Should consumer electronics brands tweak content according to the social media platform?

Cross-posting has been on the block ever since the internet exploded and the world got caught up in a whirlwind of digital marketing. With yearly new platforms introduced with the latest features, internet nomads naturally run towards them. 

More social media apps mean more platforms for marketers to find and target their audience. But while we’ve established that a social presence on every platform ever is not an absolute necessity for most brands, and if it’s required, cross-posting can be truly lifesaving. 

That said, the concern about altering content for each platform runs rampant among marketers. Depending on who you’d ask, some marketers will advise posting the content as is - with minor adjustments, and some would say to make major alterations. 

But who to trust?

By taking the examples of some of the biggest electronics brands in the social media marketing world, let’s answer the question. Should these companies tweak content according to the social media platform when trying to establish a multi-platform presence?

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The first step would be to carry out a social media SWOT analysis. 

Businesses can evaluate how their current marketing practices are performing based on the SWOT analysis method. Most companies are familiar with running paid ads and are therefore experienced with gauging conventional campaign success through metrics like CAC, (customer acquisition cost) ROI (return on investment) and CPC (cost per click). 

A SWOT analysis, however, looks beyond it and identifies critical elements like faulty asset promotions, customer satisfaction and competitors pushing a business out of the market. 

Having some insight into what your standing among customers on different platforms is, can give you a good idea about what content type and‌ narrative work best. 

Check what resonates with the audience (trial and error at first)

Once you have the results from the SWOT analysis and a clear picture of the content preferences of different audiences on different platforms, it would be best to tweak your content accordingly. 

If you have been posting a lot of static content or informative posts on Instagram but not seeing engagement despite your content being top-notch, it would be better to alter the narrative slightly and turn the same copy into a reel. 

Instagram’s algorithm prioritizes reels over images and, from a consumer’s point of view, watching a video is significantly easier than reading a post. Similarly, another approach could be assessing what your competitors are doing and checking the current marketing trends. 

Taking inspiration from consumer electronics companies like Sony, you can create your cross-posting strategy accordingly. 

Moulding content around the platform. 

Some content forms are suitable for specific social media platforms. For example, short-form videos are perfect for TikTok and Instagram. And though cross-posting the same thing on all social fronts would be time-saving, it would make little sense to push reels on a text-based website like Twitter. 

The key is to club similar platforms together. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are mainly text and community based so cross-posting between these two with minimal variation could work.

However, if the same thought or copy needs to be incorporated in a visual-first platform, we’d suggest changing the content type to perhaps a video or a carousel. 

Striking the right tone

Building up on customising content around the platform, electronics brands also need to gauge the tone of the website and then create content around it. 

Instagram is the perfect hub for pulling back the curtain and showing a more humanistic side of a business. The tone of the platform is more fun, casual and vibrant and content with human faces takes the cake for engagement. Similarly with TikTok, given the laid-back and “authentic” approach the platform has towards content, tech brands can certainly repurpose media with minor changes between them.

As for LinkedIn and Twitter, both are heavily reliant on text, but some semblance of graphics can be introduced to break the monotony of text. 

Lastly, Facebook is the best of both worlds and can become the perfect tool to balance text and visuals. Pictures and videos thrive on the platform, but shouldn’t be as casual or laid-back as TikTok or Instagram. Text is suitable but not as formal as LinkedIn either.

Now, let’s have a look at how Samsung, Panasonic and Toshiba have developed their social media presence on Facebook and Instagram.

Samsung:

Boasting a whopping 869k followers on Instagram, the content Samsung puts out is a comfortable balance of engaging and informative. Samsung optimally uses Instagram’s preference for reels and makes them a large chunk of the company’s content on IG.

For Facebook, they have divided the page into two categories where Samsung Global focuses on the video format and the content itself is more polished and professional. Samsung Electronics is the second page that zeroes in on text-based content.

However, the content on both platforms is different altogether, with little overlap, if any.

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Panasonic:

Panasonic nails its Instagram content strategy by putting a tonne of employee faces on the feed. The visuals are engaging, and employee-centred and the text is light and digestible.

For Facebook, the tech giant opts to portray a slightly more professional appearance with professionally made videos and more text-heavy informational content. 

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Toshiba:

The Japanese multinational conglomerate has a strong social media presence but cross-posts every piece of content. The copywriting hasn’t changed per se but only the CTA’s are. 

One can attribute the brand’s marketing efforts to an equal blend of images and informative and accessible textual content that makes it perfect for both Meta platforms.

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To sum up:

Cross-posting is a great time saver, but to offer customers the best depiction of the business, tech brands should tweak content based on their audience’s behaviour on different platforms. 

If they have the option to create fresh content for each website, that’s perfect! But if not, repurposing the same content but in different forms (text into explainer video etcetera), can help create and schedule a consistent image across platforms. 

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