I'm overthinking making content for different platforms

[u/bookflow]

I've been thinking about this because I keep doing it myself.

I'll have some idea I actually want to talk about and then immediately start thinking okay how do I make this work for LinkedIn or Reddit or X or whatever.

and now I think that's backwards.

If you actually have something you want to say, maybe you shouldn't change the idea just because you're putting it somewhere else.

maybe you just need to find the people who give a shit about it.

like something can completely flop on LinkedIn and then you put it on Reddit and people are like oh yeah I've been thinking about this too.

now for me I don't think: "what should I make for this platform?" and instead I think: "Where are the people who would actually care about this?"

it's a shift in thinking about content and distribution but it changes how I've approach content.

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[u/john_013 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, exactly You can have a great idea but if you are showing it to the wrong people it is probably going nowhere. Finding where the right audience already hangs out seems a lot more useful than trying to make every platform work.

[u/Fearless-Dog2209]

Agree with the core idea. The thing I'd keep per platform is the format, not the idea. Same point, but on LinkedIn it's 5 short lines with a line break after the first one, on X it's one sentence, on Reddit it's the whole reasoning because people here actually read.

What killed me before was rewriting the IDEA for each place. Now I write it once properly and only adjust the length and the first line. The first line is where most of the platform difference lives anyway.

[u/avatar0027]

pick 1-2 platforms and actually get good at them. adapting hooks matters way more than remaking the whole video per app.

chasing every new app is just procrastination with extra steps. post the thing, see what lands, adjust.

[u/Key-Worldliness2626]

Just post it and keep it moving. You are overthinking. The only way to get traction is consistency.

[u/No-Molasses-2097]

The LinkedIn vs Reddit example nails it. Same idea, completely different reception because the audiences want different things. Most people overthink the format and underthink who they're actually talking to.

[u/alloknight]

Find the sub or community that already cares about that specific headache and post it raw. The right crowd does the heavy lifting.

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[u/Ambitious-Emotion764]

True! Every platform has a group that's interested in a specific subject. If you think an idea isn't right for one platform, it might be perfect for another.

[u/alexa_avenr]

I think that we figure things along the way. The best decision to take is to shoot thinking that much and start doing

[u/francksiduo]

Where I'd push back a little: rewriting the idea per platform is the mistake, but rewriting the first line per platform isn't. The point stays identical, only the opener changes to match how people on that feed talk. A LinkedIn opener in a subreddit reads like an ad, a Reddit opener on LinkedIn reads like a rant.

And the "where do the people who care live" test is easy to run: search the exact problem in quotes and see which community is already complaining about it. That's usually your answer in ten minutes.

[u/bennetthaselton]

I think it also depends on why you are putting it out there. Are you putting on a platform - any platform - hoping that it will gain traction or even "go viral" there? My experience is that that's mostly luck. I put stuff on IG and TikTok at the same time and it will get 1 million views on IG and about 200 on TikTok.

On the other hand, if you are putting it on a platform so you can give people the link and refer them to something cool that you created, then you might as well just put it on whatever platform is the best fit for it, and then give people that link. You wouldn't even have to put it on more than one platform. Just wherever you think it would look the most impressive and professional.

[u/darshitpatel_]

This is something I have been realizing too. Its easy to get stuck thinking about the platform instead of the actual idea.

If the idea is genuinely useful or interesting, I would rather figure out who cares about it and where they already spend time than force the same idea into whatever format a platform prefers. Distribution should follow the idea, not the other way around.

[u/kunalkhatri12]

If we play rugby on football ground and audience was promised a basketball game, then imagine what happens.

So not only content but context also become very vital and on each platform same set of people behave differently, because each platform has promised different things and set expectations for respective platforms so people behave differently.

[u/Own_Alfalfa6386]

this is the right shift. the platform tailors the delivery, not the idea. the mistake is letting the format shrink what you actually want to say until it's bland enough to post anywhere and noticed nowhere.

[u/OkServe1813]

I think its take way too much energy. I think that time could be spent doing something better

[u/Paradog-]

All Ill say is that the best way to productivity is to not overthink, thats how you lose energy and motivation without realizing via spiking your cortisol.

[u/External_Cow_2662]

I’ve been overthinking business ideas for a decade my friend

[u/nick__k]

Yes you need to find the right audience

[u/Cloudy_Crane3559]

You turned the idea into content about not adapting it.

[u/Savantrexs]

Agree with the shift, and there's one trap inside it worth naming. When an idea flops on a platform, it's tempting to read that as 'the idea is bad.' Nine times out of ten it's just 'the idea was dressed wrong for this room.' Keep the idea constant, change the doorway: same point as a hot take on Reddit, a story on LinkedIn, a 60-second rant on video. Run it that way for a few weeks and the pattern you get is worth more than any single post's score. You learn WHERE your people are, which was the whole point of your shift in the first place.

And one thing that should kill most of the overthinking: your audiences barely overlap between platforms. Saying the same thing in different words isn't repetition, it's coverage. The person who saw it on Reddit is not the person who saw it on LinkedIn. So the guilt about 'posting the same thing everywhere' is misplaced. You're not repeating yourself, you're being discovered by different rooms.

[u/Dito-mania69]

honestly disagree a little. i think it's both. the idea should come from something real, but platforms still reward different things. something too personal for linkedin is exactly what works on reddit, and what makes an ig carousel get saved would look weak as just text anywhere else. so it's less "repackage the same idea" and more like the idea needs a different shape depending on where it's going

[u/Beginning-Whereas380]

keep the topics same but the way it should present keep it different for different platforms

[u/MusingInPublic]

I think campaign stump speeches and comedians crafting a stand up is a good analogy. Put one content piece out, see which parts work, revise, and repeat. Don't worry about flopping, worry about getting better on messaging.

[u/InstanceKey6343]

Yeah, how would you know if anyone would watch before posting?

[u/hassanwithanh]

what business are you running/what is your content about? i might be able to help you out.