How one article can be marketed on three social media platforms with completely different audiences.
Although I am technically a millennial and I grew up with social media, I still find myself not knowing the basics of TikTok or Threads. Social media is rapidly changing and it’s a struggle to keep up with the newest changes and developments. In an effort to learn more about short-form writing in social media, I explored the differences in posting an article on different platforms.
My article on medium.com is about the gender wage gap and why it hasn’t narrowed in the past few decades. It explores the current educational choices, the impact of motherhood, and the gender biases that have built the foundation for the challenges women face in the professional world. It also provides an emphasis on steps our society needs to take to create equal opportunities for all genders to succeed equally in the global workplace. I created posts in three different social media platforms and compared the audiences and the types of posts appropriate for sharing on each.
Initially, I thought LinkedIn was the perfect place to post my medium.com article. As LinkedIn is primarily used for networking and business purposes, I thought it would be appropriate to tie my article into salary discussions. As it nears towards the end of the year and many employees are gearing up for the end-of-the-year reviews where promotions and salaries are discussed, I thought this was an appropriate time to post about the gender wage gap. Having a greater background on the gender norms and historical context of salaries would help provide more confidence and strength going into a year-end corporate review.
The audience on LinkedIn is usually looking for jobs, looking to network, and for career advice. This was a great place to gather an audience of men and women to increase awareness of the challenges women face in negotiating their salaries and earning promotions.
Instagram posts are a much more personal social media outlet. I chose to use a picture of myself since faces are usually more captivating and personal pictures would be more engaging for my followers. It was a challenging task to find a way to make my medium.com article relevant to my followers. I decided to take a more personal approach. I aimed my post at working mothers and found a way to connect with them over the stressors of working and parenting and still experiencing less wages than our male counterparts.
Hashtags are also important to increase awareness so your content can be shared when searching for common hashtags. For example, I wanted to capture any fellow mothers from other common searchable hashtags such as #momlife, #workingmom, or any similar interest posts from #equalpayday (Sonnenberg, 2023).
Threads
Threads is a relatively new social media platform that is geared at creating community. I was pleasantly surprised at how beneficial this platform would be for my medium.com article. First of all, I found it extremely interesting that the gender split on this plat form is 68% male and 32% female (Vermeulen, 2023). Although my article is a feminist article about why women earn less than men, my intention is to provide education and awareness to men in leadership positions. I started this post as an open ended question to gather engagement and promote discussion around the topic of the wage gap. Because this platform has a relatively young audience, I chose an image with young business professionals for increased relatability. I also tagged in similar equal pay or feminist organizations to increase awareness.
Although I initially thought LinkedIn would be the most appropriate platform for my article, I found that my intended audience would be more easily reached through Threads. LinkedIn is an easy platform to share articles about the workplace. Still, Threads would be the ideal platform to increase education around the gender wage gap to reach a wider male audience.
Citations:
Sonnenberg, A. (n.d.). Instagram organic content strategy: What works in 2023. Social Media Examiner. https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/instagram-organic-content-strategy-what-works-in-2023/
Vermeulen , K. (n.d.). How to use threads: 10 best practices for success. JD Supra. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/how-to-use-threads-10-best-practice-for-6601547/
Becca Gottlieb Creative 
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