Social media giants have been copying features from each other since the very beginning. Twitter was founded on the ever-so-popular hashtag to group conversations, but that didn’t stop Instagram and eventually Facebook from using it to group content centered on topics. Then Snapchat came along with some interesting ideas that Facebook and Instagram have cannibalized.
This has led to very similar experiences across social media channels and users opting to only use one or two regularly. The questions for marketers today is how has this affected reaching people on each platform, what does it mean for overall content strategy and where should your brand be?
Content Marketing Formatting
With video and images such an important part in driving user engagement with your content these days, it’s important to know how it should be formatted. After all, each platform has a variety of sizes (landscape or portrait) to best showcase your videos and graphics. There are many social media size guides online to help you nail down the exact measurements, sometimes you have to decide how to shoot a video before you know where it’s going on social media.
This is where a strong content strategy on social comes into play. If you know Facebook is where your brand gets most of its engagement, you should shoot a horizontal video. However, if you’re really popular on Instagram or Snapchat, vertical video is still best for those channels. Knowing where your content will be will help you make those formatting decisions.
User Experience Sameness
Since Instagram integrated their Stories feature, Snapchat and Instagram have become almost identical platforms. One of the stark differences is the demographics of the users on each one.
Snapchat still skews very young with 13-18-year olds where as Instagram has a firm grasp on 24-35-year olds. Doing your research and knowing your target demographic is an important first step in deciding to invest resources creating content for a platform.
Creating Versatile Content
Creating content that is versatile and can be easily shared across social media platforms is the key to efficient content production. At Agency Entourage we help our clients identify opportunities on social media to meet your business objectives and goals. Where you see just another selfie, we see a fan to engage. If you haven’t quite found your social footing, we can help you.
