Twitter or Facebook. Pepsi or Coca Cola. Which is better for my particular Social Media Internet marketing strategy? Okay, so maybe Pepsi or Coca Cola can't directly benefit you unless you need the Caffeine to stay awake while reading this article. But there's little doubt that Facebook, Twitter- or both can directly produce amazing benefits for your Social Media Internet marketing strategies. The bigger question has become which one and why? So I'm going to cut to the chase and do a benefit comparison of Facebook and Twitter from an Internet Marketing perspective for businesses and online entrepreneurs. And please keep in mind. I'm not biased by either platform. After all, my job is to direct clients to the platform that has the most potential to cost effectively get them the results they are looking for. Let's start by comparing a couple basic Twitter and Facebook traffic and user metrics- Facebook claims to have 300 million users. Twitter's numbers are harder to define but appear significantly less. However, according to latest statistics from a Twitter operated Blog, the volume of daily Tweets has rapidly risen to an astonishing 50 million? Here's a couple more popularity indicators and user metrics:
Facebook US and Global traffic ranking: 2 7 day Average daily time on Site by Users: 32.2 minutes Twitter US and Global traffic ranking: 12 7 day Average daily time on Site by Users: 7.8 minutes Keep in mind that Time On Site doesn't account for the number of times a user returns through out the day, but it's a compelling statistic none the less! Edge: Facebook Comparison as an Online destination for potential clients in the Business to Consumer market- Facebook compares more favorably to a Stand-alone website. In fact, many small businesses that don't have websites have Facebook locations. The Facebook format allows for the inclusion of photos, detailed information, videos, and other business applications. Twitter is much more limited in this area. Most business related Twitter accounts link to a website or Blog to gain this kind of flexibility. Requiring a "double click". Which studies show diminish your website or Blogs potential traffic. Edge: Facebook
Comparison as an Online destination for potential clients in the Business to Business market- Trends indicate that Twitter is the preferred Business to Business marketing tool at the moment. Reasons attributable to this include Twitter's Viral Marketing flexibility. Popular industry related Tweets are redistributed creating a greater domino effect even if you don't have thousands of 'followers'. This also occurs with businesses who don't have a Twitter account. Popular industry related press releases or articles often find their way into Twitter organically and multiply. Edge: Twitter
Using the platform to monitor what people are saying- About your company name (or your competitors!), service, product or a particular area of interest like 'Social Media Marketing'. Twitter has a search feature that allows you to enter a subject. It returns the latest real time Twitter results. It's also good for tracking increasing or declining trends. Facebook now has capability in this area but it's not as user friendly from my point of view. Edge: Twitter Internal Viral Marketing benefits- Facebook has greater internal reach. Partially because it's much easier to build a large following. Additionally, Facebook's community Wall feature is much more interactive than Twitter's internal communication devices. Edge: Facebook. External Viral Marketing benefits- Twitter has greater external reach. This can be illustrated by the comparing the number of Tweets an article or press release receives verse the number times they are shared by Facebook accounts. Also, if you've done extensive article or press release marketing and studied important Internet visibility metrics. You'll find that popular submissions receive greater external online Viral and organic exposure from Twitter. Re-tweets are externally measurable and their broad based Internet search impact is stronger. Edge: Twitter
Google Caffeine's implementation of a 'real time' search feature- Advantage to Twitter and just might be the reason Twitter refused a buyout from Facebook? Also, Facebook has since been attempting to emulate many of Twitter's unique features in this area with varying success. Edge: Twitter. Ability to build a large network of qualified followers in the shortest amount of time to help brand and market a product or service. Edge: Facebook Best platform for direct Internet communication: Facebook has an instant message feature that allows you to communicate globally. A free Internet conference call without the static or software issues surrounding a mechanism like Skype. Twitter has a direct message component that allows you to alert or update a select follower but it's not much faster than email.
Edge: Facebook. Final score by my count- Five for Facebook and four for Twitter. Additionally, the popularity index based on sheer user numbers and other metrics favors Facebook. And it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon. The more important question becomes which one will be the first choice for audience specific Social Media Marketing strategies by the end of 2010 and beyond? Conclusion- To maximize your Social Media Internet marketing results it's best to create a presence on both Facebook and Twitter. As outlined above they each have their own individual strengths and abilities. If trying to decide which one you want to engage first, or where to spend the most amount of your available time, follow this rough rule of thumb. Start with Twitter if you have a ready collection of important news, information, or opinions you want to share. And share immediately. If you're initial objective is to create a strong Social Media presence by leveraging your existing online presence then Facebook would be the best place to start. If you're in the Business to Business market start with Twitter. If you're in the Business to Consumer market start with Facebook. However, it's very clear that in either case you really can't go wrong if you engage in some form of Internet Market research, apply the findings to your target audience and find a way to creatively address them. If you've found this article useful or interesting please post it to your Facebook or Tweet it from your Twitter account. If you have additional questions don't hesitate to email me or use my company website's Private Feedback Form. Privacy and confidentiality is not only ensured, it's a beneficial business practice! Irbtrax Twitter: http://Twitter.com/IrbtraxSeo
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