Maximize your messaging impact with these simple social tricks
Social media is a beautiful beast of burden, which is as much work as it is essential to the livelihood of your business. While we all know the importance of being savvy social butterflies, managing multiple platforms at once can be overwhelming even to the most organized and well-equipped companies. Making sure you are maxing out your investment into social media – in terms of human resources, time and costs – will not only benefit your brand and bottom line, but it will also help ensure you don’t lose your mind.
What is cross-posting and why do you care?
Cross-posting refers to when you take one piece of content and share it across multiple social platforms. Made easier by social management tools, cross-posting can empower you to instantaneously amplify your message to a much wider audience and increase the chances people will see whatever you are so eager to say.
Benefits of cross-posting
- Great for start-ups and smaller businesses who do not have the human power to tackle full-scale socials on the daily
- Enables you to reach a wider audience by transcending the demographics of a singular platform
- People plug into more than one social platform every day, so cross-posting helps can you top-of-mind (e.g., if they missed you on the Gram, maybe they will find your post on Facebook)
- If you create really exceptional content, it deserves the spotlight to shine and cross-posting creates that spotlight
While it can be great, cross-posting also (potentially) comes with some drawbacks
If cross-posting was a flawless approach to social superiority, everyone would do it or, better said, everyone would do it well. But, the thing is, you need to understand how and when cross-sharing works.
The social faux pas you should be keen on avoiding is spamming your users with the exact same content around every corner. Equally as important, while people won’t fault you for cross-sharing, they will definitely think you’re a dork if you don’t put in the effort to align your speech with whichever space you’re speaking in.
Avoid appearing inauthentic and oversaturating your socials with the same content:
- Customize your message to each platform: all this takes is a simple edit and a solid understanding of which segment of your consumers you are speaking to
- Make sure you understand which parameters you are creating within:
- Twitter is for the short and pithy
- Instagram is image-based
- Facebook allows for more copy
- Double check your character counts, so you don’t get cut off halfway through your pitch
- Don’t use the same social lingo in every post: you will not look very in touch/woke/awake if you tell your Facebook users to click the link in bio when there ain’t no bio to click
- Sure, your image can stay the same between the socials, but by golly, you better optimize them accordingly
- Shotty images look like shot, so crop according to each platform’s pixel/sizing demands
Beyond the nuts and bolts and dos and don’ts of cross-sharing, there are some other key strategies to keep in mind
Maintaining an optimal social presence is not only about hitting post multiple times a week. It’s about pre-planning and seizing important opportunities to contribute to key conversations. When you decide a message is worth sharing across all your socials, make sure the way you are evangelizing your idea makes sense.
For example, while social management tools, like HootSuite, may let you post to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter all at once, you need to consider if a post is the best way to communicate your media. Would a story be better and what about the influential power of videos via the likes of TikTok? Neither of these are accessible via cross-posting. That means, at times, you may be able to simplify your social approach, but eventually, you will need to put in the time and effort to really drive home superb social messaging.
There is no easy replacement for real customization & human brand creativity
Creative content management is a shotload of work and with good reason. Effective social media planning and implementation can exponentially grow your business by leveraging the very best of global word-of-mouth marketing. While cross-posting is one short-cut that can support your immediate social needs, it can’t be your be all, end all.
Is a lack of time or human resources the reason you are contemplating different ways to stretch your content? Why not connect with a whole team of imaginative copywriters, social strategists and account managers who can take that time consumption off your hands (and mind)? Reach out to CR Creative and find out why a powerhouse of talented human beings is always the better option than skimping on the infinite potential of your socials.
