All social media is not created equal. Being active on Facebook is not the same nor a replacement for being active on Instagram. Each social platform is unique in its own way and has a different audience. With each social platform being different with a different type of audience, the content you share on each platform should be different as well.
Are there rules to sharing content? Or at least guidelines to follow?
The answer is yes and no, there are no official rules and some brands make a big splash by doing something unconventional on social media. However there are general guidelines to make it easier to understand what should be shared on each social media platform.
Let’s start with Facebook, the giant of all social media networks, that everyone, including your grandmother is on.
Links tend to perform best on Facebook when compared to most other networks. Especially when they are timely and newsworthy. Think of your own Facebook feed and how many people share a link.
The commentary with the link should be brief; Buffer suggests no more than 40 characters.
Funny photos and memes do well on Facebook too, but they have to be really funny and that’s often not as easy as it seems.
Keep a good mix of light, fun content and more serious business related content on Facebook.
Twitter goes best with a hashtag #, and all things live and happening now. No one ever says they are going to live-Facebook an event, they say live-Tweet for a reason. Twitter is king when it comes to what’s happening right now.
Images and a small amount of text do best on Twitter when you’re not live-tweeting. Twitter moves fast and if your tweets take too long to read, they will get left behind.
The Twitter audience is all about the ‘there and now’ and moving as quickly as possible. Not every brand is best suited to this type of content and that’s ok. Go where your audience is and tailor your content to them.
Obviously having an image for Instagram is required, but a gif or video really takes an Instagram post over the top. They can’t be longer than 15 seconds, and Instagram is a platform made for raw, unpolished, natural content so don’t stress if the lighting isn’t perfect. The audience there prefers real and organic over edited.
Memes and quotes do really great on Instagram as well as selfies, obviously.
Another type of image that performs well on Instagram are pictures of food. Similar to Twitter though, don’t forget the hashtags. Apparently 11 is the sweet spot for them on Instagram.
For the most part, keep it light on Instagram, it’s not the platform for getting too serious.
Regular posting on LinkedIn is getting more and more popular as the platform continues to grow. It is a great platform for long-form posts like short blogs or longer commentary. Fun posts don’t perform as well here like they do on other platforms, so keep the content on LinkedIn directly related to your industry or work life in some way.
Links also do well here, except, unlike Facebook, feel free to give your longer opinion or additional comments on an article.
One guideline for all of social media that is always important to remember is to keep it conversational. If someone walks into a storefront and chats with the owner, it’s doubtful they only chat about the business or specials. They chat about the weather, families, local news, etc. If you are talking to your audience on social media like an advertiser, they won’t want to talk back and that’s the real goal, to get engagement. An audience that feels connected to a brand is loyal to it.
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