Yahoo! News reported last week that “Fields of Watermelon Burst in China Farm Fiasco” , but they didn’t just explode as a result of some naturally occurring phenomenon…they were being souped up 
with growth accelerator injections. Imagine anyone trying to take short cuts in the business world, huh?!
This is a good reminder to social media managers that short cuts usually don’t pay off. The shortcut we’re referring to is using third party social media management tools to post the same message to all your social networks. Can’t you just hear Google’s SEO robots calling a Panda foul here! (not clear on what we mean here, read about the recent Google algorithm change here) Sure, the new mantra is work smart, not hard, so what’s the harm in mass distributing your posts in one single action?
The “explosion” you might get by using third party social media management tools isn’t as cataclysmic as mass watermelon combustion, but it can subtly undermine your social media marketing efforts.
Considerations
There are several points to consider around the concept of using third party tools (like Tweet Deck, Hoote Suite, Posterous, etc.) to manage your social media:
- Does it matter to fans/followers, etc. that posts being distributed from third party platforms give away the fact that social media managers are ACTUALLY posting into Facebook walls, etc.? We think it does, at least to some extent. For instance, it gives Facebook fans the sense that you’re not really on Facebook when it’s so obvious you’re not even on the platform when the post comes through; hence users may think you don’t really care to know when comments or “likes” follow.
- When fans/followers notice posts coming through with the same message on Facebook, Twitter etc. via third party tools, it begins to feel a little spammy. Being a spammer is a reputation no social media manager wants!
- As was mentioned in the first paragraph, it is yet unknown how Google handles duplicate content posts, so until more is known as to whether the mass-social content post distribution ranks better, or whether it’s penalized, it’s best to give this mass-distribution strategy a second thought.
Solution
Our advice here is that unless you’re managing just a huge amount of social media accounts, or are very limited on time, it’s best to go into each social platform to post. Not only will your fans/followers etc. probably perceive that someone is genuinely at the mound throwing the pitches, but as a side bonus, just being in tune with one social media platform at a time should help managers focus a little better on what’s being said on each. By now, social managers should know there are likely different audiences (with some overlap of course) on each platform who respond better to posts created for their unique segment, so ideally posts should be made with that exclusivity in mind.
A compromise
For those who just don’t see it possible to make different posts for each social media platform, consider syncing your Facebook to your Twitter, so any Facebook posts automatically go into your Twitter stream. At least this way, you create a cross-marketing opportunity, and may pick up some new fans from Twitter followers coming over to your wall to see what your doing in Facebook. And while your Twitter followers might feel a little slighted that you’re not talking directly to them in Twitter, at least they can go to Facebook where it is obvious that you prefer to hold forum there.
