Executive Spotlight: Effectively Repurposing Content Across Platforms

16 Oct Effectively Repurposing Content Across Platforms

Posted on October 16, 2020 in Executive Spotlight by

While it is important for executives on social media to create a diverse and original feed, repurposing content across platforms is an effective way to maintain a strong and consistent presence on multiple channels. 

However, every platform—whether LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or otherwise—has different demographics and best practices, which is an important factor for executives to consider when crafting and repurposing social posts. 

In today’s Executive Spotlight, we analyze how James Caan, the CEO of private equity firm, Hamilton Bradshaw, uses a diverse array of content types and repurposes posts across his Twitter and LinkedIn social media profiles. These practices help establish him as an executive with a strong online presence. 

 

Twitter: A Variety of Post Types 

 

James Caan makes use of many types of posts and media on his Twitter profile. This includes text-only posts, video content, and image-based posts. Using a variety of post types helps to build a well-rounded social media presence. Rather than making each post too similar to each other or too formulaic, creating a diverse feed can help make an executive’s feed more interesting, making full use of all the platform has to offer and thus driving higher engagement. 

One way that Caan positions himself as a credible leader is by posting custom graphics of inspirational or leadership-focused quotes that he has said. Quote graphics, which are just visual graphics that include the quote text, are an effective way of immortalizing one’s words in an eye-catching way. Using a quote graphic rather than simply writing the quote as a text-only social media post can help to emphasize its impact. This type of content is highly shareable, which encourages followers to retweet it to their own audience.

 

 

Another way he bolsters his credibility is by promoting his own written content, such as articles and blog posts. Executives who share their own content on their social platforms can help to garner engagement with their long-form content as well as legitimize their personal brand as a leader in their field. In Caan’s case, he uses LinkedIn articles to publish his work and posts the link on his Twitter feed, which is an example of how he makes full use of a multi-channel approach and repurposes content across platforms. 

Caan also includes original thought Tweets, making use of text-only posts without any graphics attached. Using an array of posts featuring graphics alongside text-only posts offers content variation on his feed, which helps to keep it more dynamic for followers. Executives should note that posting the same type of content over and over again, or posting just for the sake of posting, may reflect poorly on their overall social media strategy as it may come across uninspired. Each of Caan’s posts clearly provide insight and value, which helps to position him as a credible leader. 

When posting about a class or event that he is leading, Caan is also sure to note the event’s important details in his Tweet copy. These details include time, timezone, date, and CTAs such as “Register Here.” Posting event details on social media can help to garner more widespread attention, which is particularly important amidst the pandemic when most events are taking place virtually. Executives should be sure to provide all the necessary details, such as in the example below, in order to make it easily accessible to their followers. 

 

 

Caan also frequently posts video interviews that he has done on his Twitter feed. Video is an increasingly popular and effective medium on social media, often driving high engagement, so executives should incorporate video-based content into their social media strategy where appropriate. Leaders who use videos can also build a more authentic online presence, offering a more personal connection to their followers. 

 

LinkedIn: Repurposing Content and Adhering to Platform Best Practices 

 

James Caan has a large LinkedIn audience with over 3 million followers on this platform. He mainly repurposes his social media content between his Twitter and LinkedIn profiles. Repurposing content is an effective time-saver, which is something to keep in mind for busy executives who want to build a strong presence on multiple platforms. However, when repurposing content across various social channels, it is important to consider the fact that best practices differ according to the platform. Thus, the content may not be exactly the same on Twitter as it is on Linkedin.

Caan makes full use of LinkedIn’s longer character limit by adding more copy to his posts, whereas on Twitter, the character limit is capped at 280 per Tweet. For example, on his Twitter feed, he includes frequent executive highlights wherein he shines the spotlight on a fellow business person who has inspired him. On Twitter, the copy primarily focuses on the executive’s name. 

On LinkedIn, however, while Caan utilizes the same highlight structure, he includes more content about the executive, such as their professional background and accomplishments. On both platforms, he attaches a photo of himself and the spotlighted executive, which helps to promote the executive to Caan’s followers. 

 

 

Caan also uses LinkedIn posts to include more B2B-focused language and professional content (as pictured below). While this type of language or content may be less engaging for this Twitter audience, LinkedIn is a professional networking platform where this type of content is a better fit.

 

 

Our Suggestions for Executives

 

In some Twitter posts, Caan uses line breaks within the copy. Because of Twitter’s strict character count, it goes against best practices to use line spaces on this platform (whereas on LinkedIn, it is encouraged to make the content more readable). However, some line breaks in Tweets make the content more impactful: if placed appropriately, this can help to hook the user’s attention and intrigue them to read more. For example, in the post below, Caan uses a compelling and actionable first line: 

 

 

In this case, the line breaks are an effective way to visually break up the copy, so as to not have its impact muddled by being in a continuous line. However, executives should be wary: if line breaks are used simply for the sake of separating a sentence, it may be disruptive and break the reader’s flow. Line breaks also take up character space in a Tweet, so executives should ensure that their Tweets are offering insightful commentary, using up as much space as needed. 

One area of improvement for Caan is that there is a lack of hashtag in his Twitter posts. Hashtags can help with content and profile discoverability and helps a post in reaching a larger audience by using relevant keywords. Caan does use relevant hashtags in his bio, however, such as #Entrepreneur and #Startup. We recommend that when executives use hashtags in their profile bio, they carefully choose the word that best reflects them and is also popular on the chosen platform. 

 

Conclusion

 

Overall, James Caan does an effective job of posting consistently and making use of all the media and features each platform has to offer. He balances promotional content with more empathetic and leadership-focused messaging, crafting an engaging feed for his followers. His ability of repurposing content across platforms helps strengthen his online presence and audience reach.

If you are an executive looking to enhance your social media feed and better understand audience engagement, we can help. Click the button below to schedule a conversation with our social media experts.  

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