Tips for posting on different socials.

*This post is in-progress and will be finished in the coming days.

One of the reasons why I broadened my career beyond SEO to focus on holistic marketing strategies is that I saw the writing on the wall.

Part of that writing was the growth of generative AI in place of search engines.

But another part was the value of social media (and video) for brand building. Basically, I began to see how social media was growing in importance, as I saw it, beyond traditional websites.

I started recording instances of different socials appearing in Google’s search results and also did a case study of the SKIMS brand, which is led by its Instagram account.

As an SEO, I was largely paying attention to social content in search engine results (traditional and AI Overviews) and AI chatbot or answer engine citations.

But this post will focus on a different conversation … the social platforms themselves.

If you’re used to reading SEO content on my blog, sit back and enjoy this change of pace.

We’re going to discuss tips for posting content on social platforms themselves. (So not SEO but just “O” or “optimization.”)

I’ll use Perplexity to find the different tips, which I’ll summarize and provide a link to the original source..

I’ll also work in my own thoughts and insights, gleaned both from experience with my personal brand as well as from working for 9+ years in digital marketing.

If you want to jump to a particular social account, here’s a list of the social platforms we’ll discuss:

• Instagram
• X (Twitter)
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• TikTok
• YouTube

Time to party! 🎉

Instagram

Perplexity broke its answer down into several sections, including content strategy, post optimization, visual best practices, and engagement strategies.

The tips are fairly basic, but they’re worth reviewing, so let’s jump in.

1️⃣ For content strategy, the answer mentions to:

Post consistently over the long-term, as this is more important than frequency.

My view is the more you post, the more chances you give your audience to see your content.

Focus on quality over quality is another tip, albeit a pretty generic one.

I’d say more important than quality is brand alignment. Sometimes low-quality posts have authenticity, just as long as it aligns with your brand. (A luxury watch store probably doesn’t want to seem unglamorous, for example, while an auto repair shop can be more down to earth.)

I spoke to soon …

Tell your brand’s story is another tip. Of course, that could be taken a different way, but essentially it means stay authentic to your brand and don’t try to be something you’re not.

Promotional content seldom creates an emotional connection, which is ultimately what your Instagram content should do with users.

The last strategy tip is to mix up content types, testing feed posts, Reels, Stories, and carousels. Perplexity’s answer says this diversity keeps a profile interesting.

I say you should test different content types, accumulate data, and then lean into which ones work best for your key audience.

2️⃣ For optimizing your Instagram posts, the answer gives us several tips:

Use engaging captions that start conversations, ask questions, or have a clear call-to-action (CTA).

I’d add to approach captions consistently and genuinely, staying on brand.

Include at least a couple of relevant hashtags that are specific to your niche.

This I’d agree with, but maybe include 1-2 general ones and 1-2 specific, keeping in mind these are for searchability, not visibility within the algorithm.

Encourage UGC (user-generated content) by inviting followers to share content using a branded hashtag.

This might depend on the status of your brand, where it’s likely easier to try and control your brand’s story yourself until you have a loyal following and resources to monitor branded mentions.

There’s also a note in Perplexity’s answer to time posts strategically when users are most active, using Instagram Insights.

This is only available to business or creator accounts, but if you’re posting regularly anyway, you’ll likely get seen, or such is my view.

3️⃣ I’m going to skip the visual best practices part of Perplexity’s answer because I feel like that’s unique to your brand.

It mentions tips like maintain brand consistency for filters, colors, and styles, optimize individual posts to look good together on your profile grid, and use text or graphic overlays as needed.

All good tips, but it’s also easy to overthink the visuals at the expense of the content. Remember, it’s about authenticity and an emotional connection, at the end of the day.

4️⃣ Lastly, let’s delve into engagement strategies.

Engage with your community by replying to comments and messages in a timely manner.

This is great advice, if you have the infrastructure in place. It’s also nice when you can personalize the responses as coming from a team member who gives their name.

Perplexity’s answer also mentions to use polls or quizzes as interactive features.

Personally, I think doing promos with discount codes or links to special website pages is more engaging.

Cross-promoting your content is another tip, except I don’t really agree with it.

The reason for this article is to explain how to create content for individual platforms. While SEO content can be distributed or repurposed for socials, I like to create dedicated social content for each platform.

Collaborate with others is the final piece of advice.

I happen to think influencer marketing is a huge part of the future, not only within Instagram but also in search results. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I left SEO for holistic marketing.

Organic influencers are the best, but there are plenty of talented people out there with followings who may be right for your product or service.

