As a business owner, it is important to advertise even when busy to help maintain a steady flow of incoming work. Facebook and Twitter can be extremely effective marketing tools, but often it is hard to maintain a healthy balance for just one. This article looks at both social media platforms highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Facebook
Advantages
- Status updates are not limited to 140 characters, meaning you can write more lengthy and descriptive posts
- You can upload numerous photos, sorting them into albums
- In the UK, Facebook has a larger user-base than Twitter
- You can embed videos within your Facebook page
- Once someone "likes" your page, it is announced on their feed which is viewable by their entire friends list
Disadvantages
- Your Facebook page requires 25 "likes" before you can get a custom URL (such as https://www.facebook.com/vironmedia)
- Gaining "likes" tends to be more difficult than gaining followers on Twitter
- It can be difficult to achieve fan interaction on your page
- You cannot view and interact with friends/fans as easily as a typical personal Facebook profile
Twitter
Advantages
- Gaining new followers is easy when following others
- The flow of updates and user interaction is much faster than Facebook
- You can search Twitter for discussions based on your chosen keywords
- Twitter users tend to follow you more openly than Facebook users
Disadvantages
- Your posts ("Tweets") often get lost in the large stream of user updates
- Your entire list of followers are often a more diluted target audience than Facebook fans
- Tweets are limited to 140 characters (although links can be shortened, which helps)
- Conversations between users aren't as nicely archived and traceable as those on a Facebook page wall
Which is better for business?
There is not really a "one size fits all" solution for social media in business. It all depends on how you use it. If you are limited on time, you need to assess which one best suits your business model. Our experience shows that Facebook is better for more personal interaction, whereas Twitter is good for broadcasts and reaching out to new customers.
If you have any questions or need assistance with social media for your business, please get in touch with us. Alternatively, if you would like to share your own experiences with Facebook and Twitter, and prove some added pros and cons, please leave a comment below.
