We all know that communication is key in any relationship; whether it’s with your children, your significant other, your family, your friends, your boss, or your coworkers.  It is especially important when it comes to your clients and prospects.

You probably communicate differently depending on the situation and the person. You wouldn’t speak to your boss the way you speak to your children. That could get a little embarrassing and awkward.

So I always wonder why people/companies/entrepreneurs choose to communicate the exact same message with the exact same copy across different social media platforms? Is it lack of time, effort or understanding? Is it all three of these things?

Most individuals participate in several social media platforms. In fact, the average internet user accesses five different social media platforms. But that doesn’t mean that they are visiting the platforms with the same consistency. Everyone has their preferences based on how they like to receive their information and how they prefer to communicate.

This is why platform specific communication is so important. Here are some things to consider and avoid.

Automatic Facebook posts to Twitter – Facebook posts are generally longer and more conversational. If you post the same content to Twitter it will cut your message off awkwardly at 140 characters. To read the entire post the individual would need to click on the link, which is not likely. Long, truncated Twitter posts also have a very low likelihood of being retweeted.

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Automatic Instagram posts to Facebook – These to me are the worst offenders. Instagram is all about the hashtags, the more the merrier. Some posts are entirely hashtags. But too many hashtags in Facebook actually lowers your engagement.

So how do you do it the right way? Our recommendation is for companies to focus on no more than 3 social media platforms. The platforms you choose should depend on your type of business and your marketing and branding objectives. Take one message and tweak it to fit the appropriate “language” of the social media platform. Include appropriately sized photos and video lengths. Use a content calendar to schedule messages so that you are not saying the same thing on the same day over different platforms. Most importantly be consistent with your posting.

Cutting corners in social media strategy and management makes you look like you don’t care about your fans/followers and your image. This may sound overwhelming but a little planning and tweaking goes a long way to make your brand shine in any social media platform.

Ideal Solutions offers social media strategy and management services. Leave the planning and posting to us and we’ll make you look like a pro.