Consider the fact that, according to a study conducted by We Are Social, there were about 2.8 billion social media users around the world in 2017 – equivalent to a roughly 37% penetration rate. What are the odds that they’re all using the same social networks? That they’re all looking for the same things for the same reason? That the same piece of content will strike a chord with all 2.8 billion of them in the exact same way?
The answer to all of those questions is clear: slim to none.
Because when someone logs into Twitter to check their feed, they’re doing so for a different reason than when they log into Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat. They’re probably doing so from a different environment and they have a different end goal in mind.
Therefore, it becomes of paramount importance that you understand what these goals are so that you can make sure you have the right type of visual content for the right moment on the right channel moving forward.
Breaking Down the Major Social Networks
We’ve talked at great length in the past about what goes into creating a high quality, compelling piece of visual content – so we’re not going to retread all that here. For the sake of discussion, let’s assume that you’re sitting in front of a terrific piece of collateral that you can’t wait to get out to the widest possible audience.
So where, exactly, should you post it?
According to experts, these are the types of content that perform best on specific social networks:
- Facebook users tend to spend more time on page than a lot of other sites, so the visual content that tends to work best here includes as much video as you can post. Along the same lines, Facebook is also a perfect outlet for curated content – so if you see a particularly helpful article in your travels around the web, don’t be afraid to share it.
- Instagram is a visual-based social network, so it stands to reason that content that is heavily visual works best. High resolution images, quotes and other types of content that essentially stand on their own and require as little explanation as possible are really going to strike a chord.
- Twitter users are in it for the short bursts of critical information, so this would be a great outlet for your visual collateral based on news items or other highly relevant topics. GIFs also work great on Twitter.
- Since this is a professional network, it stands to reason that the content you create should be professional driven as well. This would be a great place to post all your visual content about your actual business and its employees, for example.
- Pinterest users tend to love content like infographics, step-by-step guides (complete with as many photos as possible) and much more.
So when you sit down with a tool like Visme (which I founded to help people communicate visually) to work on that next big infographic, you’re probably going to want to start with Pinterest and Twitter when it comes to publishing because it’s right in the wheelhouse of what those users are already looking for.
When you come to something that is a little more long form like a flyer, Facebook would probably be the way to go – because it’s users still love visuals but seem to be willing to take a little more time to really digest something should the need arise.
Note that you can also use Visme to create terrific social media graphics, which is another opportunity to really help sell the visual aspect of your social media presence. You’ll still want to keep the specific audience on a network in mind before you pull the trigger, however.
In essence, don’t create social media graphics for social networks in general – really break things down and take a different approach to creating something for Pinterest than you would for something like LinkedIn. The former lets you be a little more fun and exciting while the latter does not – you don’t want to put off a huge portion of your audience with the right type of graphics as that will only put you farther away from your goal, not closer to it.
Likewise, let’s say for the sake of example that you really want to appeal to a younger audience so you want to start incorporating memes and similar types of fun materials into your messaging. Facebook would be a really great place to do something like that and memes in general even work wonders on Twitter… but keep it off of a site like LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is decidedly more professional that Facebook or Twitter (probably combined) and you really want to put your best foot forward in that regard. Nobody is saying that your entire online presence has to be “all business, all the time” – but you have to know how and when to pick your spots, so to speak.
Really, what you’re doing is pairing the content you’re creating, the audience you’ve created it for and the goals you hope to achieve with the right platform on which to excel in those areas. If you’re able to do that on a regular basis, you won’t have to worry about finding success – you’d better believe that success is going to find your.
Other Essential Considerations
Along the same lines, you’ll also want to work hard to maintain the proper ratio of helpful, engaging and inspiring posts to direct sales posts regardless of which social networking site you choose.
As a rule of thumb, try to stick to making roughly 80% of your posts inspiring, engaging, or thought provoking in some way. Then, you’re free to use the other 20% to focus more on selling your products and services.
The key is that you want to be more helpful than salesy, because “sales driven” has a habit of turning into “pushy and overbearing” before you even realize that you have a problem.
But again, all of this is staying within the lines of the social network-specific guidelines that we were discussing earlier. A lengthier, more thorough inspiring post should probably be targeted at Facebook and the same is true of a longer, more detailed sales post. Just like your Infographics – both those that aim to inform and those that are trying to sell – would probably be more at home on a site like Twitter.
Another thing to consider is that absolutely none of this means that you suddenly have to come up with double or even triple the ideas for content depending on how many different social networking sites you’re working with. The story at the heart of a piece of content can stay the same and be re-used on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. How that story is framed, packaged and presented is all that needs to change. So you can easily take a single idea about community contributions your company has made and:
- Turn it into a 500 or so blog post that winds up on your Facebook feed.
- Pull out all of the stats that highlight the impact you’re making and turn it into an Infographic for Twitter.
- Take all of those photos that you took during a specific community outing and post them to your Instagram account.
- Highlight the community organizations that you’re working with and turn it into a blog post for LinkedIn and highlight why this all matters.
Suddenly, you’re talking about four high quality pieces of content that all came from the same core idea. They all tell the same story, just in totally different ways depending on where they will eventually wind up. Any one of your customers could encounter only one of the four pieces and get a complete story, but by diving into all of them they have a much more complete picture from a variety of angles.
The Key to Engagement is Specificity
In the end, the most important thing to understand about social media marketing in the modern age is that engagement should always be your number one goal. Raising awareness is great and all those followers may or may not translate into a sale, but making your top priority anything less than engagement essentially means looking a digital gift horse square in the mouth.
Every social networking site has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, which means that users are already engaging with those platforms in very different ways. By understanding WHY people use Facebook over Twitter and HOW they engage with those platforms, the answer to WHAT type of content you should post becomes overwhelmingly clear.
None of that is to say that the same piece of content won’t work equally well on two separate networks, but by creating content for a specific audience for a specific network you’re putting yourself and your campaigns in a much better position to succeed than they would be otherwise.
About the Author
Payman Taei is the founder of Visme, an easy-to-use online tool to create engaging presentations, infographics, and other forms of visual content. He is also the founder of HindSite Interactive, an award-winning Maryland digital agency specializing in website design, user experience and web app development.