Social Media Optimization 2014: Twitter or Facebook ?

Whether it is the short tweets of the internet’s darling birdie, or the groups, pages, and thumbs up ‘likes’ of Facebook that rocks your website’s boat, there is one of these two online outlets to keep your SMO up to par in the new year. These two complement and compete with each other’s style and have ever since the inception of Facebook nearly a decade ago. But wise companies, organizations and businesses have no problem with utilizing the differing strengths of both Twitter and Facebook to round out their social media marketing strategy while appealing to users of either one or bothZodiac bateau pneumatique. Those individuals who prefer to follow their favorite brands, individuals and trends via Twitter tend to be a fan of short and succinct posts that demand only a second’s or a minute’s attention. Those who ‘like’ their best organizations, movements, or companies on Facebook, however, tend to keep up better with longer discussions and are more virtually involved via comments and polls. But which of the two vastly different but equally dominating social media giants takes the cake when it comes to presiding over the social scene of 2014?

Let us first take a moment to examine the different influencing spheres of Twitter and Facebook. Your typical Twitter user is perhaps a celebrity (‘internet famous’ or otherwise), a brand, or an individual who desires to spread and connect information in frequently released bite sized pieces to a massive audience. Twitter is excellent for boosting your name or brand or concept up to the front burner of people’s minds, which therefore increases brand loyalty, sales, and awareness of events, coupons, specials and discounts. Those who are online for a good majority of their professional or personal day may find it easier to consume information in these small, manageable pieces, rather than being overwhelmed by large blog essays or emails. Twitter is not especially locally relevant or even particularly personable, but has enjoyed a significant amount of success on a large and even national level.

Facebook, on the other hand, is used by everyone from your tween to masses of college students to older individuals who want a way to contact people that they went to high school with. The groups and forum-style discussion that occurs through Facebook makes it a genius tool for social media, because you can check on what your favorite local coffee shop is brewing this week while at the same time checking up on your sibling who is posting pictures of their family vacation.

With these differences in mind, which outlet should you be targeting in order to get the most out of your social media outreach in 2014? As always, it depends on who you are. If you represent a local business or organization who aims to spread awareness and keep yourself in the forefront of your customer’s minds, try focusing your efforts on Facebook. Facebook has more users overall, is more friendly territory for those who are somewhat unfamiliar with the internet, and offers more potential for discussion and action. People will log into their Facebook just to see what their friends are up to, and then as a byproduct of this they will see what companies or movements are doing in their local area, or what online shopping discounts their coworkers just posted about. Those who log into Twitter, on the other hand, are more often doing it specifically to keep up with celebrities and brands that they follow, rather than personal friends. So those who get the most out of social media via Twitter might be large, national corporations or famous names who are destined to gain a large following right away. One of the keys to 2014 SMO is personal and local relevance, so Facebook seems to be the preferred way to go to get people engaged, active and aware of whatever you are trying to promote.

Courtesy : http://www.socialfish.org/2014/02/social-media-optimization-2014-twitter-or-facebook.html