New social media managers always ask: Should I be cross-posting between social media platforms? Is cross-posting a good idea? And many sources will say yes, which can help you grow your audience. But is a cross-posting strategy more helpful than harmful for your brand? No. The downsides of posting the same thing over and over again significantly outweigh the benefits.

Usually, we see the multi-channel approach (using every social media platform) as a tool for horizontal reach. We cross-post our ideas to reach audiences from Twitter to Instagram and YouTube to our website. Although this may help reach new audiences, it does more harm when we examine the perception of cross-posting.

Horizontal Approach to Social Media

A horizontal approach means seeing social media as a giant pile of sand. We try to get our team to reach out as far as they can and grab as much sand as possible, trying to reach every grain (or follower) they can see in a guerilla marketing approach. This approach is wrong for a few reasons:

1. We aren’t tailoring our content to the audience we’re reaching on each platform.

2. We aren’t adapting our content to the medium each platform offers.

3. We don’t optimize our ideas to get the results each platform desires.

What does all of this mean, though? It means we aren’t using each social media platform for what it was intended for. It means we create content just to create and aren’t focusing on the audience’s needs. If we cross-post photos of our company’s t-shirts from Instagram to Twitter and hope for equal engagement on our platforms, we are searching for the wrong results in the wrong places.

In theory, more reach means better results. But that’s assuming that the quality of our content remains at the same level. Curating a photo to match your Instagram feed, mood, and audience does not mean it will have the same effect when you repost it on Twitter. How often do you watch the 15-minute YouTube video someone linked to on Twitter? Probably not too often.

The reasoning behind this is the platform’s intentions itself. Whether it’s obvious (like YouTube vs Twitter) or not so obvious (like Instagram Reels vs TikTok), these subtle differences are why content performs better on certain platforms than others. You shouldn’t cross-post between social media channels; instead, you should adopt a linking approach.

Vertical Approach to Social Media

The more effective structure of our social media strategy should be vertical. Instead of grabbing each grain of sand off our mountain, we should take a step back and find the most effective method. Focusing on the grains of sand directly in front of us lets us focus on one spot (our niche) and let the sand higher up the hill trickle down eventually. After giving so much attention to the sand in sight, the rest will want to be a part of the fun too!

So what should my social media strategy look like? You need to refocus on how you cross-post between social media platforms. Instead of just reposting your TikToks on Twitter and hoping for engagement, you need to create a structure highlighting each step of your workflow. Here’s an example of how each social media channel can reshape one piece of content:

1. Twitter — Your ideas start here. Not sure if your audience wants to know how to create a social media strategy? Ask on Twitter! A simple tweet saying, “does anyone else struggle with their social strategy?” can help you see your audience’s reaction and determine whether it’s worth moving forward.

2. TikTok — Share your thoughts here. If your tweet gains traction and gets your followers curious, it's time to make a quick TikTok! The strength of TikTok is the ability to reach new audiences with your ideas. Once your question sparks some interest, a quick “3 Ways to Boost your Social Strategy” video can help generate a talking point.

3. Instagram — Push your content here. Once you’ve reached that new audience on TikTok and they enjoyed your wealth of knowledge, it’s time to repurpose your content to Instagram Reels. Yes, this is where cross-posting is a great idea! But only stick to the stuff that did well on TikTok. If your idea bombed, you don’t want to bore your Instagram following and give them a reason to unfollow you.

4. YouTube — Dive into the details here. Your audience on YouTube has much more time than anywhere else. Use that attention to your advantage and build on the ideas you mentioned in your TikTok and Instagram videos. Spend some more time breaking down your thoughts and explaining them more thoroughly.

Why does this social media strategy work? It works because it adapts content to the audience instead of forcing it to get engagement. It can also save you hours on content creation by filtering out the ideas that won't stick. Updating your audience with each step of your content creation gives you certain points and indications when it's no longer worth your time to continue on this project.

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