Different Platform Different Content

In our previous article, we explained why knowing social media personas is important. We discussed that it would be wasting time creating video content until you figure out where its home would be!

We had an example scenario running a brand PoshLux, selling luxurious bags. We were marketing our products and creating video content around them, and followed a perfect buyer Sally, 29 year old, who was on 4 different platforms for different parts of the week, and described an imagined consumption pattern for each of them.

This article, let us abandon our luxurious bag example, however, but explore what sorts of content she might be watching, and hence what you should look at producing for her to pay attention to you. 

INSTAGRAM SALLY

On Instagram, you have Instagram posts, Instagram stories, Instagram Live and IGTV.

Each of these have different consumption behavior, but for the scope of this article, let us just focus on the posts!

For Instagram posts, you will only have 60 seconds. So long videos are out of the question. Sally’s attention span is also going to be short on Instagram, she scrolls through posts very fast, so you need to grab her attention, bearing these things in mind, here are some basic tips on the content you might want to create for her :-

1. Visuals first, words second

Instagram seems to be still a very images first, words second kind of platform.

Pick a strong image that captures attention, so that Sally will slow down when she scrolls past your post! Think of what is going to be typically appearing in feeds, and show something that is different enough.

Once you have grabbed her initial attention, have the first 3-5 seconds interesting, and yet also clear on the point you are trying to drive across. 

2. Tell a story

Now that you have grabbed her attention, make sure that you have an engaging story to keep their attention. As in any story, there is typically a beginning, a middle and an end. The way I like to look at this is that this is a journey, you want to have a pay off somewhere towards the end.

And do not forget to have a call to action at the end too. What would you like Sally to do at the end? Make that clear!

3. Assume Sound is Off

We should assume that Sally will not be watching the video with sound, so if you have dialogue or even voice overs, have captions for the content.

SALLY IS ON FACEBOOK

As mentioned, Facebook for Sally is more about silly memes and newsworthy content which are sometimes political in nature. Similar to how she consumes Instagram content, she would scroll through quickly, so grabbing attention is important. However, you can afford to be a little ‘louder’ in your design of content, making it a bit more ‘meme’ like.

1. Catchy Words First, Visuals Second

It seems that Facebook is a slightly more text friendly platform (they would reject ads if they detect too much text though), so feel free to combine your visuals with strong copy. You might want to put captions on the top and bottom of the video to really use the real estate given to you. (More on the dimensions in future articles.)

Again, this is dependant on the audience, but if you look at the following examples from SmartLocal, reposts of TikTok videos, and news commentary from Channel News Asia, you could adopt these kinds of styles.

2. Sound Off Too

As is the case for Facebook, Sally would scroll through, sometimes not watching the videos with sound, so make sure your video content is captioned.

3. Longer Works Slightly Better, only Slightly

Comparatively, your content could be slightly longer, as audiences expect it from the platform, but we are still looking at content that is less than a minute. Even though Facebook has no restrictions for content above one minute unlike Instagram, doing so would not work as well.

LINKEDIN SALLY

In our previous article, we describe Sally as a premium member of LinkedIn. She is an HR manager at her company and she is currently using LinkedIn for recruitment.

Her company is in the Tech industry, so she follows regular tech news to kep on top of things. 

LinkedIn is a great platform for B2B marketing, not so much for B2C.

1. Long Game of Personal Branding

On LinkedIn, go for longer term strategies. Having content that goes straight to selling would almost always work against you if you start with zero credibility.

Part of how LinkedIn works is by whom you connect with, as with the other social media platforms, but more so for this, since it is work experience related. So providing good video content that is relevant to the industry you are connected to would be a good start. 

2. Relevant Video Content Trumps All

LinkedIn users are on the platform performing their professional roles. They are typically on the platform to catch up with the industry’s latest news, or for job related enquiries. So once again, have something that gives them value, that will help them in their roles, so no silly memes or cat videos here please! 

SALLY IS ON YOUTUBE

Sally is on YouTube for entertainment. So B2C content might work better here because of the mindset she brings when she is logged on.

1. YouTube Videos are Longer

Based on statistics, the average mobile viewing session is more than 40 minutes. This means you can explore longer forms for your video content, but it still matters what you share, and how you present it.

Building some consistency is very important, so do establish some kind of format that your followers can come to expect.

2. YouTube Users Come On to Learn

Also based on data, more than 50% of users on YouTube come on to learn how to do something they have never done before. So provide value to your viewers by sharing interesting ways to use your products, or insights into how you provide services that they may apply in their daily lives.

So over this article and our previous one, we have highlighted that it is important to look at SOCIAL MEDIA PERSONAS, and that one person may have different personas when they are on each of these platforms.

I would like to reiterate that the reason why most videos for marketing fail is because they create the same video for different platforms. We need to understand the personas of our potential customers on these different platforms!

Source : https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html

https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/youtube-stats/