It’s important to tailor the message of a brand’s content to the audience it is reaching on each platform it owns. Executing a successful multi-channel marketing plan is a hefty task, and it requires much organization and monitoring of consumer behavior. Another factor that plays into effective multi-channel marketing is ensuring that the look and feel of marketing assets are also tailored to each platform. This includes elements such as graphics and images, copy, and the use of hashtags.
While sharing the same or similar content to multiple platforms can be a time-saver, be sure that those assets are optimized for the platform they’re publishing on. This serves a couple of purposes.
First, content that’s optimized for that platform will be more likely to be shown on user feeds
This applies to business pages, as social media algorithms are tightening security to make it more challenging for businesses to be seen. Second, optimized content delivers a more pleasant user experience and will bring more credibility to the brand. Its pages will have a more polished look, which is valuable for building a reputation.
What exactly does this optimization entail?
Let’s start with simple images. Each social media platform has specifications for any images or graphics being used in business posts or advertisements. A business should design images or source graphics that fit these parameters for the best-finished look. With recent changes to the Facebook algorithm, sponsored posts now have different specification requirements and even the amount of copy shown has changed. Creating content with these parameters in mind will help a business boost its content visibility and conversions.
Another simple factor to consider is the use of hashtags
Hashtags are not always as useful on some platforms as they are on others. For example, hashtags used on Instagram are much more useful than those used on Facebook. While Facebook and LinkedIn do support hashtag use, the integration of discovery using hashtags is much more native to Instagram.
While many platforms have created the ability to cross-post content between channels, this is not always the best choice
For example, a post that has been formatted for Instagram—lots of hashtags, line breaks, etc.—may not look as nice and polished when it’s cross-posted on Facebook in the same format. In this format, any tags that are mentioned in the Instagram post’s caption will not appear as tags on Facebook. This can be unappealing and frustrating for users who wish to interact with the post but cannot do so.
Spend the extra few minutes it takes to craft a message, even if it’s for the same asset, that is formatted correctly for the platform it will be published on. Doing so will increase the quality of the social media content that is available for users.
Adhering to parameters for different platforms can be tedious work, but these finer details are what separates successfully executed marketing strategies from those doomed to fail from the start.
