The Differences Between Posting on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter

As we all know there are a lot of universal principles when it comes to social media: share content that your followers will be interested in, don’t spam with constant blatant advertisements and respond to posts from your followers. But when it comes to sharing content, it is important to remember that not all content works for every form of social media, and not every social network can even display all types of content. This might seem basic, but there are a few details to remember when composing one post that will go out over several social networks.

 

FacebookFacebook

This is online marketing 101. Composing a solid Facebook post is vital if you want your brand to have a strong social media presence. Here are a few general rules to keep in mind.

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  • ALWAYS include a picture.

    • Don’t trust Facebook to pull the best possible thumbnail from your site.

    • The picture is as important to getting people’s attention as your text is.

    • Be careful not to steal someone else’s picture without at least crediting them. Trust me, someone will notice.

  • Make your post interesting and informative.

    • Spammy posts will be ignored.

    • Boring posts will never be shared.

    • Dry posts will lead to unfollows and low engagement rates.

  • Be creative.

    • Your followers have news feeds full of other brand’s advertisements; don’t get lost in the crowd.

    • Try sharing memes or videos that your demographics might find entertaining, even if they don’t have anything to do with your brand.

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TwitterTwitter

Oh how much can go wrong or right in 140 characters. Twitter is still one of the fastest growing social networks world wide, so make your words count.

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    • Use hashtag etiquette.

      • Hashtags will help people interested in your product find your post.

      • Never use a hashtag that is unrelated or use a trending hashtag just to get your tweet out there.

      • Definitely use a trending hashtag if you figured out a clever way to relate it to your product or service, but even so do this cautiously and sparingly.

      • Never use more than 3 hashtags and try to keep it to 2 most of the time.

    • Space out your tweets.

      • Don’t tweet a full day’s worth of information all at once. This will lose you followers at an astounding rate.

      • Use Hootsuite or another social media managing service to space out your tweets.

      • Know your audience well enough to know what time of day you should tweet them to reach them. Do some A/B testing and figure it out if you don’t already know.

Hint:

Always include a comment when tweeting a link, video or picture. Give people a really good reason to click on that link!
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Google+Google+

Google+ may be the newcomer to the social media sphere, but it is also the fastest growing social network in history. Ignore Google+ at your own peril.

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    • The picture included in your post is more important on Google+ than on any other social network.

      • The picture should be well composed.

      • High-res pictures are an absolute must.

      • Consider putting the title of your article or whatever content you are sharing right into the image attached to the post.

    • Newsflash! Hashtags are very important on Google+.

      • This is a recent addition, but lots of people use hashtags to find information on a certain topic on Google+.

      • Google+ will automatically hashtag your post, but don’t depend on this feature.

      • You can use a few hashtags on Google+, but don’t let it get out of hand.

    • Work hard to drive comments and +1’s all at once if you can.

      • This high engagement can get you pushed into “What’s Hot” and that can mean a huge audience and lots of traffic.

      • Respond to comments on your post but don’t get sucked in by trolls.

      • Make sure to +1 as many comments as you can, this helps drive your ranking on “What’s Hot.”

    • Comment about popular topics.

        • Engage the Google+ audience about topics they are interested in.

        • Start a Google+ Hangout series to educate your followers.

        • Share other page’s content and they may do the same for you.

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