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Extremely outdated cross-platform strategy?
I work on the client side and have been assigned as the ‘lead’ for two secondary channels of the brand, i.e. not Facebook, not Instagram. As the lead, I’m expected to develop the strategies for these platforms, which I have no issue with BUT I’m having major issues with how all social media channels come together, i.e. the cross-platform strategy. The last time the company updated its cross posting strategy was 4 years ago.
In addition, my manager, who’s supposed to be the ‘lead’ for our primary channels, has not been updated the strategies in 2 to 3 years. He sees no urgent need for the update to happen as ‘there are more urgent things to attend to’. He himself claims that he does not use Facebook personally.
I’m struggling as the team sometimes have the tendency to post the same content across platforms because ‘might as well’.
Thoughts?
TLDR: My manager does not see the need for a cross-platform strategy and it affects my work in developing the strategy for a newly adopted channel.
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2 Replies
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I’ve always treated platform strategies as divisions of a larger social strategy, so I definitely see your problem. Setting that “Universal Goal” (social message for our brand) is key to get the “Platform Goals” (social message for our brand filtered through the platforms) established. How does the cross-platform social strategy treat messaging and content? If you have set content buckets you can still segment out your platforms by doing something like the below:
Take your ideal target audience & compare it to the US user numbers for each platform. If you work with a media team, they should have some of this data. That will tell you where certain segments of our audience over indexes (i.e. for ages 45-75 year olds to FB, 22-40 year olds on IG, and 18-26 year olds on Tik Tok/Snapchat). Then, break down your platform messaging by audience segment. I’m of the opinion that every channel should have some universal messaging, but you can thin some of that out by saying “X message only applies to IG because the target audience on that platform is the only one interested in it”, assuming your brand has any data on what audiences prefer what message.
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Any examples you can pull to prove the point? If the manager doesn’t appreciate a simple role of channel breakdown, then reference brands who aren’t just spraying and praying across all platforms.
Find examples in your industry if they exist. Then find some big players who are more awareness focused than sales driven. Honestly, just a quick audit of the space and a breakdown of how platforms have evolved in the last four years should let you know if your manager is lazy or dumb.
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