How to Master the 4 Big Social-Media Platforms

Most people think of social media as distribution and use the same messaging on every platform. That's not fully exploiting the tools.

Think of how you act with your friends versus how you act with your clients. You behave differently based on your environment. Social media is the same thing. Every platform is like a different meeting, a different room, and you have to be cool or quality depending where you are. Most people think of social media as distribution and use the same messaging on every platform. That's not fully exploiting the tools. Instead, it's important to figure out how to natively tell stories on each platform and which visuals and copy will enhance the likelihood of a given post's going viral.

Twitter

I included #business, because it was a trending topic at the time of this tweet. When you use a hashtag that's trending, you have a substantially better chance of getting engagement from people who aren't your followers. The couple hundred people who click that hashtag every hour around the world might also see it, and I might get some traction I might not otherwise have gotten.I also made my tweet a question, because it makes your brain think about the answer. If I can get someone to stop for half a second to ponder, I've got him in my ecosystem. Also, line breaks allow your tweet to take up a larger portion of the phone screen and attract attention.

Facebook
It all starts with the image. Notice, this image isn't just the label of the bottle. It's an original piece. When you're developing images for Facebook, think about print and magazine advertising. I want people to know what wine it is (hence the crop in on the label) and how good it is (hence the Wine Enthusiast score). Keep your copy short. Include the important information that people will care about. In this case, it's the rating, the price, and the right hook: Click here to buy now. And don't be afraid to go in for the sale. If you want someone to do something, you have to ask him or her to do it. I made sure to include the word buy before the link.

Instagram
Instagram is all about real images. Where are you? What are you looking at? What are you doing now? Unlike the polished images you'll see for Facebook and Pinterest, this is a simple shot taken on a phone. It's native to the platform. That doesn't mean you can't include information or text in your photo. I wrote some of the tasting notes directly onto the tablecloth. The only place where links are clickable in the Instagram app is in your bio. Rather than including a link in the post copy for people to copy and paste in a browser (because, honestly, who would ever do that?), I put the link in my bio. Remember, the more you act human, the more you win. Instagram is personal. It's for those real-life moments.

Pinterest
Pinterest is all about aspiration or utility. Here, I'm not just selling wine; I'm giving knowledge. This infographic gives context and tells you everything you could want to know about this bottle. This is just too much text for any other platform, but it feels right at home on Pinterest. People are shopping on Pinterest, so they're spending more time on the content and looking at it with a critical eye. I used a much longer image on Pinterest than on any other platform. The platform dimensions are different and allow for it, but more important--similar to what I did on Twitter--longer pins take up more real estate.



Article curated from Inc. Magazine

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