X (Twitter)

In its answer, Perplexity gives us six primary areas to focus on for publishing content on X (formerly Twitter). I’ll ignore those and focus on the tips themselves.

1️⃣ The first tips pertain to your profile itself, including having a professional profile picture and clear cover image that reflects your brand.

No arguments there.

2️⃣ The next tip is one of my favorites, which is to utilize pinned posts.

What I love about pinned posts is not only how visible they are to users who view your profile, but they can also be featured in a special section for newly pinned posts; on that point, avoid pinning a post and leaving it for too long. I’ve seen that happen quite a bit.

3️⃣ The content strategy tips cover a lot of ground, including providing value to your audience, testing different formats, like images or long-form posts (assuming you have a paid account). It also mentions to use trending topics and incorporate hashtags wisely. The final tip is to engage with your audience by responding to comments and messages.

Personally, I think X is a text-based platform trying to broaden its horizons. There are so many variations of posts you can do, including video, threads, etc. Ultimately, it’s about value. I’d suggest starting small by leveraging insightful tips or entertaining tidbits about your niche, and engaging with your audience of followers. Once you gain a following, you can then expand and get a bit more creative.

4️⃣ As for frequency, the Perplexity answer suggests 1-5 times daily.

I say post as often as you have something unique to contribute, keeping in mind that X (Twitter) threads can appear in Google’s search results for frequent publishers.

5️⃣ The answer also suggests you consider verification.

I’m of the opinion that if you’re going to use X as a primary channel for user engagement and brand building, then you should get verified.

6️⃣ The last tip is to monitor performance.

Pay attention not only to impressions but likes, retweets, and supportive comments.

LinkedIn

Perplexity gave in its answer six tips for posting content on LinkedIn.

In my experience, LinkedIn is one of the least amenable social platforms for external links. Many contributors choose instead to take a webpage’s content and break it down into individual posts. The tips Perplexity gave align with this.

1️⃣ Understand your purpose by defining the goals and the audience.

This is fairly straightforward, but I find that an educational goal often aligns well with LinkedIn’s audience. This also helps build goodwill toward the brand or person’s legitimacy as an authoritative source.

2️⃣ Start with a hook, incorporate visuals like infographics or videos, and diversity content types.

I find the hook is the hardest part. While I’m generally against AI-generated content, having ChatGPT or Gemini help write a hook (and them massaging it to fit your voice) isn’t a bad idea. As for visuals, I’ve seen success with posting infographic slideshows.

3️⃣ Optimize for engagement by staying in the platform, using hashtags, and engaging with comments.

This gets back to the problem with external links. Also, while Perplexity’s answer says use 3-10 hashtags, I find that 4 (2 general and 2 niche) is abundant.

4️⃣ Post regularly and during optimal times.

This is an interesting one, because LinkedIn isn’t quite like X or Instagram. You can get away with posting less often because, in my experience, users don’t check LinkedIn as often as other social networks. As for timing, I’d aim for early business hours on a weekday.

5️⃣ Foster engagement by asking open-ended questions and mentioning relevant connections.

This is a hack I’ve seen, where someone posts and then mentions several prominent people and says, “Let’s discuss,” hoping to get more engagement. I personally would keep it authentic vs. trying to force it.

6️⃣ Monitor performance and experiment with content strategies.

Like with all social posting, the data tells the tale. If you find certain types of content, or posting during certain times of day fosters more engagement from your targeted audience, that’s valuable insight to adapt your strategy.

One thing I’ve seen with LinkedIn is people can lose sight of their audience or goals. If you’re a business, remember that it’s not about impressing your colleagues, but posting to get a reaction from (emotional connection with) your potential customers.

Facebook

Perplexity gave us eight sections to delve into in its answer. Let’s summarize them a bit with my feedback.

1️⃣ The first tip is to understand the audience, including not only their demographics but also interests and challenges they face.

This is great advice, especially when these personas can be data driven. We’ll skip the tip about frequency and timing, sufficing it to say, when you have quality content to share, do so, particularly at hours your audience might be surfing at their leisure.

2️⃣ The next tips are about content structure, including creating posts with a clear hook, informative body, solid conclusion, and CTA. That said, length should be brief, like 80 to 160 characters.

The first part of that sounds good, albeit a bit formulaic. Personally, in an era when people crave authenticity, I say push the boundaries a bit on your creativity. We can also skip the next tip about visual appeal, as the main takeaways are to use quality imagery and focus on readability, especially for mobile users.

3️⃣ Another set of tips is for engagement strategies, like asking questions or telling brand-focused stories that might spark interactions or comments.

