The Golden Rule of social media marketing: use the channel how your audience wants to use the channel. Not how you want them to use it. Here’s the thing… they’re on social media TO BE SOCIAL!
They want to interact with friends/family – to pursue hobbies and interests – it’s personal time. When you’re thinking about pursuing an audience via social media…consider what each channel is built for and post accordingly.
Facebook – Facebook is a big ol’ backyard BBQ. So it’s mostly like‐minded people in our own social circles – because FB pays attention to who you pay attention to, and surrounds you with those people. So you sit around sharing stories, opinions, experiences, photos, upcoming events, you name it.
Twitter – Twitter is an open invitation cocktail party – not as conversational, more a series of interjections and pithy one‐liners. It’s about seeing and being seen…
So it’s not-so-much a relationship‐building platform as a series of soap boxes or megaphones.
Instagram – Instagram is like a day festival – or a Farmer’s Market – but instead of it being about produce, it’s EVERYthing. You stroll past friends and vendors, stopping to get a literal snapshot of their story before moving on to the next.
TikTok/Instagram Reels – This is like a video karaoke or video open mic night. Sometimes people go for insightful, surprising or inspiring content, but most shoot for humor or trying to top each other for your attention.
YouTube – YouTube is like a giant episode of MST3000 – know what I’m talking about? Where there’s a guy and a couple of robots in a theater watching one video clip after another while providing commentary and making wisecracks. Or maybe you remember Statler and Waldorf ‐ the curmudgeons in the opera box on the Muppets who heckled the skits? Pretty much like that..
LinkedIn – It’s like a business convention for all businesses! Everyone’s selling to everyone. It’s filled with people who suffer from the “smartest person in the room” syndrome. Tons of people exchanging virtual business cards with no real intention of using them.
What now?
Now that you know how people are using each platform – your challenge is to create content that’s appropriate for each channel.
Bonus tip: One more thing. The cardinal sin of social marketing is putting the same content verbatim on multiple channels. You’re basically teaching your audience to not follow you and each platform.
Filament Protip
All of our service area leaders have dozens of years of experience. These are protips they’ve picked up along the way that you can use right now to solve common issues.
