Social media marketing is a part of most marketing plans in 2020, and if it’s not in your plan – it should be! Most people know that they should be on social media, but when it comes to planning and promoting content, they aren’t sure what to post. Sounds familiar? It’s okay, you are not alone!
In our Marketing Momentum Monday segment, we were asked: “Should I auto-post my Facebook and Instagram content? Will it broaden my reach?”
Today we’re going to dive deeper and share all of our thoughts about auto-posting!
The do’s and don’ts of auto-posting social media content
I’m going to jump right in here! The short answer is you should not auto-post content across multiple platforms, and there are a couple of reasons why:
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Your audience engages with content differently on each platform. For example, the same photo that works well for you on Instagram may not work well on Facebook. That’s because Instagram is all about visualization, and on Facebook your audience can actually consume long form content.
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Each platform is different and the language and characteristics are different from platform to platform. I know you have seen the posts on Facebook that are clearly reposted from Instagram. They stand out like a sore thumb. Facebook posts that are loaded with hashtags are often regurgitated Instagram posts.
Another telltale sign is a Facebook post that says “View our link in bio.” First off, this is a huge missed opportunity. On Instagram you cannot include a clickable link in the caption of your images so most people update their URL on the profile page and tell their audience to ‘view the link in bio’ for more information. When you auto-post something from Instagram to Facebook with a ‘Link in Bio’ comment, there is no link or bio for them to click on.
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It doesn’t seem genuine. If being authentic is part of your brand, then auto-posting should not be in your tackle box! Plus, auto-posting is just not in the best interest of your audience. Take the time to do it right and plan engaging content that is going to be impactful.
“But auto-posting saves me time!” We all have the same number of hours in the day as the most successful people walking among us. I understand the dilemma of being a full-time business owner, and marketing manager for your company. That’s why I’m here to say: You can still post the same pictures and concepts across platforms. “But Carly, you’re contradicting yourself?” No, there is a huge difference between auto-posting and sharing similar content that is custom-made for each platform.
Let’s focus here for a minute, and I’ll give you an example. Let’s say you’re a remodeling company and you just won an award for being one of the best remodelers in your area. You want to share that news with the world- on every platform you have access to. From LinkedIn, to Facebook, to Instagram and even Google My Business, you should share that content. BUT you shouldn’t post the exact same thing on each platform. I’ll give you examples of each:
LinkedIn: This would be a great place to share a press release about the award you won. You could also use it to recruit new talent (who doesn’t want to work for a remodeling company that has been voted the best?
Instagram: Here you could share a picture of your team with the award.
Facebook: This would be a great place to post a picture and a link back to your website that recaps the award you won, what it took to receive this recognition, and what it means to you.
Google My Business: I would post a quick snippet about the award, along with a link back to your blog post recapping the achievement with a photo of the team and the award.
You can talk about the same topic on all platforms, just don’t do it at the same time and make all of the posts different.
Social Media Management and Marketing Resources
When all else fails, it’s better to take the time and do it right! Always keep your customer’s best interest in mind, and think about how they are going to interact with your content on each platform.