When you've got multiple social media accounts strewn across multiple platforms, particularly for business, it can be very time-consuming to update each profile individually. Use a tool that posts updates to each one at once.
Social Media Management Tools
There are a number of social media dashboards and tools that you can use to manage multiple accounts, including the ability to share the same update across multiple platforms simultaneously.
- Hootsuite: Used by such companies as eHarmony and Accor Hotels, Hootsuite lets you schedule posts across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ from a single dashboard.
- Buffer: Similar to Hootsuite, Buffer is compatible with a broad range of social networks and allows for easy cross-posting. What's especially useful is that you can use a "buffer" posting schedule to space out your updates automatically too.
- CoSchedule: When you schedule a new "social message" on CoSchedule, you can select the social media profiles where you would like it to be published. The company offers an extensive guide on how to do this.
- Sprout Social: Geared toward businesses who want to have more advanced analytics and insights for their social media efforts, Sprout Social provides a "single-stream inbox" for seeing content across multiple channels in one place. Similarly, you can use this tool to post to all your social media profiles at once too.
Integrated Sharing
Some social networks offer the ability to share your update across other platforms automatically too. This is useful if you don't want to introduce any additional tools to your regular workflow.
- Instagram: On the same screen where you type out the caption for your Instagram post, there are options to share your post on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Simply toggle the networks where you'd like the post to be cross-shared.
- Twitter: If you look under Apps in your Twitter settings, you'll find an option to connect to Facebook. When you do, your tweets will be posted to your Facebook profile or page automatically.
- Facebook: You can use an official add-on so that every Facebook update is automatically sent out as a tweet on Twitter.
- Tumblr: After you publish a post on Tumblr, click on the share button (right-pointing arrow) and three of the options there are to share your post on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit.
IFTTT Applets
IFTTT, short for "If This, Then That," can be used to automate and connect a myriad of services and devices, including social media. Previously known as recipes, IFTTT applets make it easy to cross post your content across different networks.
This allows for a much higher level of customization. You can choose to "tweet your Instagrams as native photos on Twitter," for instance, or "selectively post your Instagrams to a Facebook Page when you include a specific #hashtag." You can also concoct your own custom applets to suit your specific needs and preferences.
Reasons Not to Cross Post
While the obvious appeal to sharing your social media updates across all your profiles automatically is that you can save a tremendous amount of time and effort, cross posting may not always be the most prudent decision.
- The dynamics of each platform are different. Whereas animated GIFs work perfectly fine on Twitter, they do not animate when shared on Pinterest, for example. Similarly, Twitter updates have a much shorter maximum length than Facebook.
- Sharing the same update across multiple networks oftentimes means that the ability to tag other users will be limited or nonexistent.
- Posting native content to each network is generally the best practice, not only because of algorithms but also because the way users engage with content on each network is different. The strategic plan you have for social media needs to be catered to each platform individually.
Update All Your Followers
Not all your fans on Facebook necessarily follow you on Twitter or vice versa. If you want to keep everyone in the loop and entertained with your content, it's useful to share your posts across multiple platforms at once.
