How can you create a social media strategy for multiple platforms?

People tend to overthink this step. The best thing you can do is define your target audience and define your key differentiator. Then just get started. There can be tons of people doing the same thing on social media, but the thing that makes yours different is your unique perspective. Get clear on that. Doesn’t matter if you’re a service based business or a product. The rule still applies. Then just make content. Fail faster, learn faster. And with the rate algorithms change, you’re better to not over-analyze what you’re putting out there and just keep trying stuff.

Before setting the objective you have to proper goals for that particular business and understand your audience and their pain points.

Your objective *should* be (those are meant to be italics) to spend as little time as possible on social media, and/or managing your career, and as much time as possible living your life, doing this or that, having experiences or spiced tea or something. None of this shit matters so go have some fun and write a song about it. Do not under any circumstances try to impress anyone, but do kick everyone’s ass everywhere you go.

To handle multiple social media platforms effectively, set clear goals, understand your audience on each platform, post consistently, tailor content for each platform, engage your audience, track performance, consider paid advertising, stay updated on trends, and prepare for crisis management.

If you want to tap into all social media platforms, you should be clear about your purpose for each of them. Reaching out to the users is not enough because they have different personas. Think of it as approaching a group of friends at a high school cafeteria. For example, the LinkedIn table is totally different from the TikTok table.

Yea, maybe... However, platforms also change. All the time. If you get stuck doing all this analysis on one platform (e.g. using Pew sheets) - you may very well be behind the times before even beginning. Different demographics use different platforms in different ways. And this is always in flux. Try many of them and re-purpose content across several platforms. I post almost daily, definitely weekly, across LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Substack, Medium, Instagram, and slowly picking up on YouTube. I also have my own website (Squarespace) and actively use ConvertKit. Spread the messages across multiple platforms and begin to compile some data on what's working and what's not and on which platform.

You have to get real about resources. If you’re a small team or just an individual, prioritize one platform that makes the most sense for your target audience. THEN build a strategy for repurposing content across others. For example, for the team I run, our priority is Instagram. To repurpose on TikTok, we’ll take clean versions of Instagram edits and tweak to make it “native enough” on TikTok. Under a pinch, it does the trick and allows you to have a presence on other platforms without burning out. If you have a bigger team, have individual team members own a platform. Each platform is hyper-specific and you need individuals who can own content creation and stay on top of the latest trends.

Once you have created your content calendar, automate as much as possible. Consider platforms that will help you achieve this. Burnout is a very real thing for many SMMs, and automation can help alleviate a lot of the workload. Use technology to your advantage.

Yes and No. This depends on each individual or individual organization. I've played with various calendars and scheduling apps. Often it comes off fake and not well-timed. I frequently see this idea of "consistency" - however, if you're consistently posting crap - then no matter how consistent you are... it's still crap. Instead of consistency, consider flexibility. And this whole idea of frequency and timing is near impossible to predict or accurately predict. There are almost 5 billion people with access to the Internet. Almost 3 billion monthly users on Fbook. Almost 1 billion on LinkedIn. This means people from around the world in all time zones are active on social media. Don't overthink this one.

A content calendar is an incredibly useful way to make sure all of your platforms receive consist posts and updates. To make this technique more effective, you can include specific details about the video, image, or post that you want to share. Additionally, you can link the topics across different platforms so that your company has a cohesive marketing approach to social media.

Invest in a platform that causes less headache and doesn’t bog down your creative team with administrative duties. For my team, this is Notion. It’s the only platform I’ve found that lets you calendar efficiently, brainstorm with ease in documents, and communicate seamlessly on notes, captions, and more. Also, don’t expect to find a good app for content planning and calendaring that ALSO programs content. In my experience, programming platforms like Later and Hootsuite are limited and more a pain in the butt than helpful.

This is where having a messaging framework helps. It is a strategic tool that helps craft consistent messages across platforms. It specifies the target audience, their pain points, the key messages to convey, and the CTA. Keeping all these constant, you can create coherent and consistent content. Then you can go ahead and adapt to the unique characteristics of each social media platform.

Even this prompt is already outdated - becuase... social media is changing everyday. On X(Twitter) folks with the blue check can post well more than 280 characters. And even before that, one could post threads. If you're newish to posting - just post. Don't run around chasing algorithms or trends. It'll exhaust you in no time. Over 95% people active on social media are not actively posting content. Be part of the 5% or less that are actively posting. Don't overthink it.

Yes, you can still post the same content, but you have to strategize the right approach for each social media platform. For example, if you want to post about burnout, you can write a short anecdote on LinkedIn paired with a static image. You can then turn it into a video for TikTok or a carousel for Instagram.

Yes, it's not called "anti-social" media. Engagement is important however take all the advice on this topic with a giant grain of salt. The vast majority of people active on social media are actively trying to grow their own accounts. In some rare instances, folks are genuinely engaging with your material. With thoughtful comments or questions. However, this is rare. The majority of people on social media are lurkers and readers - not posters and commenters. yes, some of these recommendations listed can be helpful... however, be clear on what your goals, values, and purpose is for being on social media. It's a tool. NOT THE tool.

Analytics are important but should be taken with a grain of salt. Look for overarching trends of what topics resonate with your audience but do not get bogged down with formats, post types, and what went “viral.” Platforms change too fast to try to find a formula. What doesn’t change is your community and the reason they followed you. Keep delivering value and they’ll keep following you regardless of post type, format, or trending audio.

Gone are the days when you could just crosspost the same content across all platforms. Now, you have to be very specific with your intended audience to be relevant. For every piece of content you create, you must think about the platform, the audience, and your purpose. You want to post on TikTok to ride a viral campaign for Gen Zs. You want to post on LinkedIn to motivate remote workers.

The trick to keeping all those balls in the air is a killer social media strategy tailored for each platform's unique audience and features. I love to cook. So, think like a chef: you've got a variety of spices (platforms), each adding a distinct flavor to your dish (brand story). Craft content that resonates with each platform's users, schedule posts when they're most likely to feast on them and engage in real-time to keep the conversation spicy. Blend consistency with platform-specific creativity, and you'll have a recipe for cross-platform success that's sure to satisfy the appetite of your diverse social media crowd. Ready? What are you waiting on?

In addition to the above, I recommend speaking to your customer service and sales team to understand your audience/customers. Find out what challenges come up frequently for your existing customers. Find out what goals they're hoping to achieve through your products or services. And find out what you can about what might be holding them back from buying. Based on this insight you can tailor your content to your audience and then tailor it to the channel as described above.