A 4 Phase Guide to Creating Platform-Specific Content

Creating effective platform-specific content requires adapting your core message to fit each channel’s unique audience, format, and style. This guide outlines the key steps and best practices for tailoring your content across different platforms.

Creating Platform-Specific Content Phase 1: Strategy and Planning.

The foundation of successful platform-specific content is a clear strategy.

1. Define Your Audience and Goals: Clearly outline your objectives (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation) and understand the demographics, interests, and pain points of your audience on each platform. Younger audiences favor TikTok and Snapchat, while professionals frequent LinkedIn.
2. Conduct a Content Audit (if applicable): Review your existing content to identify what performs well, what doesn’t, and which platforms yield the highest return on investment (ROI).
3. Choose the Right Platforms: Focus your energy on the 2-3 platforms where your target audience is most active and engaged. It is better to have a strong presence on a few key channels than a diluted one everywhere.
4. Develop a Content Calendar: Plan your content using a calendar to ensure consistency and coordinate releases across platforms. Include platform-specific details like image dimensions, character limits, and posting times.

Creating Platform-Specific Content Phase 2: Content Adaptation and Creation.

Instead of creating entirely new content for each platform, start with a “pillar” piece of content (e.g., a blog post, a webinar, or a long-form video) and repurpose it.

• Maintain a Consistent Brand Voice: While adapting your tone and style for each channel, your core brand identity and messaging should remain consistent.
• Optimize Formats: Each platform has preferred content formats.
  • Facebook: Mix of text, images, videos, and links; good for community interaction via groups and live sessions.
  • Instagram: High-quality images, carousels, Stories, and Reels. Focus on visually appealing and aspirational content.
  • LinkedIn: Professional tone, long-form articles, industry insights, and career-focused posts.
  • TikTok/Reels: Short, creative, and entertaining vertical videos, often leveraging trending sounds and challenges.
  • X (formerly Twitter): Concise, timely, and shareable updates; use trending hashtags to join conversations.
  • YouTube: In-depth, well-produced, long-form videos with engaging thumbnails and optimized descriptions.
• Adapt Copy and Visuals: Tailor your captions and design elements for each platform.
  • Use more emojis and a casual tone on Instagram, but a more formal tone on LinkedIn.
  • Use vertical videos for TikTok/Reels, square images for Instagram, and landscape for YouTube.
  • Vary hashtag usage: use multiple targeted hashtags on Instagram, but only 1-2 on LinkedIn or X.

Creating Platform-Specific Content Phase 3: Engagement and Analysis

Content creation is an ongoing cycle of publishing and refinement.

• Encourage Engagement: Fostering conversation is crucial. Respond to comments and messages promptly, and use interactive elements like polls and quizzes to encourage participation.
• Measure Performance: Regularly track key metrics (engagement rate, reach, click-through rate, conversions) using platform-specific analytics tools (like Facebook Insights or Google Analytics) to see what resonates with your audience.
• Iterate and Refine: Use data-driven insights to experiment with different content formats, themes, and posting schedules. Continuously test and refine your approach to optimize results

Creating Platform-Specific Content Phase 4: Content Repurposing.

Repurposing content involves transforming a “pillar” piece of content into various new formats optimized for different platforms. This strategy maximizes the reach and impact of your core message without reinventing the wheel for every channel. Here are examples of how to repurpose content across different platforms:

From a Long-Form Blog Post:

A comprehensive guide on a topic (e.g., “10 Essential Tips for Remote Work Productivity”) is a rich source for diverse content. 

• LinkedIn: Turn the blog post into a concise, professional article or a series of text-based posts. Share key statistics and insights to start an industry conversation, linking back to the original post for more detail.
• Instagram:
  • Carousel Post: Create a visually appealing carousel where each slide highlights one tip from the list.
  • Reel/Story: Record a short, engaging video (15-60 seconds) summarizing one key takeaway, using text overlays and popular audio to capture attention.
• X (formerly Twitter): Distill the tips into an engaging Twitter thread, using a strong opening line to hook readers and a link at the end for those who want the full details.
• Pinterest: Design an eye-catching infographic that visually summarizes all 10 tips. This format is highly shareable on Pinterest and can drive significant traffic to your blog.
• Email Newsletter: Share a brief summary of the blog post in your newsletter, highlighting 2-3 tips and including a clear call-to-action to read the full article on your website. 

From a Long-Form Video (Webinar, YouTube Video, Podcast):

A recorded webinar or YouTube tutorial can be deconstructed into multiple content assets. 

• Blog Post: Transcribe the video’s audio into text and use it as the foundation for an in-depth, SEO-optimized blog post, embedding the original video for added value.
• YouTube Shorts/TikTok/Reels: Cut the most compelling 15-60 second clips (e.g., a powerful quote, a quick tutorial step, or a valuable insight) and post them as short-form vertical videos.
• Podcast: Extract the audio from the video to create a podcast episode, adding an intro and outro. This allows your audience to consume the content on the go.
• Social Media Graphics: Pull memorable quotes or essential stats from the content and overlay them on branded images using tools like Canva.
• FAQ Content: Identify frequently asked questions from the comments or audience Q&A session and turn each question and answer into a separate social media post or an email snippet. 

Key Repurposing Best Practices

• Start with “Evergreen” Content: Repurpose content that stays relevant over time, rather than news that quickly becomes outdated.
• Know Your Platform’s Audience: A professional audience on LinkedIn requires a different tone and structure than a younger demographic on TikTok.
• Optimize the Format: Don’t just copy and paste. Adapt the content’s structure, tone, and visuals to fit each channel’s native experience.
• Include a Call-to-Action (CTA): Each repurposed piece should link back to the original “pillar” content or your main website to drive traffic and engagement. 

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Wishing You Much Success Creating Platform-Specific Content,

Rex

 

P.S. If you have any questions or are unsure of anything, I am here, and I promise I will get back to you on all of your questions and comments. Just leave them below in the comment section. Follow me on Twitter: @onlinebenjamin1, Instagram: dotcomdinero, and Facebook: Online Benjamins.