There are 5.17 billion social media users today, accounting for 85% of mobile phone owners. Businesses like yours are scrambling to generate trendy social media content. How are you to compete with companies boasting dedicated social media teams and departments?
The simple answer is cross-posting. You’ve likely heard of the term before. On social platforms such as Reddit, a cross-post is when content is shared from one forum to another. The person sharing isn’t necessarily the content creator.
However, today we’ll be discussing a slightly different approach. Our guide will go over the best practices for cross-posting on social media platforms with your own content.
What is cross-posting on social media?
Cross-posting on social media is the practice of sharing the same post on two or more platforms. For example, a B2B startup could share a post about its new call center automation platform on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The restaurant would only create one piece of content and tweak it to fit each social media channel.
Cross-posting is an effective social media strategy for influencers and businesses of all sizes. It’s an easy way to connect with target audiences that spend an average of 143 minutes per day on social media.
Why is cross-posting important in social media marketing?
One of the challenges in social media marketing is creating original, interesting content. What people are talking about on X or LinkedIn changes with the wind. The key to staying relevant online is new. Users want to be stimulated and engaged with unique and current social media posts.
At the same time, different audience segments spend varying amounts of time on one or more social platforms. Facebook is tops with over 3 billion monthly active users. But what about the huge number of users on YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat? You don't want to miss out on platforms with billions or hundreds of millions of active users.
The benefits of cross-posting on social media platforms
Social media ad spending continues to rise. Data from Statista projects ad spending to increase from roughly $200 billion in 2024 to over $255 million by 2028.
While paid ads can certainly be effective, you don’t need a big advertising budget to meet social media users. Cross-post your original social media content and reap the following benefits:
- Expand your reach: Posting on multiple channels helps connect with new audiences.
- Save time: Instead of creating completely new posts for every platform, you can re-use content with minor changes.
- Reduce spending: Get a better return for your marketing overhead costs and rely less on paid social media advertising.
- Strengthen brand: Sharing the same content on multiple platforms helps to align your brand and maintain a consistent tone of voice.
- Greater engagement: Having a presence on multiple platforms means you can comment and reply to users on their preferred channels.
10 approaches for cross-posting on your social media channels
Getting the most out of your cross-posting efforts is more nuanced than just posting the same content repeatedly. Let’s look at some of the best practices for posting on a range of different social media platforms.
1. Tailor your social media posts
In the US, YouTube is the most popular social media platform followed by Facebook and Instagram. Cross-posting identical content on each channel won’t produce the best results.
Whether it’s an ABM campaign, email marketing, or social media engagement, every piece of content needs to be customized for its intended audience. For instance, a ten-minute YouTube video won’t likely hold the attention span of an Instagram user.
Cross-posting won’t be effective if you try to force square pegs into round holes. Different social media platforms cater to specific audiences and expectations. You wouldn’t want to try sharing an entire blog post from your website in an Instagram caption. Who would read it?
Alternatively, you could share a featured image from the article with a brief summary and link to the blog. You could take the same piece of content and cross-post it on LinkedIn but with a more in-depth summary. If the post is short enough, you could even share the entire article.
Besides content type, you also need to pay attention to platform rules such as character limits.
Here are some examples of character limits on social media:
- X 280
- Facebook 5,000
- LinkedIn 3,000
- Instagram 2,200
- Pinterest 500
- TikTok 2,200
- Threads 500
2. Don’t post at the same time
When cross-posting, it can be tempting to post the same content across all of your platforms at once. Simultaneous posting, though, is a common mistake. Users who are active on multiple channels will see the same post repeatedly. Instead of presenting interesting content, you may come across as “spammy."
Also, looking into the best times to post on social media also lets you take advantage of trends in peak use between platforms.
For example, it may be best to post on Facebook in the morning when users check their phones before heading to work. During normal working hours, LinkedIn is likely the place to engage. Hit Instagram during lunch break hours and then get onto Tiktok around 6-7 pm when most users are home from work.
3. Optimize images and video
Images and video are great formats for interacting with your audience and keeping their attention. Unfortunately, you can’t always copy and paste the same images or graphics into different platforms.
Social media posts are like online business cards for your brand. You want users on each social media network to have a high-quality experience. Optimize images and video for each platform for consistent brand interactions. By optimizing visual content, you’ll maintain fidelity and also be more inclusive of mobile users.
Here are some examples of optimal image sizes and video specifications:
| Social Network | Image Size | Video Size |
| LinkedIn posts | 1200 x 628 | 4096 x 2304 |
| Facebook carousel | 1200 x 1200 | 1080 x 1080 |
| Facebook Timeline | 1200 x 628 | 1280 x 720 |
| X tweets | 1200 x 628 | 1920 x1080 |
| Instagram stories | 1080 x 1920 | 1080 x 1920 |
These are only a few examples. Compare the two Facebook examples and note that the type of post also affects the optimal image and video size. You will need to research what sizes and post types are best for each channel.
4. Vary your content types
Short-form videos are the most engaging content type, capturing 66% of social media users’ attention. If it’s the most effective, then just cross-post social video content all the time, right?
Well, eMarketer found that video’s majority share of social network time is reaching a plateau. Video is projected to only increase from 58.8% to 60.1% of average daily user time by the end of 2025.
