The social media tactics and strategies you use for your company will probably (and should) vary from what others are doing. While social media is constantly evolving, there are also different needs from different customers (which is always the case). One topic that is often brought up is whether its ok to cross-post updates from one social network to another (like from Twitter to Facebook and vice versa). I asked this question on both Facebook and on my blog and got some interesting results…..
51% of those who answered (65) believe it’s ok to sometimes cross post and 28% believe that it is ok, for an overwhelming majority (79%). The results may not be surprising but there certainly was some interesting opinions…
You should absolutely share your important updates across all networks, but rarely (if ever) using a blast service (like Ping). Never miss any opportunity to customize your content for the audience/tone/capabilities/format of each channel. When people auto cross post, they write for twitter (the most restrictive and short format), using abbreviations, @usernames, hashtags and short urls. Both Facebook and Linkedin allow many more characters, image thumbnails and natural urls which help clarify your message. Facebook updates with properly tagged friend names and images also pop higher in the update feed. Updating on each network always takes longer, but often yields much better results. – Charlie Wollborg, Chief Troublemaker at Curve Detroit
Depends on the content, context, timing, and situation. Automated? Never. Curated? Definitely. – Brian Ambrozy, Editor-in-Chief, Icrontic
Absolutely. You have different people on different networks and even the same people use different networks at different times. I also think for important things you need to be confident in sharing them more than once. – Terry Bean, Author & Coach, Trybean.com
The stories are only good if they reach your eyes, and the more and different types of social media they are placed on, the greater the odds people will see them. And if people see them multiple times, that’s better than the story not reaching them at all. – Joey Silvian, CEO, Virtual Interactive Agency
I don’t disagree with the assertion that you can share the same information on each site, but syncing one to the other (Twitter to LinkedIn, for example) doesn’t quite make sense to me. Then you’ve got @replies and RTs in a LinkedIn environment where they’re meaningless. I say take the extra five seconds to post them in both communities. – Erica Moss, Digital Strategist
Same content: Yes. Synched updates: No. Tailor each to the specific network. Different community and audience types. – Brandon Chesnutt, Social Media Director, Identity Marketing & Public Relations
Usually, yes. While there will be some overlap different people check different things at different times. As long as the content is relevant to the audience it makes sense to. – Chris Horner, Fine Art Photographer, Lens Artwork
I personally think that what you should do on social media depends on the needs of your customers. Every company is going to be different in that way. What works for one company may or may not work for yours.
What do you think?
(photo by visualpanic, on Flickr)