Tailor your social media strategy for each platform

Attributed to Sophie Bidesi

As we continue to progress towards a more digital world, audience presence and dependency on social media is rapidly growing. We’ve recognised that the pandemic has accelerated the evolution of social media, and as a result, it has become an increasingly useful tool for businesses to reach, engage and form meaningful connections with their target audiences.

The recent Digital 2022 report by We Are Social and Hootsuite revealed some interesting insight into the digital landscape for 2022, including:

• The number of people on social media has increased by 10% since January 2021, now sitting at 4.62 billion active users globally.

• Users spend an average of 2.5 hours per day on social media.

• 25% of users utilise social media for business.

• 83% of Australia’s population is on social media (approximately 21.45 million people).

These stats highlight the significant presence on social media – which is showing no signs of slowing down – and the opportunities available to businesses that utilise social media strategically.

However, these figures can also seem overwhelming. With so many users and businesses operating on social media, how do you cut-through the noise and reach your target audience? How do you make your content stand out (for the right reasons)? Which platforms should you be using and what specifically should you post?

The Hunter team long ago recognised the trend towards digital and the important role social media plays in creating and maintaining a brand. We are currently working on a very exciting new service that will benefit our clients looking to elevate their social media presence (more details coming soon – watch this space).

But for now, we can help with clarifying why and how you should tailor your content for each platform.

Firstly, let’s clarify the “why”. When you’re active across multiple platforms, it may seem more efficient to duplicate content. While this saves time, it’s not the best practice if you want to create engaging content and grow a loyal following. Understand that different social media platforms have different purposes, algorithms and audience demographics – and this impacts the post performance and page engagements.

Check out our top tips for tailoring your content to suit the platform below:

1. Edit posts based on audience insights The users on each platform have different priorities, values and interests, and this impacts the type of content they will engage with online. Some of the key considerations when tailoring posts for different audiences include: language, tone, and purpose (e.g. entertain, educate, etc).

In addition to the platform’s predominant audience, your account will also have its own unique audience (which you can usually view through the app’s ‘page insights’ tool). If you want to elevate your social media strategy, we recommend looking at the defining characteristics of the users engaging with your page and using this as a guide to tailor your content.

2. Utilise (the right) visual assets Pairing your content with a visual asset is often critical to gain post interactions and engagement. However, each social media app favours different types of content, making it important to know and create visual assets that suit the platform.

For example, Instagram is prioritising ‘Reels’ (short-form, portrait video content) in a move to compete with TikTok’s growing popularity. LinkedIn allows for a mix of content (link to websites, PDF carousels, landscape videos, polls, articles and more), and the best practice for this platform is to utilise a mix of the available post types.

3. Best practice The algorithms and priorities for each platform are ever evolving, so it’s necessary to stay up-to-date on best practice for the channels you are active on. For example, 30 hashtags used to be the best practice for Instagram posts, but now the app recommends using between 8 – 10 hashtags. Another example is the length of posts – TikTok captions need to be short and concise, whereas LinkedIn posts should generally be more than five sentences. Knowing the best practice for each channel will clarify how you should go about tailoring your content.

4. Trend hijack Creating content is just one element of social media - being active on each platform is crucial to build an engaged and loyal audience. Pay attention to the trending topics, and when possible/if appropriate, join the conversation. This is a great way to interact with your audience, position yourself or your business as a ‘thought leader’ and create content that people want to engage with.