The holiday season is officially in full swing, which means shopping, detailed planning and a full agenda of holiday parties. When introducing financial advisors to social media, my favorite metaphor to help illustrate the differences between one social network and another is that of different social settings.  If you’ve ever listened to one of my webinars or taken a peak at our FSM University videos, you’ve heard me say, “Twitter is a cocktail party, LinkedIn is the golf course, and Facebook is a shopping mall.” Well, this season is no different.  This month you most likely have an ugly sweater party with friends, the office party, and a family get-together scheduled on your calendar and you need to be a present for all of it.  The same goes for your social media counter-parts.

Being present on all of your social platforms, and adjusting the way you communicate on each one, is critical to a successful overall social media strategy. You wouldn’t show up to a family dinner with business cards and you wouldn’t arrive at the office holiday party sporting the Christmas sweater your aunt knits for you every year. Having the right presence on the right platform is critical to your social success.

What are the benefits of assuring that your messages are tailored for each of the social platforms? By being present at all the social parties you will:

• Reach a wider audience
• Increase brand loyalty and awareness
• Talk to the right people the way they like to be spoken to
• Strut all of your awesome strengths. Having an integrated social media presence proves that you are:
  • Successful
  • Organized
  • In the Know

How do you do it? Here are some social media integration tips that will carry you through the rest of the year and beyond:

• Communicate your content differently on each network.  Think about what type of content you see on each platform and what type of audience is interacting with it.
  • LinkedIn: At this holiday office party, content tends to be more professional and newsworthy based. You should be speaking as an authority when you post on this platform and share content in a way that is more likely to spark a discussion.

• Twitter: At your cocktail party with friends there’s a lot of chatter going on. Twitter is the same type of environment and people want to know what newsworthy events are happening right now. Keep it short and sweet because your characters are limited. Take advantage of hashtags that will highlight a topic or trend. You can also add pictures and short Vine videos, which tend to spark more engagement that a tweet without.

• Facebook: The family get together is a time to take family photos and show off the school pics of your children. Users on Facebook interact the most with their family, friends, and favorite businesses so keep your messages more personal.  Tailor your message in a way that humanizes yourself and your business, and allows for your followers to have an “insider’s sneak-peak” into how you run your operation. Use pictures and videos to make your page look like a living scrapbook. Keep in mind that you should be entertaining your audience while educating them.

• Vary your frequency of posts and posting times across each network.
  • LinkedIn: Post during the workweek at the beginning and end of the workday. Research shows that Tuesdays and Thursdays are strong days for engagement.
  • Twitter: Post multiple times (up to 6) a day.  This includes your own original tweets, articles that you want to share, and re-tweeting notable tidbits of users you follow.
  • Facebook: Post 1-2 times a day. Use the analytics features to track when your audience is on Facebook the most throughout the day.

• Complete your profiles and make time for being consistently engaged on each one.  Imagine that a social media platform is the storefront for your business and you have multiple locations around your community. You want anyone passing by to see that you are open for business and your storefront is worth taking a peek at. Or, sticking with the holiday party theme, you want to ensure that your party looks lively and is worth attending. Incomplete profiles or ghost-like platforms won’t draw anyone into your soiree.

• Don’t forget to bring your blog into the social media integration equation! Add “share” buttons for each platform to your blog and promote your original content on all of your profiles.

So, what are you waiting for? Dig out your most festive tie, sparkly party shoes or best ugly Christmas sweater, and work your financial social media magic. You will have a lot more fun, and a lot more success, once you get the hang of being present at all of the get-togethers on your social agenda, both online and off!