There are plenty of cross-posting options available besides short-form videos including:
- Audio clips
- Photos
- Infographics
- Surveys and polls
- Shoppable content
- User-generated content
- Text-based content
Although video is king, mix things up and take advantage of every opportunity to engage your audience.
5. Always reply and engage your audience
Cross-posting on its own isn’t enough to get the results you want. When a post is sent on a platform, you’ll soon be getting likes and comments from your followers and interested users. You can keep the good karma going by engaging with your audience on each platform.
Stay on top of comments, replies, re-tweets, and other interactions. Spend some time answering questions and replying to top comments. Instead of having to manually log into each network to check for notifications, use social listening tools such as Sprout Social to monitor engagement. Your social media team can reply and address every mention or comment from a single platform.
6. Schedule posts in advance
Your audience is found at different times on various platforms throughout the day. One of the objectives of any cross-posting strategy is efficiency. You’re reusing content to get a great ROI. However, having to manually log in to social media networks at different times of the day can be arduous.
Plenty of marketing automation tools let you schedule posting and other activities. Social media scheduling tools enable you to set up a social media calendar. Cross-post and other social media content will be sent at set times that align with your social media strategy.
Just as you tailor your social media strategy for maximum engagement and security, it's crucial to secure other digital communication channels. Setting up Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) enhances your email communications' security, protecting your brand from fraud and email spoofing. This proactive step ensures that all facets of your digital presence are safeguarded, aligning with your overall marketing strategy.
Just as you use scheduling tools to efficiently manage your social media posts, employing a reliable domain name generator can also streamline the process of establishing new digital identities. This ensures that your domains are not only memorable but also align perfectly with your brand, which is crucial for maintaining the integrity and consistency of your brand's digital presence across various platforms.
7. Aggregate your social media posts
When cross-posting, it’s good to keep a bird’s eye view on all of your social media content. You can do this by aggregating all of your posts onto your website. Site visitors will be able to see your most recent posts and engage with content on their preferred platforms.
How do you aggregate your social media content, though? By using the best social media aggregators like Curator and Spotyte. Use these tools to automate post collection, and curate your cross-posted content for your website traffic.
8. Monitor your performance on each platform
Not all social media posts are created equal and neither are the networks. Depending on your target demographics, you’ll see more engagement and success on some channels than others. Lower performance doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Track the following social media metrics on every channel where you have a presence:
- Reach: How many people viewed your content including non-followers
- Impressions: How many times your content was viewed
- Engagement rate: The percentage of viewers that comment, like, or share your content
- Likes: How many viewers liked your content
- Shares: How many viewers shared your content with their network
- Click-through rate (CTR): How many times people clicked on links in your post
- Average response time: How quickly your team respond to comments
- Audience growth rate: How many followers you’re getting per a set amount of time
- Virality rate: The percentage of your followers that gave impressions to a post
Use social media analytics tools to track these and other key metrics. Glean insight into what’s working and what isn’t and adjust your cross-positing tactics accordingly.
9. Be creative and unique
Cross-posting involves reusing similar content on multiple platforms. Cross-posting poor content will only negatively impact your brand in the long run. Expanding your reach doesn’t mean hijacking posts from other sources or posting previously used content.
It should go without saying but the best way to keep your audience engaged is with unique, original content. Create relevant content that appeals to your target segments. Keep things fresh by posting a blend of educational, witty, fun, interactive, and entertaining content.
10. Use the same channels as your target audience
Social media marketing is only effective if you can reach your audience. Break your potential customers into segments with shared demographics. Each segment will have its preferred social media platforms. A simple way to do this is by age.
A Pew Research survey, for example, found that US adults aged 18-29 are six times more likely to use TikTok than those over 65. Additionally, 75% of those aged 30-49 are most likely to be found using Facebook.
You can also break things down according to income, education, and other demographic factors. For example, the same survey found that high earners are 7% less likely to use TikTok than lowest earners.
Pitfalls to avoid when cross-posting on social media
Cross-posting can work wonders when done correctly. The concept is so simple it's easy to fall into common trappings and oversights.
Overposting
Cross-posting seems like a gold mine for increasing your daily posts on every social channel. Be careful about overposting though. If you create content frequently and cross-post on every network, you run the risk of annoying followers. Irritated users will be tempted to hit that “hide” or “unfollow” button.
Generic content
Planning content suited to multiple platforms can sometimes lead to overly generic posts. You’re so worried about not meeting expectations for one social network that you fail to take advantage of the uniqueness of each platform. For example, you design a formal post about your new FP&A tools to be shared on professional networks like LinkedIn. During cross-posting, the same tone makes its way to Instagram and X.
Relying too much on automation tools
Automation tools like post schedulers and social media aggregators are great for saving time and money. Some platforms even come with templates to streamline content creation. While great for productivity, though, too much automation can drown your messaging and force you into boxes.
Use social media tools when it fits your ideas. Get down and dirty with manual content creation every once in a while when creativity calls.
Cross-posting on social media is straightforward
Social media marketing isn’t going away anytime soon. The global population will continue to flock to both long-standing and upcoming platforms. While the best channels to reach your audience may evolve, the benefits of cross-posting won’t wane.
Redmember, though: don’t just copy and paste a social media post from one network to another. Follow the tools in this guide to maximize the benefits of cross-posting on social media with tailored, calculated content.