Why you should stop cross-posting your social media content
“Can I post the same thing on all my social media channels?”
This is a question I get in almost every SkillPop class. My answer is always the same — “I would advise against it.”
What is “cross-posting?”
Cross-posting is when you take one piece of social media content and post it to all your social media channels at the same time. The platforms make this too easy to do. If you have your accounts connected, when you go to post you’ll see an option to select which account you’d like to post to.
You’ll see here that I have the option to share the post to the other accounts that I manage.
Here’s why you shouldn’t cross-post your social media content.
1. You have different audiences on your different platforms
Each social media platform offers a slightly different experience and this attracts different users to the different platforms. Age is one factor that we can look at to see who is on what platform. Data shows that less than 5% of people over 56 are on Snapchat, but they are on Facebook. Similarly, 70% of Instagram’s audience is under the age of 35.
It’s important to do your research and learn who is on what platform, but also look at your own page insights. If you have a business page on Facebook or a professional profile on Instagram, you have access to your page analytics. This includes the demographic information of your followers. Take some time to dive into this data and you might be surprised with what you find.
2. Not every post belongs on every platform
Knowing that every platform has a slightly different audience, we need to take into account what is going to be valuable to that particular audience. You should be tailoring your content to each platform’s audience.
3. You have different best times to post
When you look at your page analytics on Facebook and Instagram, you’ll see data on when your audience is online. Very simply we want to post when our audience is on the platforms because it helps maximize the potential that our content is seen. It’s very likely that each platform you’re on is going to have a different best day and time to post.
What you should do instead
I understand that cross-posting is intriguing because it saves time and I’m all about being efficient. I wrote a blog post sharing how to do a lot on social with a little bit of time.
But when it comes to posting on your social media pages, take a minute to post each post natively. This way you can make sure you:
Tag the right account. It’s not ideal but sometimes brands have different handles or user names on each account. If you cross-post something you might tag the wrong account or end up not tagging anyone like in the example above.
Aren’t over your character limit. Twitter allows 280 characters, but there is no limit on the other platforms. Therefore, you’re forced to write shorter posts on Twitter.
Used a unique link for each platform. If you’re tracking unique link clicks with a platform like Bitly, you’ll definitely need to share each post separately because you’ll have a unique link for each one of your channels.
Tailor your message and format the post for that platform. Remember your audience is different and each platform is slightly different. What works on one might not work on another. They also all have unique features. Take advantage of these features and utilize them in your social media posts.
Avoid asking for something that’s impossible. You wouldn’t ask your Facebook followers to retweet your post. You also wouldn’t ask your LinkedIn followers to click the link in your bio. It’s these small details that can be easy to overlook when cross-posting.
Sometimes it will be fine to keep the post mostly the same across your platforms with small tweaks. I’ll admit, oftentimes I write copy for one channel and I love it so much that I post it on every single platform. And there’s nothing wrong with that. At the end of the day, it depends what you are sharing and the goal of the post.
Have more questions? Email me at morgan.trachtman@gmail.com!