Again, it’s about building emotional connections with users, so focus on how you can do that with authentic content that resonates with your target audience.

4️⃣ We’ll consolidate the final tips to say monitor engagement and experiment with different content types and CTAs.

I often find brands mirror their competitors’ channels, when the reality is you want your brand to stand apart. That means delving into your own first-party data to come up with insights for content, and then leveraging Facebook’s third-party data to decide which directions to take.

TikTok

Perplexity gave us a list of actionable tips in its answer. These boil down to four sections.

1️⃣ When it comes to creating engaging content, the tips include to start with a strong hook, grabbing the viewer’s attention in the first few seconds. It’s also recommended to keep the length between 21-34 seconds.

Personally, I think longer videos tend to do well on TikTok, so I would keep the advice about the hook but also focus on what fits your audience and objective. I also left out the part about using trendy music because I feel content should be personalized to your brand story.

2️⃣ The next tips are all about engagement and fueling the algorithm. Essentially, post as often as 4 times per day, use relevant hashtags, and encourage likes, follows, or comments.

These are pretty standard tips, but something I’ve observed is the requests for engagement can be done smoothly or clumsily. I’d write it into the script for a smooth transition.

3️⃣ The third tips cover audience demographics and publishing times.

Personally, while speaking to your audience is key, I’ve seen older content on TikTok get picked up later and go viral. Freshness isn’t always a key factor, especially for educational content; stay patient.

4️⃣ The last tip is about video quality, including using good lighting and framing and leveraging TikTok’s features, like green screens.

TikTok users crave authenticity, but as a brand, you also want to represent yourself professionally. There’s a balance in there when it comes to quality and creativity.

YouTube

In its response, Perplexity gives us three main areas, each with several tips. I’ll include those as bullet points with my thoughts below.

1️⃣ The first tips for optimizing video content include:

• Engaging titles and thumbnails to improve CTR, including keywords organically.
• Detailed descriptions that have relevant information, timestamps, supporting links, and related information.
• Closed captions (CC) that make videos more accessible; these can be auto-captioned then edited.

In my experience, titles, thumbnails, and descriptions play a big role in visibility. If you invest time in making a quality video, invest just as much time in these elements. And don’t be afraid to test different thumbnails.

2️⃣ The next tips refer to a video content strategy, including:

• Keep your channel updated with regular videos, perhaps posted weekly.
• Focus on a specific niche or topic to build a loyal audience and expand from there.
• Try to make incremental improvements with each video, rather than aiming for perfection each time, as video content takes time to create.

Building a following for your channel is perhaps one of the trickiest parts. Many brands go too broad with their range of topics, rather than staying true to a niche that fits their brand story. Staying narrow takes discipline but it can pay off.

3️⃣ The last tips are all about audience engagement, including:

• Hook viewers in the first 10 seconds to avoid drop-offs, common after 30 seconds.
• Aim for a video length of just under 3 minutes, depending on how much engaging content you have to include.
• Include CTAs to like, comment, or subscribe to the channel naturally within the content.
• Respond to user comments.

These engagement tips are similar to what we saw for TikTok, the difference being video length. YouTube videos can be long-form and successful that way. The key is staying true to your brand story, including when it comes to asking for subscriptions or responding to commenters.

General takeaways

Here are some general takeaways that we learned for posting on socials:

• Consistency: Post regularly to stay top of mind, but prioritize quality over quantity and consistency over an arbitrary frequency/timeline.
• Brand: Ensure your content reflects your brand’s voice and values; authenticity can carry more weight than production quality, when it’s on-brand.
• Content variety: Mix up content formats (images, videos, etc.) to test performance based on data like likes, comments, and engagement time.
• Engagement: Craft captions and posts that encourage interaction (questions, polls, CTAs, etc.), but prioritize genuine and emotional connections.
• Hashtags: Use general and niche hashtags to improve searchability, but avoid overdoing it as these aren’t algorithmic advantages.
• Timing: Post when your audience is most active, but prioritize consistency above all, which increases the odds of visibility.
• Platform specifics: Create platform-specific content rather than cross-posting as each platform has its own culture and user expectations.
• Interaction: Engage with followers by responding to comments and messages; be genuine to establish emotional connections with your audience.
• Performance monitoring: Track what content works best, focusing on engagement with your target audience, and adapt your strategy based on engagement.
• Influencers: Leverage influencers wisely, focusing on building organic connections but working with enterprising micro-influencers to start.

The rest of this post is in progress and will be finished in the coming days. Stay tuned!

Until then, enjoy the vibes:

Thanks for reading. Happy marketing! 🤗

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