Social media can be a menacing topic to cover, and when you add in all the different platforms that make up social media, it’s even more daunting of a task. That’s why we like to break it down into smaller pieces for you, so it’s easier to digest and learn. In this week’s post, we would like to cover platform-specific content, specifically how you will create platform-specific content and why it’s important to do so.
As always, if you finish reading and still have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at Elemental Plans. We will be more than happy to help with anything we can.
Platform Specific Content - A Brief Definition
Let’s first cover what it means when we mention platform-specific content. If we break it down, we are essentially discussing content on different platforms. Platforms that include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, etc. (the list seems to grow every day), each platform should have unique content to it.
Why?
Why should platforms have unique content? There is a variety of reasons, but we have listed a few below,
Following
Your follower base may fluctuate from platform to platform. On TikTok, you may have a younger audience compared to your Facebook audience. This is because statistically speaking, the older generations stick to what they like, which may be Facebook or Pinterest. And the younger audiences are taking over platforms like TikTok and Instagram. You want to understand what your followers react to and their interests.
Purpose
Each platform has a specific purpose or objective that a user is trying to accomplish. With Facebook, you want your content to be interactive, whereas with Twitter, we want content to be quick and to the point. No long-winded posts. You want to understand how the platform is used and what your audience is trying to accomplish while using the platform.
Content Form
Forms of content can range from videos, text, infographics, and more. Some platforms support a mix of media forms, others really only specialize in one. Take for instance, both YouTube and TikTok, these two platforms only support video content. Whereas Twitter and Facebook support video, text, and infographics. Make sure to tailor content to each area to maximize success.
How?
Combining what we learned above, we can sketch a sort of outline for each social media platform on what their specific content would look like. Have no fear, if this seems like an impossible task, we are here to help. If you are interested in help with your social media platforms, please reach out! We can assign a social media manager to you, and if you’re unsure what a social media manager is or does, check this article out here!
We have broken down a few platforms so you can see what content might look like on each.
Facebook - Facebook should be interactive and informative. Users are more likely to click links on Facebook. You can publish longer posts with a large amount of content to them (multiple images, videos, links, etc.). You could also publish short videos and post fun, informative infographics that will catch someone’s attention and stand out in their newsfeed.
Twitter - Twitter should be quick and to the point. You want to keep content under 150 characters. This is where your keywords will come in very handy. Add some teaser words for a longer post and get users to use the link to find out more. You can also post videos and quickly interact with your follower base.
Instagram - Instagram is known for its aesthetic purposes. Most content is pleasing to the eye and not too pushy when it comes to selling them something. This platform makes it easy for users to shop, so if you’re in the retail business, this is a key platform to utilize. You can link to various products in the posts so that it is easier for users to click on what they like and quickly purchase. Captions we can use longer copy but make sure the first line has a hook! A simple photograph will do with a witty caption can get some traction on it. And don't forget about Hashtags!
TikTok - TikTok is all about being unique and trendy. Content is short clips of 60 seconds or less. You can go for longer, but to keep it brief is more on-trend. Keep up to date on the trending sounds and consistently post. This platform has been known to boost small businesses quite often because of the variability of its algorithm. If you’re able to go viral at least once, you could get an instant follower boost!
For specifics on images and videos, check out SproutSocial's Always up-to-date guide to social media image sizes.
Although we can’t go over each platform (we would have to publish a book!) we hope to leave you with some valuable knowledge so that you can go and tweak your content to be platform-specific. If you still feel like this is too much work on top of running your business, reach out. Elemental Plans wants to always provide strategic goals and innovative solutions for your digital presence. All you have to do is contact us!
Sources
LinkedIn, “Platform specific content- Why? How?”, Somdutta Singh, October 9th, 2020, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/platform-specific-content-why-how-somdutta-singh/, Accessed August 20, 2022
Piquant, “Creating platform specific social media content”, Piquant, April 17th, 2020, https://piquant.ie/news/platform-specific-content-social-media-marketing/, Accessed August 20, 2022
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