4 Tips For Creating Content That Works Across Social Channels

Every time we discuss running a campaign across social media platforms, we emphasize how important it is to tailor content for your audience in each particular space. The kinds of content that perform extremely well on Facebook might not have the same effect on Tumblr, and vice versa. We understand, however, that not every department has the resources to create custom content for each channel. With that in mind we offer these tips for creating content that only requires some tweaking on each platform.

1. Start with visual content.

Visual content is striking and memorable, and it works well on all social media platforms. Even on Twitter, which is typically considered more of a text-based channel, tweets with photos perform better than those that don’t. If you don’t have the time to create custom content for each channel, then start with an image with some visual impact that you can use across social media. You can pair it with different taglines or headlines in each channel (more on that shortly).

2. Choose an image that will have impact across platforms with some simple adjustments.

Keep in mind what types of images work best on each platform. Does your audience respond well to long, vertical images without faces on Pinterest, but engages more with photos that includes faces on Instagram? Work with the same image and crop or edit it so it has maximum impact in each place.

Experiment with text placement, as well. Do photos with text superimposed over them do better on Instagram, or should you leave all the text in the caption? What about on Pinterest, Twitter, or Tumblr? Pay attention to how text placement performs on different social networks, and adjust your plan for the next time.

3. Tweak your tagline for each platform.

Start with some basic copy about your campaign, and then tweak the wording so it works the best in each channel. Keep it short and snappy for Twitter, avoid using a wall of hashtags on Instagram, leave the hashtags off entirely for Facebook, and don’t let the ability to make a long post on Tumblr let you think that’s the best place for it. If you haven’t tested long-form content on Tumblr before, now might not be the best time to do so. Do what’s best for your brand and a particular campaign with the resources that you have. (After the campaign is over? Test away!)

If you have a unique campaign or event hashtag, it’s a good idea to use the same hashtag across social media platforms. But if you’re using more general hashtags to participate in existing conversations, you may want to use different hashtags on different social media sites, even if you’re pairing those tags with the same image across channels.

4. Work from industry research about visual and content copy in each place.

Definitely base your content decisions on the data you collect from your own followers’ engagement, but don’t be afraid to also use what you know more generally about what your target audience likes in each place. Here are some resources to get you started:

• Best practices for brands on Instagram
  • From our Tumblr: Our series for brands on Instagram including Personal brands on Instagram.
  • Download our whitepapers: Success on Instagram: A data primer for brands will give you insight into how successful brands use the platform.
  • Also check out the Instagram for Business blog including their online guide for businesses.
• Best practices for brands on Tumblr
  • Be sure to check out Marketr, Tumblr’s official Sales and Brand Strategy Team blog.
  • As well as The Quick and Dirty Guide to Tumblr for Small Business from Mashable.
• Best practices for Twitter
  • There’s no better place to start than Twitter’s own recommended best practices.
  • Including this specific piece on photos, videos, and content.
• Best practices for Pinterest
  • Mashable has an infographic for How to Make Images Stand Out on Pinterest.
  • Follow this board of best practices from a marketing guy at Pinterest.
  • And here are nine more best practices from Econsultancy.
• Best practices for Facebook
  • Here are some best practices from Facebook themselves.
  • As well as nine more from Mashable centered around the Timeline feature.

Coupled with your own analytics about what your current, ideal and target customers respond to in each channel, you should be receive the maximum impact with the minimum amount of work!

This post was originally published on Union Metrics.

Read more: Vital Social Channels