Think about how you consume content on Twitter (if you use it) versus Facebook versus LinkedIn or blogs. On Twitter you probably only pay attention to what’s going on now. Very few people bother to scroll back through all the tweets of people that they’re following. However, you probably do scroll back on Facebook to see what your friends are up to. As a marketer, its important to understand these differences in order to more effectively engage with your audience.
Type of Content
Because people consume (and interact) with content in different ways on different social networks (and websites and devices, etc.), understanding what type of content people want in that place is key to increasing engagement. Obviously the type of content that you can post on Twitter is limited to the number of characters in the post. But the content that people are looking for on Twitter tends to be extremely current. On Facebook, people tend to be interacting mostly with family and friends, so any content from a brand really needs to fulfill a specific need in order for people to look at it.
Timing
Timing of content is also very different for different locations online. Like I mentioned above, Twitter is very current and people only tend to consume content when they are actively looking at their content streams. This means that it is probably ok to repost important messages several times during the day in order to reachmore of your audience. On Facebook, people tend to scroll back through their homepage, so reposting there is probably a bad idea.
Location
Where people are when they’re consuming content can make a big difference in what information they want and how they will interact with it. If you’re at work, you may be scanning content because you’re bored, or because you’re looking for information related to your job. Unless it’s content related to work, you may not be comfortable with looking at a video or listening to audio. If you’re at home, you probably don’t have the same constaints. Understanding where people are consuming your content, can help you provide the right content.
Device
Many people have a smartphone or a tablet, so they may not beconsuming your content from a laptop. Some people only access social networks from sort of mobile device. So linking to a site that doesn’t work well from a non-laptop can mean people stop listening to what you’re saying. Some devices do pretty well with regular websites and some do better with a site designed specifically for mobile. Understanding what devices people are using to consume your content can help you make decisions about what you should do to support those devices.
Appropriateness
By doing some investigattion to when, where and how people are consuming your content, you can better tailor your content to their needs. This understanding will also help you set the right expectations for how your audience may interact and engage with your content.
How do you tailor your content to different types of consumption?
(photo by Bruce Tuten, on Flickr)