Cross-platform Promotion: How to Effectively Promote Content on Different Social Networks

The same material can be published on different platforms, but for this you will need to adapt it. We will tell you why this is and how to adapt it.

A large article will not be able to be adequately posted in a messenger, and a small post of five hundred characters will look strange on sites and platforms for articles and longreads.

Therefore, each Internet platform needs its own approach. This way, the content will look organic, and you will gain subscribers and increase trust in your brand. Link for more information.

What is content adaptation?

Content adaptation is when you bring it to a form that is convenient for the chosen platform. This can be a mini-post, a huge canvas of text, an article with pictures, a longread, a small video, a large video review or something else.

You can adapt both text and video with illustrations and pictures. Now we will focus mainly on text, because it is easier to work with. And the text example will make it much clearer what the phrase “adapt content” means.

Who will benefit from this?

Content adaptation will be useful for almost any business: from a small shop to developers of large IT systems. This will help nail technicians, design agencies, and eateries — anyone who talks about their work.

The more social networks a business covers, the more audience will get to know this business. This increases the chances of selling a product or service and showing its benefits.

In the future, the audience can be concentrated on one platform. To do this, people need to trust the brand. And this trust can be gained if you make a high-quality and popular product and adapt the content well enough.

How to adapt content?

Let's take this material as an example. It will be posted on the site in full size, with a couple of illustrations and several examples. This format is not suitable for instant messengers, and here we are faced with adaptation.

This format will look organic: a little text + picture. For example, like this:

“We have prepared a material on adapting content for different platforms. In it, you will learn what it means to adapt, who will find it useful and how to do it. Here is a brief summary:

• Thesis 1;
• Thesis 2;
• Thesis 3;
• Conclusion;
• Link to the article”

For a social network that specializes in photography, you can make cards or slides. They also contain a brief summary of the material, use a technique such as “visual storytelling” and attach a link to the original article. It is important to make the text readable on phones and to design it stylishly.

For universal social networks, where people are used to seeing posts in the form of short articles with a couple of pictures, there are two options:

1. Shorten the article, leave the key points, support it with several pictures for clarity and add a link to the original at the very end.
2. Make cards, as for social networks that specialize in photography. It is also important not to forget about visual storytelling, because first of all, our eyes catch the images, and then the text.

There are also two options for platforms with short videos:

1. Display the essence of the material in the form of a slideshow with calm music. Slides should contain a minimum of text and a maximum of visual images. On such platforms, it is quite difficult to hold the audience's attention due to its specificity.
2. Make one of the employees the face of the company. He should record a video in which he will briefly retell the material. Before filming, it is necessary to correctly set the light and choose a visually pleasing background. And the person himself should have developed diction and look neat.

Platforms with long videos have a similar situation: face, light, background, attractive visuals and clear sound. If all this is there, the audience will be yours. Do not forget that there are special programs for working with content.

What to consider when adapting content

1. Features of the platform. If you upload a random picture with a text canvas where they are not used to it, it will not give the desired positive result. Also, posting only pictures on a site or slideshow where they are used to long videos with high-quality editing will not give a result.
2. Audience characteristics. In one place, the audience is young and modern, in another - more mature and serious. The former can be addressed even in slang, if it is appropriate and in moderation, and the latter - more formally. But in both cases, respect and care must be felt.
3. Content characteristics. In some cases, it is extremely difficult or even impossible to adapt content to a certain site. Then you either need to try hard, or not post the material where it will be out of place. No big deal, this happens, and this is the norm.

What tools will you need

For text:

• text editors with spell checking;
• services for checking text for readability and purity;
• services for checking text for plagiarism;
• graphic editors, if necessary.

For images:

• graphic editors for raster graphics;
• graphic editors for vector graphics;
• services with ready-made illustrations, icons and sprites.

For video:

• video editors with sets of effects and transitions;
• graphic editors for raster and vector graphics;
• services with ready-made illustrations, icons and sprites.

On average, this is the minimum set of tools that you will need to adapt content. In some places, the services of professional photographers, editors and designers will also be useful, and in other places, your own skills are enough.

The main thing

1. Content adaptation is necessary so that the material looks organic on all platforms.
2. This method will be useful for anyone who wants to share their work on websites, social networks and messengers.
3. Adapted content helps to gain the audience's trust in the brand.
4. When adapting content, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the audience, the site and the content itself.
5. A regular Excel table will help to organize the work properly and not get confused about what content and on what site should be posted.