It’s challenging to keep up isn’t it? There are so many platforms to be on!!
This blog is going to assist you to create a posting strategy that covers multiple platforms in the least fuss as possible.
It’s important to establish something right away.
WHICH PLATFORMS DO YOU NEED TO CONCENTRATE ON?
There is an abundance of platforms to choose from. The most popular platforms currently are:
Facebook
Linked In
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google +
I would recommend you have a presence on all of the platforms above even if you are not actively posting on them all, it’s worth claiming your name on them before someone else does!
Researching your market is going to help you massively here. Where does your industry dominate? Where are your avatar hanging out? It’s ok to ask your clients what their favourite platforms are, conduct a simple survey via email or when you speak with them.
When you’ve decided which platform is core to your business you can then create or curate (gather from others) content that is a match for that platform. I’m going to assume that for most of you reading this it’s because you are Facebook users and your main platform is Facebook.
My best advice would be to join Buffer. This is an incredible tool for sharing content across multiple platforms. You can share posts across Facebook , Twitter, Linked In and Google + (and Pinterest is in trial mode but it will cost to use) …BUT… and yes there is a BUT… not all of your posts are going to be suitable for all of the platforms AND it’s not a good look to have the exact same content going out on each platform at the same time each day. This is where you need a posting purpose and strategy.
There are also other ways of connecting the platforms. There are ways to tell Facebook to post to Twitter for example. I’m going to strongly recommend that you do NOT link in this way. The posts that are designed for Facebook look crap on Twitter when it shares over especially if it’s too many words for Twitter or there is a pic which becomes a link etc. It obvious to your followers that you have automated the sharing of the post and they feel ripped off by the fact that you are not personally there to engage with them. So if you’re thinking about linking platforms together do a test post to ensure it looks sexy on the other site too.
COVERING THE BASICS
When your core platform is Facebook, Buffer is the go.
Facebook posting Purpose: to provide your audience with value or something interesting/inspiring, to inform of events, products & services. Generate leads, sales. Build the Tribe
Posting schedule: From 1 to 3 post maximum per day and only at times that you are able to be there to engage with people.
Strategy: High engagement on quality content. All content is designed and optimised size, graphics and colours to appear dynamic and compelling specifically for Facebook.
Suitable content: Blogs with featured pic, Quote pics, Articles, Text, Video
Side Note: Blogs & Articles - schedule to Facebook, Linked In and Google + at the same time. Do separately to Twitter as it creates a different display and requires a small portion of text before the link to look good once posted.
Linked In - the posts you want to share to this platform are the more formal and technical content around your business and industry. You need only schedule a couple of high value posts per week and check in on the days you choose for your posts to appear to engage with people, accept connections, endorse your friends and answer messages.
Google + - share your valuable content to Google + blogs, text posts, pics. The more you give Google, the more content, keywords and expertise to index in it’s search results pages. Aim for a minimum of 3 posts per week.
Twitter - You can go wild on Twitter. You can post interesting tweets more often and use Buffer to schedule your more valuable links to your blogs each week. If you choose to use Twitter you will need to check in at least once a day to engage with your followers.
As you can see your content can be shared to at least 3 additional platforms in one hit while having a main focus on Facebook as your core platform.
AS FOR THE OTHERS
Some of the other platforms require a more one on one approach. for example if you use Instagram as a big part of your strategy then you need to share the pic originally through the Instagram app where you are then given the opportunity to share your pics onto your Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr profiles.
Similarly if Pinterest is your strategy you will need to share the original posts to Pinterest by uploading or pinning them to a board and then using the share functions from within the app to share to Facebook and Twitter.
By the time you cover all 6 platforms your strategy is quite large and complex, it’s easy to experience overwhelm at the thought of keeping up with all.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The best strategy is to focus 80% of your effort into the platform/s that work for you. Do not try and create a winning strategy on every single platform (until you have a team of social media managers to support you). Focus on creating a presence that tells a story about your brand and directs people to find out more about you - in the place you’re hanging out.
Ensure that all of your profiles are complete with links to your website and links back to your core social profiles.
Work more on creating massive value for your audience in the one place that they gather and then filter out that value across the other platforms for the sake of continuity and that odd person who will find you on your “other” profiles.
And remember just because you CAN link & share content from one platform to the next…doesn’t always mean you SHOULD.
Happy posting everyone :) Leave your questions in the comments below.
