

The Data:

• TikTok doesn’t rank accounts, it ranks videos.
  

• Posting “too much” won’t hurt you… weak watch-time and low completion will.
  

• Daily bursts work if each video earns its keep (watch time, replays, interactions).

The Reality Check:
Daily TikToks sound great until you realize it’s basically a second job. Duolingo can pull it off with a team of creators and a giant owl costume. You? Maybe not. Be kind to yourself when setting posting goals. 

👉 Guardrail: If your completion rate drops >15% over 10–15 uploads, pause. Refresh hooks and formats before you pile more content on the fire.

Instagram: Where stories reign King

The Data:

• Stories: Safe for daily use.
  

• Reels: 3-7x per week is the discovery driver.
  

• Feed posts: 2-3x per week (quality over quantity here)
  

• Instagram’s algo prioritizes interest/relevance, not raw cadence.

The Reality Check:
Stories are your “snack bar.” People dip in casually, multiple times a day. Reels are your reach engine. Feed posts are where you earn credibility. Overdo the feed with filler and your reach tanks.

👉 Guardrail: Shares per impression dropping >25% = you’re boring people. Switch it up.

YouTube: Shorts for reach, long-form for loyalty

The Data:

• YouTube recommends at the video level. No quota.
  

• Safe range: Regular long-form + 3–7 Shorts/week.
  

• Shorts = discoverability; long-form = depth and retention.
  

• Retention thresholds: <45–50% in the first minute of long-form, or <35–40% at 30s for Shorts = algo death spiral.

The Reality Check:
Flooding low-quality uploads will hurt channel perception, not just performance. Scale Shorts to widen surface area, but don’t let your flagship content slip. Seeing a theme here? (quality before quantity) 

Sweet Fish tidbit: We’re seen massive success with shows that focus on regular cadence > massive cadence. Can only post full-length biweekly? That’s cool! Just commit to that regular cadence.

👉 Guardrail: Track returning viewers. If that line starts dipping, your audience is binging junk food, not sticking around for the meal.

Podcasts: Consistency > Bursts

The Data:

• Weekly = the retention workhorse.
  

• Always-on shows drive ~3x more consumption than seasonal runs; 75% of listeners stick with always-on formats (Spotify).
  

• Listener tolerance:

  • 45–60 min → 1x/week 

  • 10–20 min → 2–5x/week.
    

• Breaks kill momentum. Reruns > silence. No. Season. Breaks.

The Reality Check:
Podcasts are relationship-driven. Overloading your feed with long, rambling episodes isn’t “more,” it’s tiring. Scale only when you have short, valuable content to fill the gaps.

Sweet Fish Tidbit: We’ve found the same thing with podcasts as YouTube… biweekly, consistent shows in B2B outperform weekly rushed, low-quality shows. 

👉 Guardrail: If completion drops >10pp after a cadence change, scale back.

Email: Spam reports are the real enemy

The Data:

• Global average: Spam complaint rate ~0.07%.
  

• Complaints (not unsubscribes) wreck deliverability. Keep rolling 3-send complaints <0.1%.
  

• Safe range: 1x/week to full list; 2–5x/week for engaged segments.
  

• Preference centers + snooze options cut unsubscribes by >80% (Oracle).

The Reality Check:
Email is opt-in and personal. Sending daily blasts because “LinkedIn says more is better” is how you lose trust. Respect the inbox.

👉 Guardrail: If complaint rate ticks above 0.1%, reduce frequency and tighten targeting.

Cross-channel truths

• Feed-based platforms (LinkedIn, TikTok, IG, YouTube): More good posts = more opportunities. No “penalty” for high volume.
  

• Audience-driven platforms (podcasts, email): Frequency feels like intrusion. Complaints, unsubscribes, and drop-offs are your truth serum.
  

• Overarching rule: Algorithms don’t punish volume — audiences punish laziness.

Don’t lose your damn mind

Yes, the data says more is more. But let’s be honest: creating 11 LinkedIn posts, 7 Shorts, 5 Reels, a podcast episode, and three emails every week would send most teams into early retirement.

The point isn’t to do it all. It’s to:

1. Choose your platform. Master, then expand. 

2. Start with the safe ranges above.

3. Scale only when quality holds.

4. Build a repurposing engine (e.g., LinkedIn carousel → TikTok clip → YouTube Short → email snippet… you get it).

If you can’t sustain the top tier, that’s fine. Posting fewer high-quality pieces consistently will always beat burning out with filler content that doesn’t even land. 

The big takeaway: The danger isn’t posting too much… it’s posting without value. Irrelevance is a bigger enemy than the algo. Serve your audience above all else.