Platform specific content – Why? How?

The list of social media platforms available to the regular user seems to be constantly growing. Marketing industry pros must have probably heard of most, if not all of them. And while the number of platforms and their type is changing, there’s one thing that remains constant: social media is staying and the public is getting more particular about the content they want to see.

• DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE

In order for content to be successful, you need to speak to your audience in the right way. What makes sense to a middle-aged teacher, for example, won’t make sense to a 22-year-old graphic designer. In order to speak to your audience in their language, you need to know who your audience is. Define your target customer or your brand’s main demographic by coming up with marketing personas. Think of questions like how old are they? Where do they live? Gender? Interest? What problem can you help them solve? The more you understand about your audience, the better you can tailor your content to them. 

• UNDERSTAND THE PLATFORM’S AUDIENCE

You might think blasting out your content to as many audiences as possible is a good thing, but consumers are more media-savvy than ever before – and each platform has its own function. We open specific apps for a reason. We wouldn’t browse Instagram for news the same way we don’t go looking for memes on LinkedIn. While that’s an obvious example, some social platforms have more subtle discrepancies, so do your research! You don’t want your content to miss the mark and be ignored by an audience who’s looking for something different. 

• ALIGN THE OBJECTIVE OF YOUR CONTENT WITH THE PLATFORM

Ultimately, every platform has a specific purpose. People consume quick, bite-sized content on Twitter, and video content on YouTube. Keeping your audience in mind, make sure your content objective fits in with the platform – don’t try and force the platform to adapt to your content, because it just won’t. You may know your audience, but your content can still miss the mark if it isn’t optimized.

1. Facebook

The blood that flows through the veins of Facebook is interaction. Content for Facebook needs to be designed to be interactive. While being a less direct CTA (call to action) than Twitter, Facebook-specific content needs to encourage users to do something, while providing images, links, and supporting content to excite readers.

Bear in mind, Facebook does have an effect on Google Rankings, but not by using backlinks. Instead, it is hypothesized that Google ranks Facebook based on engagement, so make that content interactive!

1. Twitter

From a wide-open platform to easily the most limiting, Twitter is famous for its brevity. That 140-character count can be ominous when you are trying to cram your message into such a small count. Luckily, Twitter isn’t about enthralling content, it’s about building efficient bridges.

One last important Twitter tip: When it comes to shortening links, always use bit.ly. It is statistically proven to be more likely to be retweeted.

1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is all about demographics. While Twitter and Facebook posts are written for a very general audience and should be simple to understand, it is reasonable to believe that more technical and niche content can be acceptable on LinkedIn. While it may reach a narrower base of your audience, this specialized content is more likely to be shared, due to its specialist nature. In terms of general content, it should be brief and to the point, as your readership more than likely includes busy people with less time on their hands than your average Facebook audience.

Every platform has a specific way of communicating on it, tailored for each app, as well as a type of audience that uses that app. For example, Twitter is the best place for short witty ideas, while LinkedIn is the place to go for businesspeople sharing their achievements.

Every brand or corporation has several different buyer personas, and that’s why it’s important that audiences on different social media platforms receive content that’s designed for that channel, and that particular audience. To target audiences better, businesses need to implement varied content strategies, where they can develop different types of content that are going to perform well.