One of my colleagues recently asked: Is it better to attempt to go deep into one social media platform or spread your content on several platforms? How about even if you’re posting the same content across multiple platforms?

And it’s a great question because the list of sites for social media marketing keeps expanding:

1. LinkedIn
2. Facebook
3. Instagram
4. X
5. TikTok
6. YouTube
7. Snap 
8. Threads
9. Etc.

You want to use social media intentionally, and if you want to reach your goals (increase revenue, find mentors, become a thought leader, go viral, etc.), what do I recommend that you do?

Go All In on One Platform First

GaryVee recommends LinkedIn and TikTok for anyone starting at zero, but I’m going to take it a step further and recommend that you choose one platform. You can repurpose content to an extent, and post the same thing on X as you do on LinkedIn, but I’ve found each platform’s users relate to content differently.

Unfortunately, many people think posting content is enough. For example, they post for a bit, gain a few followers, and think that if they keep drudging along, they’ll end up with an account that generates leads daily.

But often that’s not the case. 

Why? 

Because content often actually comes last in the process. 

Instead, I think content comes last. If you’ve been watching me for a while, you know that I love following the 4C’s:

1. Choose: Select one platform and stick to it. You want to dominate on this platform. This includes optimizing your profile based on who you want to help, how you want to help them and what outcomes these people can get from your help.
   
   Not sure what platform to pick: 

First, ask where do your ideal clients and audience spend their time? LinkedIn? Facebook? Instagram? YouTube? Sprout Social has a great demographic list that will help you learn where your target audience spends their time.

Second, think about what platform plays to your content strengths. For example, if you don’t like photo or videos, Instagram probably isn’t your best choice. 

2. Connect: On your chosen platform, you need to connect with your ideal audience every single day.
3. Converse: Daily, you need to have genuine conversations with your ideal clients and connections. You never want to spam anyone. Instead, you want to have meaningful discussions that lead to friendships and maybe business relationships.
4. Create: Finally, you can begin creating content for your ideal client.  If you aren’t doing the other 3 C’s, you’re just hoping that your content gets discovered. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think hope makes for a good strategy. When you’re actively engaging with and conversing with people, they’re more likely to visit your profile and then check out your content. Now that they’ve seen your content, the algorithm is more likely to continue to show it to them.  

Social media is all about creating connections. You can build these relationships today through conversations and create content that deepens your relationships. Focus on one platform, and once you’ve “mastered” it, you can expand to another.

Note: Be mindful of your capacity to create content. It takes a lot of time and effort to create on one platform – adding more makes it exponentially more challenging. That being said, it’s essential you produce *enough* content. A good goal is to post 3x a week to start. 

Repurpose Content on Other Platforms With Intention and Care

Anyone following me knows I’m a big fan of repurposing or recycling content. You’re investing time and resources into content creation, so why not maximize that investment?

If you’re focusing on one social platform but you already have accounts on others, you can absolutely repurpose your content to these other platforms. 

It’s better to have something on these accounts than nothing.

BUT I only recommend doing this if it won’t distract you from connecting and interacting with your ideal clients on your main platform. 

Here’s another important thing I want to mention: If you’re repurposing content on other platforms without editing it, it probably won’t perform as well as if you had tailor-made the content for that platform.

For example, if you create a post for LinkedIn and repurpose it for X (Formerly Known as Twitter) or Facebook, it may not perform as well because the post wasn’t created specifically for these platforms.

And if you’re not going through the four C’s above, then your repurposed content is even less likely to do well.

Okay, so why should I repurpose content if it’s doomed to fail from the start?

Because something really is better than nothing. 

Let’s say that you pass a new restaurant and think, “Should I give this place a try?” You Google the restaurant, but you can’t find any other information. 

You’ll probably pass on giving them a try because you don’t know if it’s really worth your time. 

But what if you first find their Instagram page with delicious photos of their food, and then you find their Facebook page where people are leaving positive reviews? I bet you would give them a try.

The same idea applies to your firm. If potential clients are doing their research on your firm, they’ll want to see something on other social platforms. They want to know you’re real and have something valuable to offer.

When to Start Focusing on Other Platforms

Let’s say that you go all in on one platform. You’ve been laser-focused on this platform for some time. When should you start focusing on other platforms?

First of all, there are no hard and fast rules here. But I wouldn’t recommend expanding into new territories until you’ve done one important thing:

• Developed a repeatable process that has helped you reach your goals on social media, whether that’s attracting new clients, hiring new staff, securing new speaking opportunities – whatever your goal may be.

Only then should you consider moving on to other platforms. Wait until you’ve mastered one to start exploring another. Otherwise, a new platform will only be a distraction, and we already have plenty of those to go around.

Here’s the TL;DR: Focus on just one platform and go deep. Optimize your profile. Make sure that you’re doing more than just posting content. Make it a point to connect and converse with your ideal clients (or ideal audience member, whatever your goals may be) every day. Master this one platform before you even consider moving on to another. Until then, you can repurpose content on multiple platforms. Just go into it knowing that the content on these other platforms probably won’t perform as well as it will on the platform you’ve created it for.

And, that’s a wrap on this Dear Katie question.

__

Now I want to hear from you. Do you have a question? 

Submit it here

Until next time, cheers to your success!

Katie