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Good morning! I’m exhausted! Day 2 of recovering from making my professional 3×3 basketball debut, and everything hurts!!! So I jammed out this Future Social while holding my back and decided hey, why not publish on a Tuesday, it’s done, let’s get it out in the world. Today we’ll hit on:

• Why your brand just has to make short-form vertical video

• Why the same content works on every platform

• Why unique content per channel is a waste of budget

—Jack Appleby

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Your brand should be on every platform.

The most fundamental social strategy building block remains a debated topic.

Which social networks should your brand post content on?

I see a lot of social media thought-leaders pushing the idea that "your brand doesn’t need to be on every platform." And while I get where that sentiment comes from, I gotta be honest—I strongly disagree.

Every platform? Or every* platform?

Let’s clarify what we mean by "every" platform. I’m not talking about BeReal, Lemon8, or the next invite-only app of the week. I’m talking about the core five American platforms: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (or X, if we’re pretending that rebrand stuck). If you’re B2B or selling to professionals, add LinkedIn as the sixth. But anything with under 20 million daily active users? Not worth your time right now.

And listen, I’m not gonna die on the hill of Twitter. I’m not personally on Twitter anymore, but if your brand has followers there? I don’t think it’s worth abandoning, even if you’d rather live a Muskless life.

And no, not Bluesky. Not enough users. Juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

Now here’s why I think your brand’s gotta be on the big 5.

1. Your brand can’t succeed without short-form vertical video

It’s the most important content format right now. Why? Because it’s the content format every platform surfaces to new audiences. Reels, TikToks, Shorts—they’re all built on interest-based algorithms, and all can reach non-followers. That’s how you grow. If you want brand awareness, vertical video is the vehicle. You can (and should) make carousels and static posts, but they’re for retention and engagement. Growth? That comes from video.

2. You can post the same videos everywhere

This is where people overcomplicate things. You can post the exact same short-form vertical video on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook Reels, and Twitter/X. Will there be moments where a trend pops faster on one platform? Sure. But the core idea still travels. People use all the apps. Nobody becomes a wildly different human when they switch from Instagram to TikTok. Good content works across the board.

3. Making unique content per platform is a waste of budget

Trying to make different versions of content for each social platform sounds great in a marketing deck, but it’s expensive and almost never worth it. You’re better off using that budget to make great content that’s platform-agnostic than stretching yourself thin making one-off edits that barely move the needle. If you’re not happy with the performance of your current videos, the issue probably isn’t the platform tweak—it’s the content itself.

4. If you’ve got the content, why not use it?

Most brands already make Reels or TikToks. Why not post those same videos to Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts? Why not get extra reach and build a presence with literally zero extra production cost? The lift is minimal. Post the video. See what happens. There is zero downside to trying.

5. You don’t need community management on every platform

This is where I know the community managers are coming for me. I love CM work. I was a CM! But not having the resources to moderate or engage on a platform doesn’t mean you shouldn’t post there. You can still build a presence and get your content in front of people, then if your content takes off on that platform

The Bottom Line

Being on every major social platform doesn’t mean doing everything on every platform. It means recognizing that we’re in a short-form video-first era, and that every platform wants to reward that format. If you’re making vertical video and not posting it across the Big 5 (or 6), you’re leaving growth on the table.

So stop overthinking it. Post your content. Everywhere. Let the platforms work for you.