Speak the platform’s native language or your best ideas get ignored

Great ideas die when they show up in the wrong clothes. A clever tip written for a newsletter feels stiff as a TikTok script, and the same TikTok, pasted onto LinkedIn, reads like karaoke. Platforms aren’t just places, they’re cultures with habits, in‑jokes, and pacing. People arrive looking for different kinds of value, and the UI nudges them toward certain behaviors: swipe, watch, skim, click. When you respect those cues, even a simple idea lands.

Consider a student group promoting a charity concert. One post becomes three native versions. On TikTok, a 20‑second clip opens mid‑chorus, the phone mic catching the room’s echo while a bold on‑screen hook reads, “Watch the drop, then see how we fight hunger.” On Instagram, a five‑card carousel shows the lineup, ticket link, and a quick map to the venue, each slide clean and on brand. On LinkedIn, the organizer shares a short recap of last year’s funds raised with a simple bar chart and a thank‑you to local partners. Same story, three languages.

You don’t have to become a comedian, designer, and analyst overnight. You do have to stop pasting and start translating. The science here is fit: cognitive fluency suggests people prefer information that feels easy in its context, and expectancy violation theory warns that when your post violates platform norms, people bail. Translation isn’t selling out, it’s making it easier for your audience to say, “This is for me.”

Pick one recent post you lazily reused everywhere, then take 20 minutes to map what TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn each reward—from hooks and cuts to carousels and summaries. Keep your core idea, but rewrite it three ways: a tight vertical video with a strong first second, a clean image or carousel with bold headers, and a short case with one chart or bullet list. Ship them within two days and watch saves, comments, watch time, and clicks to see where context lifted results. You’ll feel the difference fast. Try this once this week and study the gap.