Cross-Posting in 2022: What Is It & Why You Should Use It
In today‘s fragmented social media world, capturing attention is harder than ever. The average user is now active on over 7 different social platforms, making it a challenge for brands to reach and engage their target audience.
That‘s where cross-posting comes in. By sharing your content across multiple social networks, you can expand your reach, drive engagement, and get more mileage out of every post.
In this guide, we‘ll dive into exactly how cross-posting works, the key benefits, best practices, and the tools you need to implement this strategy effectively.
What is Cross-Posting?
Cross-posting is the practice of sharing the same piece of content across multiple social media channels. For example, you might create an informative video and post it to your brand‘s YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts.
With cross-posting, you‘re able to efficiently distribute content to all the platforms where your audience is active, without having to start from scratch for each one.
Why Cross-Posting Matters in 2022
Consider these eye-opening social media statistics:
- 57.6% of the world‘s population uses social media today (4.62 billion people)
- The average user spends 2 hours and 27 minutes on social platforms daily
- Over 93% of marketers use social media for business
As social media usage continues to grow and evolve, it‘s more important than ever for brands to meet their audiences where they are. That means having an active presence across multiple platforms, and keeping those accounts freshly stocked with engaging content.
But constantly developing new, platform-specific content is time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially for small businesses and lean marketing teams. That‘s where cross-posting provides an efficient solution.
The Benefits of Cross-Posting
When done right, cross-posting can provide major value for your brand and audience, including:
1. Increased reach and brand awareness
The more places you share content, the more opportunities you have to be seen. Cross-posting exposes your brand to a wider audience, including people who may prefer one platform over another.
For example, Hootsuite found that by cross-posting content on just one additional channel, brands could boost their reach by an average of 30-40%.
2. Improved engagement rates
People are more likely to interact with content when it feels native to the platform where they encounter it. By tailoring your cross-posted content to each channel, you can boost engagement metrics like likes, comments and shares.
For instance, Forrester research found that posts optimized for a specific platform generated 30-60% more engagement than generic posts shared everywhere.
3. Increased website traffic
By including relevant links back to your site within your cross-posted social content, you can drive more referral traffic to your web properties. This is especially impactful when your post goes viral on one or more platforms.
Online retailer Blissworld saw a 315% increase in website visits after implementing a cross-posting strategy across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
4. Boosted search engine rankings
The more places your content exists online, the more opportunities you create for search engines to index and serve that content to relevant searchers. This is especially true if you include keyword-optimized captions and hashtags.
Cross-posting can also help you earn valuable backlinks when people share your content on their own websites and platforms. Backlinks are a key ranking factor.
5. Time and resource savings
Rather than creating unique content for every platform, cross-posting allows you to develop one high-quality piece of content and efficiently distribute it across multiple channels.
This is a major benefit for time and budget-strapped marketing teams. In fact, Marketing Profs found that by repurposing and cross-promoting content, brands could save an average of 20 hours per week.
Cross-Posting Best Practices
To get the most out of your cross-posting efforts, follow these tips:
1. Optimize for each platform
While the core content can remain consistent, you‘ll want to tweak copy and creative elements to suit the specific audience and use case on each social platform.
Some general best practices:
| Platform | Ideal Content Type | Character Limit | Hashtags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Videos, curated content, stories | 63,206 | 1-2 | |
| High-res images, stories, Reels | 2,200 | 5-10 | |
| Timely news, GIFs, polls | 280 | 1-2 | |
| Professional content, native articles | 3,000 | 3-5 | |
| TikTok | Short-form videos | 2,200 | 3-5 |
2. Customize captions
To avoid sounding repetitive to followers on multiple platforms, rewrite your captions to add a unique spin for each audience.
For example, you might use more professional language and hashtags on LinkedIn, while adopting a casual, storytelling tone on Instagram.
