How to make your content fit for social, not make social fit for your content

Over the last decade social media has quickly evolved to become one of the most vital marketing channels for businesses. Marketing for social media involves navigating an ever-changing landscape. With constant algorithm changes, updates, new features and trend shifts it’s hard to know how to best create content for each platform. 

The challenge is to create and adapt content that fits for each platform instead of trying to get the platforms to adapt to your content. Here is a guide, compiled by our B2B social media marketing team here at Extramile, outlining practical strategies you can use to help you embrace the unique demands of social media and watch your content thrive.

Understand your platforms

Every social media platform is fit for a different audience and purpose. Understanding the nuances of each is the first step in tailoring your content effectively.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the top choice for B2B businesses to include in their social media strategy. From thought leadership pieces to visual storytelling and video LinkedIn is the number one platform for B2B business to give insights to their company and connect with potential clients. According to the 2024 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, 73% of decision makers say that a business’s thought leadership is a better indicator for assessing its capabilities and competencies than its marketing materials. Good news is that LinkedIn remains the top platform to showcase thought leadership.

Instagram

Instagram allows you to build up a following and increase your brand awareness. For B2B businesses Instagram is not only a fantastic platform to showcase your products and services with high quality imagery, infographics and video reels, but also your company culture. According to Social Insider reels now make up over half of the time people spend on Instagram.

TikTok

TikTok has rapidly become the biggest social media platform. Still a lot of B2B businesses shy away from it, believing TikTok is not an appropriate platform for them. TikTok thrives on creativity and authenticity. In a digitally dominant world TikTok gives you the opportunity to give your audience a behind the scenes experience of your brand, showcasing your products, machinery and even the lighter side of your company in short form videos. Our B2B social media specialists recommend TikTok as a low-cost but high-impact platform to access a whole new wave of potential customers.

Consider Platform-specific Content

Sadly, one size won’t always fit all when it comes to social media. Instead, you should create different content to suit your audience on each platform. 

– LinkedIn: Long-form posts, professional case studies, and employee highlights resonate here.

– TikTok & Instagram: Focus on storytelling through short-form videos. Utilising trends and challenges can help to amplify your reach.

– Facebook: Use a mix of posts and live video to engage communities and share detailed updates.

Customising your content can take more time and effort, but can lead to better results.

Case Study

We partnered with a client aiming to increase registrations for their ongoing clinical trials, focusing on university students as their key demographic. Recognising TikTok’s potential to tap into younger audiences that were beyond LinkedIn’s reach, we created a strategy to drum up interest and website sign-ups.

To do this, we developed a content calendar aligned with the new approach. Collaborating closely with the client, we produced TikTok-native “social-first” video content. This included a range of formats, video lengths and creative focuses to cater to various viewing preferences.

The results spoke for themselves! From just one video alone they attracted 700 new TikTok followers. This was a huge step in expanding their outreach!