By Elizabeth Lambe

In a fast-paced world, it’s natural to look for shortcuts. One way to simplify digital marketing is to create one post and share it on multiple social media platforms. While there is no harm in doing this, you won’t necessarily get the full benefit of social media marketing. Platforms are created with different purposes in mind, and your content will perform best when you keep each platform’s purpose–and design–in mind. 

Instagram.

You open the app. You start aimlessly scrolling when a photo catches your eye. You stop scrolling and read the caption. Sound familiar? This is how the majority of people utilize Instagram. It’s all about visual content. Yes people read captions, but you first need to draw them in with an eye-catching photo, graphic, or video. For Instagram, captions are a means of supporting the visual. 

The aesthetics of your visuals on Instagram will look different depending on your account strategy and your brand identity. But there are two helpful tips to keep in mind regardless of your specific aesthetic. First, always use more than one picture. Creating a carousel increases impressions as carousels will show up on someone’s feed multiple times with a different main image. Posting multiple images also leads people to linger longer on your post as they scroll through the pictures. 

Another way to increase the amount of time people spend on your post is to format your image as a square. Square images allow people to see both the visual and the caption without scrolling down. Since square graphics tend to perform the best, the Instagram algorithm has also come to favor them. By contrast, if you are creating a reel, it will look (and perform) best when using portrait-oriented photos and videos simply because that is what Instagram has created their platform to best support.  

Facebook.

A post looks different on Facebook. While Instagram shows you a caption under a picture, Facebook shows you a caption above a picture. This slight formatting difference impacts what people expect from a post. Your audience is much more likely to read a caption on Facebook, regardless of your visual content. Additionally, people are willing to read longer captions on Facebook, as it’s built into our expectations of the platform. 

That being said, images are still important to include in Facebook posts. People will always be attracted to visuals, and they increase the amount of space your post takes up on a screen, which invites people to focus longer. For Facebook, it is great to use multiple images of different dimensions. Facebook automatically creates collages with your first few images instead of carousels, and using images with different dimensions creates a little variety. 

Twitter.

Or I guess we call it X now. Whatever its name, this platform seems to be headed towards doom. But it’s still relevant at the moment, so I’ll touch on it quickly. 

Twitter is for quick quips (literally…they limit the amount of characters you can use). People scrolling Twitter expect short posts that are big on personality. Even on Twitter, it still helps to include an  image with your post to help catch the eye.  On Twitter, landscape-oriented images perform best. 

Twitter is also the perfect platform to share posts from partners or community influencers. 

LinkedIn.

On LinkedIn, focus on peer-to-peer interactions. Captions need to take on a slightly more formal tone compared to other platforms, but should still be in line with your brand. Like I’ve said for all other platforms, it is always helpful to have an image, and for LinkedIn it is best for these images to have portrait dimensions. However, graphics should never be your focus on LinkedIn, where it’s more important to share content that affirms your role as an expert in your field. Images are just there to support the information you share.

LinkedIn is also a great place to share company updates. This includes staffing changes, projects you are working on, and any news worth celebrating in your organization! 

Finally, let’s talk about links. While links don’t work in Instagram captions, they can be shared in your bio or on stories. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all great platforms to share links as they are easy to click and view. On these platforms, most links will automatically generate a link preview, allowing you to delete the url in the caption and automatically have an image! 

Now it’s time to get posting!