Let’s take a break for a second and talk about social media.
Have you ever scrolled through your feed, on any social media platform and saw a post that just didn’t’ seem to fit or when you looked at an image you couldn’t see it entirely?
When I first started using Twitter and then Facebook, those are things I didn’t pay attention to and I didn’t realize it was something I should have been paying attention to. When I was tweeting to promote the Bottle Drive, a charity event I organized and ran by the Beer Store I really had no idea what I was doing.
Even later on, when I started using Instagram for my personal brand, one of the features in the app was the ability to automatically create a post and share that to Facebook. As I look back at those posts now…I cringe. (That’s a cool word now right?)
The issue is, what works on Instagram doesn’t necessarily work the same on Facebook and what works for those 2 platforms, doesn’t exactly work on LinkedIn or Twitter. Each platform has its own strengths and weaknesses and in this blog that’s what I want to talk about.
Did you know that even though hashtags work with Facebook content, and some businesses are still using them, they aren’t as widely used as they are on Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn?
That was the issue when I shared a post I made on Instagram to Facebook, I had hashtags in my Instagram post and that would in turn be shared to my Facebook feed, and all it did was make the post look cluttered.
That’s a common mistake a lot of businesses make, they feel they should make content for one platform and then share it to every platform at the same time.
Before you start creating content make sure you know what your audience wants to see on any given platform. Although you will have similar followers across all platforms, there are a lot of followers that only follow you on just one or two of them. That’s why it’s important to research each platform and continually look to see what’s working and what isn’t.
Next is something that’s so simple but often overlooked, your image sizes. As each platform was designed for a different purpose, the image sizes that fit those platforms aren’t all the same. Instead of posting each size here (it’s a lot) I made an image guide for you so you don’t have to keep referring back here or waste time writing them out. More on that soon.
When you think about all the different image sizes for each platform and creating content for each audience on those platforms, it can sound like it’s a lot and might be overwhelming. There are tools though that help make life easier and save a lot of time.
As we talked about before, batching your content while creating it is key and will save you a ton of time but using tools like Canva can be a life saver.
Canva is a design tool that acts as a hub for everything you need when it comes to creating images, videos and GIFS. In Canva you are able to create folders, create templates and keep all of your branding in one place. The best part, Canva is free for most of your basic needs and if you are looking to go all out, it’s only $14 a month for a pro version.
The other tool that will change your life and save you a ton of time is a scheduler. There are many options out there and this is something you will have to research so it fits your needs, but I’ve recently switched to Loomly and there is no going back.
Using this tool, you are able to create your posts, add your images or videos and then select the appropriate platforms to share too. Once you have created your post and the platforms you want to share to, you are able to adjust each individual platform’s post and the time/date you want to share that post.
This is where you’re able to tweak each post and as an example, add up to 30 hashtags in the first comment of an Instagram post, add 2 or 3 hashtags on your Tweets and LinkedIn Post and tweak any copy you want to for each platform.
If you’re working with a team, you are able to set up systems that allow you to ask for approval before the posts are scheduled to each platform.
Now back to the Image Size guide I talked about before. I made a simple downloadable guide that you can keep on your desktop or print out and keep with you close by.
No sales, no upsells or OTOs….just a Free Social Media Image Size guide for 2022. Just have to click below to get it sent right to your inbox.