Understanding Social Media Content
In the last issue of Pro Mobile, we went back to basics by doing a quick health check on your Facebook Business Page to make sure it’s up to date and working as a showcase for your business.Now I’d like to focus on the two main social
media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, and strip things right back to explain the different types of content you can create on both platforms.
This article isn’t intended to teach you how to create each type of content – that’s a whole other masterclass – rather, it’s to help you understand their differences and how you can use them to your advantage. Facebook and Instagram are both owned and operated by the same company, Meta, and as such they have very similar content types.
In fact, you can ‘cross-post’ some of your content from one platform to another, or post to both at the same time, using the Meta Business Suite. So, let’s break down each type of content you can share on both Facebook and Instagram, exploring where they’re positioned, how long they’re visible for, and how you can use them to promote your DJ business.
1. Post
If you’re a social media novice, this is the content you’re likely to be most familiar with.
A ‘post’ differs between Facebook and Instagram. On Facebook, you can create a post directly from your page, and add text, photos, videos, and lots of other extras such as checking in at a venue, expressing an emotion, or adding a ‘call to action’ to encourage people to interact with you (for instance, by messaging your page or donating to a fundraiser).
On Instagram, a ‘post’ is slightly different. It must have a photograph or short video with it, and it provides fewer extras. However, Instagram does offer you filters and cropping tools to use before you post, so you can enhance the look of your content.
You can also add a location and tag other Instagram accounts in your post. If you tag another account, your image will appear on that user’s profile in the tags section. If you add a location, your image will be seen by anyone viewing content tagged at that location.
On both platforms, a post will be seen in your followers’ main newsfeeds and if a follower goes to look at your page, they will see a ‘timeline’ of your posts on Facebook or your ‘grid’ of photos and videos on Instagram.
On both platforms posts are permanent unless you choose to delete them. On Instagram you can also archive a post, so that only you can see it.
Because posts are permanent, creators tend to make them more polished than Stories or Reels, and on Instagram especially, some accounts will even have a ‘grid theme’ that means their posts all have a common style, layout and colours. This can range from just posting in black and white to creating each post in editing software such as Canva or Photoshop and posting them in a specific order so they lay out perfectly in the grid! (It goes without saying that this requires a lot of time, effort and expertise.)
2. Story
Stories first emerged on Instagram several years ago and were later rolled out to Facebook. Think of them as Meta’s version of Snapchat.
You need to know two main things about Stories: they’re short (just 15 seconds long) and they’re temporary (by default they will only show on your account for 24 hours, though you can still view them privately from your archive).
Stories on both platforms appear in portrait, so they’re very much aimed at mobile users (a recent study by Hootsuite showed that more than 80% of Facebook users will only view the platform on mobile phones).
Stories appear at the top of the screen on both networks; either as a circular icon or, on the desktop version of Facebook, a portrait icon.
You can add various media to your Stories: images, quick video snippets, filters, stickers, countdowns, location, polls, music, hashtags, and more recently, web links. Instagram has far more options in terms of add-ons for Stories, but they’re generally similar on Facebook.
As I mentioned, Stories are temporary, but on Instagram there is a way to keep them on your profile by adding them to a ‘highlight’. A highlight is a group of Stories that you can give a title to, and they appear above your ‘grid’ of posts on your profile page.
3. Reel
media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, and strip things right back to explain the different types of content you can create on both platforms.
This article isn’t intended to teach you how to create each type of content – that’s a whole other masterclass – rather, it’s to help you understand their differences and how you can use them to your advantage. Facebook and Instagram are both owned and operated by the same company, Meta, and as such they have very similar content types.
In fact, you can ‘cross-post’ some of your content from one platform to another, or post to both at the same time, using the Meta Business Suite. So, let’s break down each type of content you can share on both Facebook and Instagram, exploring where they’re positioned, how long they’re visible for, and how you can use them to promote your DJ business.
1. Post
If you’re a social media novice, this is the content you’re likely to be most familiar with.
A ‘post’ differs between Facebook and Instagram. On Facebook, you can create a post directly from your page, and add text, photos, videos, and lots of other extras such as checking in at a venue, expressing an emotion, or adding a ‘call to action’ to encourage people to interact with you (for instance, by messaging your page or donating to a fundraiser).
On Instagram, a ‘post’ is slightly different. It must have a photograph or short video with it, and it provides fewer extras. However, Instagram does offer you filters and cropping tools to use before you post, so you can enhance the look of your content.
You can also add a location and tag other Instagram accounts in your post. If you tag another account, your image will appear on that user’s profile in the tags section. If you add a location, your image will be seen by anyone viewing content tagged at that location.
On both platforms, a post will be seen in your followers’ main newsfeeds and if a follower goes to look at your page, they will see a ‘timeline’ of your posts on Facebook or your ‘grid’ of photos and videos on Instagram.
On both platforms posts are permanent unless you choose to delete them. On Instagram you can also archive a post, so that only you can see it.
Because posts are permanent, creators tend to make them more polished than Stories or Reels, and on Instagram especially, some accounts will even have a ‘grid theme’ that means their posts all have a common style, layout and colours. This can range from just posting in black and white to creating each post in editing software such as Canva or Photoshop and posting them in a specific order so they lay out perfectly in the grid! (It goes without saying that this requires a lot of time, effort and expertise.)
2. Story
Stories first emerged on Instagram several years ago and were later rolled out to Facebook. Think of them as Meta’s version of Snapchat.
You need to know two main things about Stories: they’re short (just 15 seconds long) and they’re temporary (by default they will only show on your account for 24 hours, though you can still view them privately from your archive).
Stories on both platforms appear in portrait, so they’re very much aimed at mobile users (a recent study by Hootsuite showed that more than 80% of Facebook users will only view the platform on mobile phones).
Stories appear at the top of the screen on both networks; either as a circular icon or, on the desktop version of Facebook, a portrait icon.
You can add various media to your Stories: images, quick video snippets, filters, stickers, countdowns, location, polls, music, hashtags, and more recently, web links. Instagram has far more options in terms of add-ons for Stories, but they’re generally similar on Facebook.
As I mentioned, Stories are temporary, but on Instagram there is a way to keep them on your profile by adding them to a ‘highlight’. A highlight is a group of Stories that you can give a title to, and they appear above your ‘grid’ of posts on your profile page.
3. Reel
