How to Create Content for Different Social Media Platforms

Hopefully, you’ve started coming up with some great ideas for social media content that will let your personality shine through. If you’re new to social media, it can be difficult to make sure your content is both effective and makes your business look professional. By modifying your posts to fit the culture of each social platform, you’ll not only be seen as socially savvy, but you’ll reach more followers as well!

Why You Need to Create Unique Posts for Each Site

While it might seem like you can save a lot of time by linking your social media accounts and posting the exact same content to all of them with the click of a button, this is actually a pretty good way to lose followers. If your Twitter community is only getting links to your Facebook posts, why bother following you on Twitter at all? If all you share on Facebook are Instagram photos, why not just follow your business there instead? By modifying your content for each platform, you’ll engage your followers while increasing the likelihood that your posts will actually reach them. Here are some tips to help you understand the difference between popular social platforms so you can post effectively.

Facebook

The tone of Facebook tends to feel much more personal than other sites.

Facebook is the gold standard of social media. Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay, so using it properly is essential. Since social media users have a lot more of their information on Facebook than any other site and have real-life connections to almost everyone they interact with there, the tone tends to feel much more personal. Don’t be afraid to talk to your followers like you actually know them; if you’re a small business, you probably do!

Since Facebook allows for a larger word limit, feel free to share a couple of sentences. Just make sure to watch out for going past 8 lines. When your followers have to click to see the rest of your post, most of them will move on to the next thing in their news feed unless you’re extremely compelling.

Adding a photo is practically essential for Facebook posts, but you can forget hashtags which are unnecessary and still look pretty out of place even though they were technically added a while back.

Twitter

Make sure you’re using hashtags to connect to new potential followers and aren’t just throwing away characters.

Creating successful content for Twitter often presents more of a challenge than it does on Facebook. The 140 character limit, Twitter’s cornerstone, is frequently irksome. Whenever you’ve managed to think of something clever to share, it always seems like it’s just a few characters too long! bit.ly, a website that shortens the length of links, is an invaluable tool when trying to make tweets fit.

When formatting your content for this platform, make sure you include a well-chosen hashtag so any Twitter users who are interested in that topic can read your tweet, and hopefully follow you. While hashtags often seem silly, they do have a purpose. Make sure you’re using them to connect to new potential followers and aren’t just throwing away characters.

While you can use photos on Twitter, it’s best not to rely on them too heavily. The Twitter mobile app requires your followers to click on a link to see your photo, so visuals aren’t quite as effective here as they are on other sites.

Instagram

Filters are fun, but using them all the time can look a little goofy.

While maintaining a presence on Instagram is slightly more optional for businesses than Facebook and Twitter, it tends to be one of the most fun platforms to create content for. If Instagram is appropriate for your business (i.e., if you have things to photograph), make sure the photos (or videos) you’re taking feature good composition and decent lighting. There are a ton of great photographers using Instagram to their advantage, so taking sloppy photos will stick out more here and make you look unprofessional.

While filters are great to play with, using them all the time can start to look pretty goofy. Apps like VSCO CAM can help you edit your photos like a pro without using a filter. Instagram also allows you to caption your photo with a few sentences, and is an excellent place to use a few hashtags so that people can find you. Just don’t use too many unless you’re going on Jimmy Fallon.

Sharing Content from Other Platforms

While you now, hopefully, see the necessity of creating unique posts, it is okay to occasionally share content across different social platforms. By posting a great Instagram photo on Facebook every once in a while, you’ll alert your audience to the extent of your social media presence, giving them the opportunity to follow you in more ways than one!

In Conclusion…

Creating content that reflects an awareness of the subtle differences between social media platforms will increase the impact of your message, strengthen relationships with your followers, and help your business thrive!

Thanks for reading, and please look out next week for more information about how you can use social media to help your business grow!