Twitter or Facebook – What’s Best for Business?

There is no clear cut answer for this question, but in my opinion Social Media is a case of the sum of the parts exceeding the whole. Both Twitter and Facebook have specific advantages, but together you get a one, two punch that is hard to beat. But if I had to choose one form of Social Media that truly benefits my business it is this blog.

Benefits of Twitter

• More People Use it During Work – It is easier to connect with people during the work day through Twitter.
• Good for SEO – Because Google has incorporated Twitter into its all-powerful search, using Twitter – properly – can help with a company’s SEO. Goes Viral Faster
• It is Easy to Recruit Customers – Since most of the data that gets Tweeted is public there’s a huge opportunity for viral marketing campaigns, in which customers can become promoters of your products, bringing them closer to the company as well as a personal touch on the products that you are selling.
• It Can Propel You Faster into the Spotlight

Benefits of Facebook

• Facebook is about building relationships – Choosing Facebook over Twitter is the obvious choice if you want to build a relationship over the long-term with a customer. Four times as many people use Facebook than Twitter and they spend an average of four times as long on the site. Studies show 7.8% of internet users went to Twitter and spent an average of 7.8 min while 33.8% of all internet users went to Facebook and spent an average of 31.9 min there.
• Facebook is More Personal – Allows you to develop a rapport with people you haven’t met face to face.
• It is good for showing off what we can do.
• It is ideal for educational tips and service inquiries.
• You can network easier – A Facebook business page will allow you to gain valuable information from your “fans” and get them to engage with your company. A good business page can also convert prospects into customer which will ultimately increase sales.”
• It is favored by Generation X the  35-55 year olds.

SEO Social Media Internet Marketing firm analyzed Twitter and Facebook to determine which Social Media Marketing strategy or platform is best for businesses and online entrepreneurs. The analysis focused on Twitter and Facebook strategies from a Viral Marketing, Business to Business, Business to Consumer, and niche marketing perspective.

To view a release that contains the details of parts one, two, three and four of this study click here.

Summary of Business to Business marketing advantages:

Twitter advantages – Twitter performed better in the general business to business marketing category due to its viral marketing benefits. Viral Marketing is a core business to business social media application for Internet exposure and expediency. The 140 character Twitter Re-Tweets (RT’s) that include links to popular or relevant business content can increase branding, drive website traffic and multiply outside of the Twitter network. Including being streamed in Google ‘Real Time’ searches and featured on many third party resource platforms. The study also concluded that it’s not even necessary to have a large group of followers to benefit from Twitter’s viral marketing advantages.

Facebook advantages – Facebook performed better in the business to business marketing category for select companies that are ‘personalities’. These are companies that are already universally recognized by their name, product or service. As such they naturally attract large followings and these followers often take the time to share relevant or important content among themselves and their followers.

Summary of Business to Consumer marketing advantages:

Facebook advantages – Facebook performed better in the majority of Business to Consumer marketing categories due to its format. A format that allows for the inclusion of photos, multiple outbound links, videos, surveys, promotions, direct engagement and other business to consumer applications. Facebook also facilitates the building of a large network of followers in the shortest amount of time to help market a consumer product or service.

Twitter advantages – Twitter performed very well in the Business to Consumer marketing category where mobile real time applications were vital. Mobile real time applications involve announcements that are time sensitive, distributed through a wireless network and intended for your target audience. Announcements of a spontaneous nature involving special offers, breaking news or notification of impromptu public appearances.

Conclusion – The larger study concludes that in order to maximize your Social Media Internet marketing results it’s best to create a presence on both. However, if trying to decide which one to engage first or where to spend the most amount of your available time- It’s important to perform basic Internet Market research, apply the findings to your target audience and weigh the benefits of each platform. The larger study also concluded that SEO combined with Social Media Marketing will yield greater potential results.

My personal results from using Twitter and Facebook have been unremarkable to say the least, but the one thing I can say from using both services is I know more than I ever knew and knew it faster than I would have ever thought possible.

My number one source of leads is this blog and if I could only pick one social media activity it would be to blog and blog and blog.