Can’t we just post the same thing on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn?

Share the same news on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, but never the same post. Each platform frames a picture differently and cuts a caption after its first lines, so a post made for one arrives cropped or cut short on another. It’s tempting to post the same thing, as Meta’s own Business Suite publishes to Facebook and Instagram at once by default (opens in a new tab). But the crop, the cover, the first line and the ask need to change for each.

Shape each picture for its platform

Instagram’s profile grid crops every post to 3:4, three wide by four tall, which is also the tallest photo Instagram takes (opens in a new tab). LinkedIn’s tallest photo is 4:5 (opens in a new tab), and it crops anything taller to fit. That means a square post loses a quarter of its width on Instagram’s grid, and a photo made for Instagram loses a thin strip from its top and bottom on LinkedIn.

Make the Instagram version 3:4 and the LinkedIn version 4:5, and keep words and logos well inside the edges.

Leave a reel’s edges clear

One vertical video can work as a reel on both Facebook and Instagram. But your account name, the caption and the buttons sit over the picture, and Meta’s guide for reel ads (opens in a new tab) suggests keeping roughly the bottom third, and a band across the top, free of words and logos. On your profile, Instagram’s grid also trims an eighth off the top and bottom of the reel’s cover, the still that shows there.

Keep words and faces in the middle, and pick a cover that still works trimmed. Leave off any watermark or border, too: Instagram says it makes reels with them less visible (opens in a new tab).

Write three first lines

On Facebook and LinkedIn, the words sit above the picture. On Instagram, they sit below it. Every feed shows only the start of a long caption, then hides the rest behind “more”. So write a first line for each platform that works on its own: someone who reads nothing else should still get the news. Then ask for one thing per post.

Say a furniture maker opens a second showroom. On LinkedIn, the post might start with the twelve jobs it brings and ask people to apply. On Instagram, the room itself leads, with an invitation to visit. Facebook gets the opening-day hours.

Turn the news into three posts

1. Write the news down in one plain sentence.
2. Make a version for each platform, in its shape, with its own first line and one ask.
3. In Meta Business Suite, untick one of the two accounts and post each version separately.
4. Preview each one on its platform, on a phone, before it goes out.

You plan the three posts side by side. Everyone else sees each one alone, in its own feed.