3. Spread out publishing times
Avoid publishing the exact same post to every platform simultaneously, as this can look spammy and inauthentic. Instead, schedule your cross-posted content at different times, based on when your audience is most active on each platform.
According to Sprout Social, the best times to post are:
- Facebook: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 a.m.–1 p.m.
- Instagram: Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
- Twitter: Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 a.m.
- LinkedIn: Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m.–12 p.m.
4. Track and analyze performance
As with any social media strategy, it‘s critical to measure the results of your cross-posting efforts. Key metrics to track include:
- Reach and impressions
- Engagement rate
- Click-through rate
- Referral traffic
- Leads generated
- Revenue attributed
Use your social media analytics tools to see which types of cross-posted content perform best on each platform. Continuously test and iterate based on these insights.
Tools to Streamline Cross-Posting
Managing content across multiple social platforms can get overwhelming fast. Luckily, there are many tools that can help automate and optimize your cross-posting process.
Here are a few of the top options:
| Tool | Platforms | Key Features | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hootsuite | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest | Bulk scheduling, content curation, analytics | $49/month |
| Sprout Social | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn | Scheduling, competitor analysis, reporting | $99/month |
| Buffer | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest | Scheduling, analytics, team collaboration | $15/month |
| Agorapulse | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube | Inbox management, scheduling, reporting | $79/month |
| Loomly | Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google My Business | Calendars, scheduling, asset management | $26/month |
When evaluating cross-posting tools, look for features like:
- Support for all the social platforms you use
- Easy bulk scheduling and publishing tools
- Built-in analytics and reporting
- Team collaboration and approval workflows
- Integrations with your other marketing software
How to Measure Cross-Posting Success
To gauge the impact of your cross-posting strategy, keep a close eye on the following metrics:
-
Reach: Total number of people who see your content across all platforms. Aim to steadily increase this number over time.
-
Impressions: Total number of times your content is displayed. The higher the better.
-
Engagements: Likes, comments, shares, clicks, and other interactions with your cross-posted content. Track average engagement rate by dividing total engagements by impressions.
-
Click-through rate: Percentage of people who click on links in your cross-posted content. Aim for 1-2%.
-
Referral traffic: Visits to your website from your social content. Use UTM parameters to track.
-
Leads and sales: Ultimately, the goal is driving business results. Measure leads and revenue generated from cross-posted content.
According to Hootsuite‘s 2022 Social Media Trends Report, the average engagement rate across all industries is 4.59% on Facebook, 0.82% on Twitter and 0.54% on LinkedIn. Use these as benchmarks.
By tracking these key metrics, you can prove the value of your cross-posting efforts and make data-driven optimizations to improve performance over time.
Cross-Posting Success Stories
Many top brands are using cross-posting to get more mileage out of their social content and drive meaningful business results. For example:
- Starbucks regularly cross-posts product announcements and promotions across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. By optimizing captions and visuals for each channel, the brand averages an impressive 36,000 engagements per post.
- HubSpot generates 2.5X more leads from cross-posted content vs. single-platform posts, simply by reformatting blog content for LinkedIn and Medium.
- Trader Joe‘s cross-posts its quirky product videos across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook, racking up millions of views and building a cult following.
The common threads? These brands have a clear cross-platform content strategy, invest in high-quality creative, adopt a distinct brand voice and analyze performance to optimize over time.
Embrace Cross-Posting in 2022 & Beyond
As the social media landscape continues to evolve and fragment, cross-posting will only become more essential for reaching your audience effectively.
By implementing the best practices and tools covered in this guide, you can make cross-posting a core part of your social strategy, and drive more awareness, engagement and revenue for your brand.
The key is finding the right mix of content optimization and automation to maximize your impact and efficiency. Don‘t be afraid to experiment and let the data guide your approach.
With a solid cross-posting plan, you‘ll be able to connect with your audience everywhere they spend time online — without burning out your marketing team.
So what are you waiting for? Start mapping out your cross-platform content calendar and put these tips into action. Your audience (and bottom line) will thank you.
