As explained in my last piece, capturing and sustaining people's attention in our fast-paced, brave new world of massive social media adoption and information overload has never been more important and more difficult for brands.

Having an active presence on social platforms doesn't necessarily mean that your followers are engaging with your messages, many are probably even ignoring them. This is why creating perfect social posts and tailoring them for each of your networks is crucial if you want to win the battle for attention and maximise the effectiveness of your social media activities.

However, it's not just about the content though; the network of choice matters too. You may want to communicate the same message on all of your channels, but you need to adapt it to the requirements of those networks. You cannot simply post the exact same thing on Facebook and then on Tumblr for example, slight adaptation (sometimes more than slight) is absolutely necessary because of the way your audiences on those channels actually use them. Simply put, that way is different and unique for each platform: your audiences expect one thing from you when they are congregating on Instagram and a completely different on Twitter.

Knowing how to approach each channel and how to craft the perfect content is a mix of science and art - science, because you need to understand your audiences so that you know what content they would like, need and engage with across social; art, because you have to be creative so that your content can stand out and be seen.

To help you get to grips with the overwhelming content creation and posting requirements of each network, the team at My Clever Agency have created an extensive, practical infographic (see below). It serves as a great guideline that you can print out and hang on your wall to have a quick look whenever you're wondering how to craft your message for a particular platform or when you are unaware of or uncertain about specific formats.

The infographic offers best practice advice, including tips on visual content as well as crafting optimum text copy, for all major platforms - blogs, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, Vine and Tumblr.

This bunch of knowledge is extremely beneficial for anyone developing social media posts and hoping to get the most of it in terms of sharability, engagement, etc.

Some key takeaways from the infographic:

• Blogs: Add keywords in your title and keep it short to grab reader's attention.
• YouTube: Make sure you name the file you want to upload with the same catchy title you are going to use.
• Facebook: Keep your posts positive to inspire and excite and make use of visuals.
• Twitter: Shorten your links to get more retweets.
• Pinterest: Images with lots of red or orange get 2x the amount of repins.
• Google+: Tag brands and people as they would get a notification and potentially engage back.
• Instagram: Use the rule of thirds - put the subject of the photo in only two thirds of the screen as it’s visually more appealing that way.
• Vine: Use a tripod to keep videos steady and avoid that shaky-camera effect.
• Tumblr: Never steal posts, but reblog and like to engage and be visible to the community.

Of course, not every company has to be active on each and every one of those channels. Smart social media specialists develop strategies that activate only those platforms that are relevant for the company in question. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here. A B2B business (e.g. a bank) should have a presence on LinkedIn, but not necessarily on Tumblr because the latter doesn't offer much value or possibilities to engage with or rather even to find the right audience there.

Another important thing to mention is that the best timings to post included in the infographic at the end do not necessarily hold true for all. Finding the optimum timings to share your content online is pretty much a trial and error exercise. By experimenting with posting at different times you can continuously monitor how your content performs and based on that data to determine the best time to post with regards to your own audiences and when they are active.

Enjoy the infographic!

(Click on the infographic for a larger view)

Image and infographic from My Clever Agency