One message, many platforms: 5 ways to elevate your social media content

Many organisations treat social media as a distribution system: write once, post everywhere. It feels efficient. In reality, it’s a false economy. Each platform fosters different user behaviours, expectations and content conventions — and ignoring those differences weakens the message.

1. Stop assuming one post can do every job 

Copy-and-paste posting looks like time saved. But that saving vanishes the moment the content hits the wrong environment. A Facebook-style post dropped into Instagram, or a LinkedIn explainer forced into X, loses shape on contact. Engagement drops. Reach thins out. Over time, audiences learn to skim past your content because it doesn’t feel built for them. 

The shortcut costs more than it saves. 

2. Test this idea against your own experience 

Open the feeds of the organisations or researchers you actually follow. Look for the pattern. Most fall into two camps: 

• identical posts across every platform 

• the same idea, reshaped to fit the platform 

The second group feels clearer and more intentional. Their content sits cleanly in the feed because it matches the way the platform invites people to read. 

3. Let each platform’s structure guide the format 

LinkedIn supports short paragraphs and clear reasoning. X rewards tight, forward movement. Instagram is visual first, with captions carrying one precise point. Facebook, Threads and BlueSky sit between these modes but still favour clean openings and compact ideas. When content ignores these structures, readers feel the mismatch immediately — even if they can’t name it. 

4. Speak to the audience that’s actually there 

If you’re trying to grow new audiences, recycled posts won’t get you far. Instagram’s demographic and expectations aren’t Facebook’s. LinkedIn’s attention patterns aren’t X’s. A post written for one audience and pushed into another signals that the reader wasn’t considered. That’s enough to lose them. 

5. Treat repurposing as part of the writing, not an optional extra 

Repurposing isn’t about squeezing the same wording into new shapes. It’s about asking: what does this audience need, on this platform, with this attention pattern? A small rewrite — different lead, tighter phrasing, cleaner hierarchy — protects meaning and improves reach. It also reduces the slow accumulation of weak posts that never quite land. 

One message can travel. One format can’t. 

 

Talk to us about making your content work across platforms 

If you’re planning a research announcement, campaign or publication series and want your social content to perform well across different channels, email us at editor@coretext.com.au