Facebook Versus Twitter
Many new businesses and seasoned businesses sometimes struggle to know which online marketing tools are most effective to promote their brands. Because the online marketing world and mobile marketing world are constantly changing, it becomes imperative for businesses to educate themselves on the latest marketing trends. Two such tools, which companies may seek out, are Facebook and Twitter. Although some similarities remain between these two online marketing tools, each presents some distinct differences, which gives both a contrasting edge.
One convenience both Facebook and Twitter share involves their accessibility. Both the business and the consumer share in this leeway. For the business, this offers a great opportunity to reach the consumer anytime, anywhere. For the consumer, he has access to information about his desired brand wherever he goes, whatever he is doing. Both groups receive value from this aspect.
Facebook and Twitter offer free services. Although, companies must pay Facebook for the “pay per click” on their banner ads, the banner ads still offer free advertisement, as multiple consumers see the ads—even if they choose not to click. Word of mouth is a free service, provided by the consumers through Facebook and Twitter. And the last free service is the ability to send updates / “tweets” about brands, without paying any money to do so. Both provide multiple free services, but Facebook offers one step further.
Twitter has more traffic initially to its website than Facebook, which has the potential to generate more profits. According to a Nielsen blog earlier in 2009, Twitter was noted to have a monthly growth rate of 1,382 percent. However, Twitter only retains 40 percent of all users. On the contrary, Facebook serves more than 350 million active users. Although, it may grow at a slower pace, 228 percent monthly, Facebook has a much better retention rate. Where consumers will see ads and read updates over and over again about brands on Facebook, offering engagement continuously, Twitter will have to make a really great one-time impression to promote a brand.
Another great distinction between these two entities is in function. While Facebook acts primarily as a social-network resource, Twitter works as a social-network and micro-blogging service. Again, consumers can access both via their mobile devices. However, there is a pretty big difference here. Facebook members can send as many updates with unlimited characters as they want. However, “tweets” are designed as sms messages, meant to be sent via mobile devices, and restricted to 140 characters or less. Consequently, Twitter’s updates are shorter and typically contain a link of some sort. The problem with Twitter arises in the idea of the micro-blogging. Sometimes companies are sending too many updates about brands. Eventually, consumers will begin to ignore the multiple “tweets” sent and view the bulk sms messages as a form of “spam,” whereas Facebook updates, sent less regularly, will continue to add value to brands.
Facebook offers banner ads to companies, who are wishing to promote their brands, while Twitter does not. Facebook also allows companies or brand promoters to provide unlimited updates with unlimited characters about brands (as mentioned above). On the flip side, Twitter uses “tweets” as the soul purpose of marketing. The short sms messages, which make up the “tweets,” are concise, which is great, but mostly sent too often. Both offer engagement with brands via posts/”tweets,” because consumers are friends or fans of / follow the brands they like. Inevitably, consumers will engage by reading the posts / “tweets” from their friends / the companies or individuals they follow. However, Facebook appears to have the leading edge here. The catchy, colorful, and moving banner ads seem to attract more traffic. Consumers seem to like less when it comes to updates / “tweets.” No one likes to feel bombarded with too many messages. Because of these two distinctions, Facebook seems to provide more viable means of online marketing.
Filed under: Home Based
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