Social media plays a huge role in the way people connect. After all, it is the most common way that people interact with each other now, and it’s not going away anytime soon. That’s why so many companies choose to advertise via social media platforms; they know that it’s a reliable way to reach people and the best way to get the attention of potential customers. And, the more platforms you utilize, the better chance you have at reaching them.

The problem is that posting on multiple sites can take a considerable amount of time. If you have to create posts for 5 or 6 different platforms, a lot of time is wasted in the creation of each post. Not to mention how long it would take to login to each site and type out each one since they are different. Here’s your solution: cross-posting.

Cross-posting, essentially, is the act of posting the same piece of content on more than one social media platform, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google+.  This is sometimes confused with cross-promoting, which is when you post a relatively similar, not identical, article across different social media platforms, but with varying messages in each one. With either one you use, your posts should always include a link to the original, longer article on your primary website for further reading and information. The social media post is intended to be brief and should give a little bit of insight into your company and encourage the reader to go to your website to learn more.

Is Cross-Promoting Better Than Cross-Posting?

A word of caution. A customer that has a passion for your company, who holds it in high regard, will typically follow your company page on every social media platform that they use. Sometimes, when the consumer sees the same article being posted by you on more than one of your social media pages, because of cross-posting, it screams lazy to them. It may even come across as an annoying spam technique. Even if they see the link to the original article, they might still feel unimportant to you because of the lack of personalization of each post.

To help avoid this, space out the social media posts about 2 or 3 days apart after the original article is posted to your website. The original should also be lengthier and more in-depth than social media posts. Also, remember that some people don’t use many different platforms, they might even use only one. Those few people are less likely to see identical posts.

According to Pew Research Center, in 2018, 68% of U.S. adults say they use Facebook, 35% use Instagram, 25% use LinkedIn, and 24% use Twitter. These percentages vary per age group as well, that’s why it’s important to know who your audience is. Facebook remains the primary platform for most Americans, most of who, use it daily.

It’s hard to say whether cross-promoting or cross-posting is better; it kind of depends on your personal opinion and previous experience with the reactions and opinions of your customers. The personalization that comes with cross-promoting is good because each social media platform has a different type of consumer, but cross-posting can save you a lot of time.

How Cross-Posting Is Beneficial to Startup Companies

Time management is huge when your business is just starting out. Time means opportunities, money, and productivity; that’s why it must be used wisely. If your decision is to go the cross-promotion route, the content creation needed for each individual network can be time-consuming. Your social media manager will be spending at least an extra hour or two doing it this way, that’s less time devoted to the expanse of other important areas in your company. In which case, cross-posting is your best bet.

Differences in Social Media Platforms

Pay attention to how posts are set up on different social media platforms. Each platform has its own restrictions and features. Remove hashtags when posting on Facebook because they are typically used on social networks such as Twitter and Instagram. Posts may also need to be shortened, like when creating tweets on Twitter because of the limited number of characters allowed in a single tweet.

Although, they did double the limit in 2018, from 140 characters to 280, allowing you to make much longer posts. We say, “the longer, the better,” but sometimes short and sweet does the trick; hence why you need a longer version on your website for people who want more information.

When you use multiple social media sites, you can sometimes connect them. Like on Facebook, when you make a post, it offers the option to also post it on another platform, like Instagram. The only downside to doing this is that when you post to them all at once, there’s no delay between when they’re posted.

People are more likely to see the duplicated post. Another way to make cross-posting easier is by using EveryPost, which lets you start with one article, easily alter it if necessary, and then post it to all the social media platforms that you want.

How to Keep Everything Organized

EveryPost is a good tool to use for posting. When creating the posts, don’t forget to insert a hyperlink to your own website and post often to keep people’s attention. And then, you should also maintain an updated and easily navigated site. One that is professional yet user-friendly. The simple act of sustaining an organized system will keep the user’s attention and help you retain them as a customer and follower.

Make things easier on yourself: hire a social media manager. They will keep your company posting regularly on social media and improve the quality of those posts so that you can focus on more important tasks at hand.

In Conclusion

Cross-posting, when done correctly, allows you to better connect with your audience on a more personal level. It especially helps you to establish more connections with people in the younger generation, who tend to use social media the most. Cross-posting saves you time and money and is, in general, very beneficial.

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