Generally speaking …
The art of content optimization has become a beacon for those seeking resonance in the crowded digital landscape. It’s more than crafting compelling messages; it’s about strategically tailoring and fine-tuning content for diverse platforms, ensuring that every word, image or video finds its place and purpose. Here are a few tips that carry platform-to-platform:
Know and narrow your audience
Start by researching the nuances of your audience’s preferences, behaviors and aspirations. Each platform has its own demographics and knowing them will help you successfully engage your target audience on each platform.
Size your content to the platform
By resizing and reshaping your content to fit each platform’s specifications and preferences, you’re better able to speak the native language of its audience. It’s not just about fitting in; it’s about thriving within the ecosystem of each platform, optimizing visibility and engagement.
Focus on content quality over quantity
Ultimately, on social media, quality isn’t just a nicety; it’s the currency that buys you credibility, loyalty and a lasting impact. So invest in quality content — it’s the key that unlocks the doors to genuine engagement and enduring influence.
Unlock your analytics
Dive into analytics, surveys and social media insights to uncover the cadence that captivates your target audience. What topics harmonize with their interests? Which formats strike a chord – be it long-form articles, snappy videos or engaging infographics?
Having laid the groundwork with these general tips, let’s look at the specific social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Each is distinct with its own set of best practices for optimization, and each can play a part in your content strategy.
Make a Fuss on Facebook
Posting organically takes a dip
The Facebook competition in News Feeds is at an all-time high and with that, we have seen a drastic downturn in organic reach on the platform. Factors such as strict algorithm rules and an increase in commercial profiles, can make it almost impossible to see big numbers here without a paid content strategy.
Paid media strategy helps fill in the blanks
Facebook ads and boosts are a viable way to get your message in front of many people. Facebook is still the platform with the largest user base and, therefore, more of your potential audience can be reached here. We recommend always using the Facebook Ad Manager to create ads; however, boosting can be beneficial when trying to get a specific post seen by more people.
Video is the best content
With the rise of rich media across platforms, we recommend branching into video content for your social media strategy. Facebook favors original videos and, like other platforms since the TikTok surge, it has a special video feed, which can increase viewership.
Prioritize getting engagement such as comments and discussion
Facebook places more value on interaction and discussion in its algorithms, which means content that fosters conversation will be favored organically over other engagements.
Intensify Your Instagram
Hashtags matter
Instagram likes to categorize your content to help discoverability and a good hashtag strategy will play well to this. One hashtag is better than none; however, a study by content scheduler Later suggests more are better, up to 20 tags/post. Looking for some hashtag inspiration? Try fitting them into these categories: location, brand, industry, community and descriptive.
Captions increase discoverability
On Instagram, keyword-rich captions increased reach 30% and received twice as many likes as hashtags. This theory extends to bios and even profile names and usernames.
Create and share unique content
It can be tempting to take images or videos from other profiles and repost as your own or even reshare your own content. The Instagram algorithm will determine this content as not adding value and it will not be recommended. This also goes for sharing videos with an existing watermark on the platform (e.g., taking a TikTok video and sharing on Instagram Reels).
Get Loud on LinkedIn
Mix up your media
The algorithm on LinkedIn prefers native content, in general, but specifically anything that includes a caption, whether that’s an image, video or status update. Try different ways to interact with your audience. Carousels and documents are also favored heavily on the platform in 2024.
Spark conversation with thought leadership
Users go to LinkedIn to network and to learn something new or inspiring to bring into their professional careers This is the perfect opportunity to display your credibility in longer-form content and blogs. “Dwell-time” is also an important statistic LinkedIn uses to assess value in posts. If more people spend time on it, more people will see it.
Create brand advocacy through your staff
The platform favors personal profiles over company profiles, and gives more credence to employee advocacy posts. This type of content provides a human element that makes your company more accessible and trustworthy.
Examine Your X/Twitter Strategy
Does it have staying power?
This platform has seen extreme fluctuation in the past year. We recommend carefully assessing if it is viable for your social media content strategy.
Prefers highly visual content
X was once seen as a text-first platform. However, images and videos have consumed the space and are now vastly important to the success of your message. Make sure each post has some sort of visual element.
“Chains” of posts help expand a larger message
These chains have always been used to craft a longer message than the character limit would allow but have seen more use recently to gain momentum and engagement.
Requires high post frequency
To be successful on the platform organically, you need to constantly post. The algorithm has always favored up-to-the-second updates and posts, and this continues in 2024.
Perfect Your Tone on TikTok
Short and sweet
Although TikTok has increased the maximum length of a video, content that is shorter tends to gain more engagement. The platform is extremely fast-paced compared with others, favoring messaging that gets to the point quickly.
Hook at the beginning
To grab viewers before they scroll past, we recommend placing a hook, or the point of the message, at the front of your content.
Look to entertain or bring value
TikTok users tend to value content that seeks to entertain, inspire or teach. The high speed at which content turns over via trends is dizzying so we recommend leaving the popular dances to those who are on the app all day and, instead, creating more meaningful content with staying power.
Posting time matters less than other platforms
The algorithm does an excellent job delivering content to those who would engage with it. This, coupled with the fast-paced environment, means you might not benefit from posting at a specific time.
Shout It Out on Shorts
Repurpose your content
If your strategy consists of short-form vertical content, put it to work on this platform, as well as on TikTok and Instagram Reels, as it will pay off. And with a wider audience versus the other short-form platforms, you could reach a broad stroke of users with your videos here. Just make sure to pay attention to the maximum video durations on each platform.
Invest in SEO
As a Google property, YouTube requires an SEO strategy for effectiveness. Researching keywords that fit into your industry or niche will help you craft SEO-optimized content for YouTube. Research can include third-party software like Semrush or Moz, as well as organic search, such as checking the keywords/hashtags others are using. Google Trends is also a great way to see what’s hitting.
Don’t forget the thumbnail
Since YouTube Shorts appear on the platform’s home page and have a dedicated tab, visibility is increased. With this prominent placement on the platform, thumbnails are extremely important to captivate viewers perusing the app. If done right, the prime location, coupled with an eye-catching cover, could mean more traffic.
