Something we see all the time from marketers and brands who want to streamline their social strategy is repurposing content but using the same creative across multiple platforms. While reusing content is certainly efficient, not tailoring the creative for different platforms or outcomes often results in a mixed or lack-lustre performance.

Why? Because each platform, whether you’re posting on Instagram, TikTok or LinkedIn, has its own unique algorithm, audience behaviours and ad objectives that dictate what content performs best. A one-size-fits-all approach sidelines these nuances and can lead to lower engagement, inefficient ad spend, and higher customer acquisition costs (CAC).

The key to making your paid social work smarter is platform-specific creative, optimising the content you already have to align with each platform’s conventions and audience behaviours.

Why Platform-Specific Creative is Essential for Success

1. Algorithms Reward Content That Matches Platform Expectations

Each social media platform’s algorithm prioritises different engagement signals. While TikTok favours watch time and shares, Instagram still favours aesthetics and reel with strong hooks.

Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram Ads) prioritises relevance and ad diversity/testing, meaning multiple variations of an ad can outperform a single, static version, while LinkedIn favours content with professional insights and industry relevance, making thought-leadership posts more effective than direct sales pitches.

Understanding what each platform favours is crucial to ensuring your content gets noticed.

2. Audience Behaviour Varies According to the Platform

Even if the same users are on multiple platforms, their behaviours will change based on where they are.

For example, a user on TikTok is most likely seeking entertainment, escapism and authenticity, while a user on LinkedIn is typically looking for inspirational and informative content, valuable industry knowledge and networking opportunities—not a day-in-the-life vlog or a Zara shopping haul.

Understanding these audience behaviours means you can ensure your creative aligns with what users expect, leading to better engagement and conversion rates. Brands who fail to customise their creative for each platform risk losing valuable impressions and clicks to the competitors who do.

How to Optimise Your Paid Social Creative for Each Platform

1. Understand Each Channel’s Strengths

To maximise performance, tailor your creative to the conventions, or ‘strengths’, of each platform:

For TikTok we recommend prioritising UGC-style content, trending sounds, and rapid storytelling or even longer vlog-style content with quick cuts and visual aids.

For Instagram, use strong visual or audio hooks for reels, clear messaging, and high quality creative/visuals in carousel and static ads.

For LinkedIn, lead with educational content, professional testimonials, and industry insights.

Meta Ads promote diversity in ad creative, meaning A/B testing multiple variations can improve performance.

2. Treat Organic & Paid as Separate Disciplines

While your brand’s voice should remain consistent, your organic and paid strategies should be distinct. Organic content helps build trust and foundation while paid content should be optimised for specific outcomes and conversions, with a focus on ad structure and CTA effectiveness. 

It’s important to remember that tailoring your creative for specific ad objectives is also just as crucial as tailoring for a specific platform. The creative for a campaign looking to raise brand awareness should let your brand shine, make users curious and feel inviting, not attempt to convert users straight away and drive sales.

Using the same creative for both can lead to missed opportunities and underwhelming performance.

3. Follow Each Platform’s Best Practices

• Meta Ads: Keep ad creatives fresh, A/B test multiple versions, and use clear CTAs.

• TikTok: Shoot vertically, make it feel native, and engage users within the first 3 seconds.

• Instagram: Optimise for Static and Carousel ads with eye-catching visuals, clear captions, or make use of Reels with strong hooks and effective storytelling.

• LinkedIn: Use authoritative, high-value messaging that speaks directly to professionals.

Final Thoughts

Aligning your creative with the unique features and user behaviours of each social media platform means you can enhance engagement, and therefore improve ad performance and achieve a higher return on investment (ROI).

If you’re looking to refine your paid social strategy with platform-specific creative, we can help. Book in a free consultation with our team and we’ll provide tailored insights to help boost your campaign performances, increase engagement, and lower CPA with platform-optimised ads.