So many different bits and pieces go into the formula for a well-rounded content marketing strategy, but in the middle of it all is the humble blog post. The ideas written there can inspire podcasts, live videos, be the topics for action-oriented email newsletters, and even compiled into gated content and white papers.

Blogs not only entertain and/or educate the reader, but they establish authority for your brand by showing “see, we really do know what we are talking about!” as well as presenting a natural starting point for readers to contact you or learn more about you.

After all the time and effort spent planning and writing your content, your next challenge is figuring out what to do with them! Your first instinct may be to just dump them out all over the place, sharing over every social media platform. Makes sense right? That way, the content that you worked so hard on gets maximum coverage. Well, not so fast.

A key element to your content marketing strategy is understanding that all your content doesn’t belong everywhere. Some content works better on one social network than others, meaning what plays on LinkedIn isn’t necessarily a slam dunk on Facebook and vice-versa.

So, where should all your blogs live? Start by considering your community. The biggest factor when considering the most effective place to post your content is the nature of the people reading it. Every social media platform has its own positives, its own negatives, and its own niche of a community. Who are you speaking to and, based on that, where are they likely to be?

Facebook

Facebook is where your customers go to see pictures of their friends and family and consume more entertaining content. Nobody really wants to be advertised to. On Facebook, your selling tool really has to be quality information in lieu of a straight pitch. What works best on Facebook really is B2C content, offering tips and tricks your customers and potential customers will find useful or at least entertaining as a means to get them to think about you.

It’s this fact that makes Facebook a strong platform for home service companies, food service, and retail companies. A blog post with helpful suggestions on how to unclog hair from a drain or a recipe of baked beans in the summertime is going to play much better and draw much more attention from the masses that use Facebook than technical pieces that are likely to bore or be over their heads otherwise. This style of blog posts has value to the reader, helps build your authority, and can be the first point of contact for a new customer.

LinkedIn

While there is more to the platform than many give it credit for, LinkedIn is king of B2B content. The people on LinkedIn are all business. They are interested in specific topics related to their business. The content that is really going to win on LinkedIn is being written with other professionals and businesses in mind, meant to inform or inspire.

Whereas I said Facebook was not the place for technical or uber-niche topics, LinkedIn is. Professional services, consultants, medical companies, and other niche service companies are the kinds of companies who are going to have content thrive on LinkedIn. The folks that take to this social media platform are looking for the kind of content they can directly apply to their professional lives. The kinds of blogs posted here build authority and can begin new professional relationships, either as clients or partners.

Twitter

Twitter is a platform for discussion… and sometimes it is even the civil kind! If your blog posts are being written to spark a conversation or to get the reader to think, posting blogs and participating in the discussion on Twitter is where you need to be. Both everyday consumers and professionals go to Twitter for information, but they will be turning to different kinds of sources for that information.

Like Facebook, Twitter isn’t about directly selling. No matter who you are, what you post on Twitter needs to be something you believe will get people talking. Monitor your posts, hopping in and out of the resulting chat to participate in the discussion, answer questions, or maybe even pose follow-up questions. Success on Twitter requires a lot of your attention and is more about how you are interacting than what you are posting.

Google My Business

Don’t forget about this dark horse. Although not a social media platform in the traditional sense, Google My Business is quickly becoming the place you must be if you care about local SEO. This is a rare case because it is totally OK to post blog posts of all kinds. Your Google My Business page is going to be viewed by people who are either actively googling you directly or by using relevant keywords, they are likely to find good value from the content you put there. Plus, your posts on Google My Business have a limited lifespan. After a couple of days your posts will vanish, meaning you can reload and recycle content regularly and no one will notice.

What about other people’s blogs?

If you are a regular reader of journals, articles, or blogs from others within your industry you’ll likely often come across articles that your community could benefit from reading for themselves. Believe it or not, outside content can be an important part of your strategy as well. Sharing relevant links to other peoples’ content on LinkedIn and Twitter, the more “business-focused” platforms, for your community to read even further establishes you as an authority in the field, a business that is constantly staying up to date with the latest news, and equally concerned that your customers are too.