When you get into a routine you can become lazy and complacent. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, we all do it. We look for shortcuts to cut down on time and energy, but we get sloppy in the process. Social media updates are no exception. It becomes so easy to just copy, paste and publish the same content on every social media network. But that’s unacceptable. Here’s why you should stop being lazy on social media.
When you go to share your blog post on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter you can’t just copy and paste the same text and publish it on all of those networks. I mean you can, but you shouldn’t. Why? Because all of these social networks display content differently. What you post on Facebook will not look the same on Twitter or LinkedIn. There are character restrictions when it comes to Twitter. Since Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ don’t have character restrictions, your post can be as long as you want it to be. However, that post won’t appear the same on Twitter. Remember, you only have 140 characters to work with, some of which will be taken up by the link to your blog post.
Using a tool like Everypost, an app that allows you to post all of your updates to your social networks from one place at the same time, isn’t the best idea. Sure it’s a time saver, but it makes you look extremely lazy. Everypost promises to send your message (including photos, videos and hashtags) to Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn or via e-mail all at the same time to make managing your social media content that much easier. Sounds like a dream come true, right? Wrong. Your loyal customers who follow you on multiple social networks are going to see the same message on all of your accounts. The exact, same message. What’s the point of following your company on Facebook if they are going to see the exact same post on LinkedIn or Twitter? Your customers will quickly unfollow your accounts because your updates will start to look like spam.
You’re going to have to get creative and write different descriptions of your blog post for different social networks. Be funny or charming on Facebook and be more business oriented on LinkedIn. You’ll have to come up with shorter, catchier descriptions for Twitter. But you will also be able to utilize hashtags on Twitter, when you can’t on other social networks. This leads me to my next point.
Hashtags are awesome to use on Twitter and Instagram, and they are kind of acceptable on Facebook, but do not post them on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is not, I repeat not, the social network to utilize hashtags. They look absolutely ridiculous. If you publish something that reads like a tweet on LinkedIn, you are going to look very unprofessional. Craft a custom post for LinkedIn that speaks to business professionals. Publishing a post on LinkedIn that doesn’t have pronouns or complete sentences is a no-no. Remember, the key to keeping your followers engaged is to tailor your posts for different social networks.
Being lazy never gets you anywhere. Customizing your posts will increase the amount of time you spend on social media, but it will benefit you in the long run.
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