Twitter is the subject of a lot of online buzz, and there are clear benefits in maintaining a presence for your business there if you have the resources. However, most small business owners and marketers who only have time to track one social network should consider focusing on Facebook instead.
There are exceptions, of course. Twitter is popular for a subset, and it's very attractive to marketers because it gives them some access and capabilities that Facebook won't provide. But Facebook is where the majority of your customers are living their lives, and it provides the easiest-to-measure path to a return on investment.
Here's why you should give careful consideration to your Facebook strategy—and a note on why this doesn't mean everyone should drop their Twitter efforts.
Facebook has 750 million users
Last month, Facebook hit 750 million users. It's a boggling number—roughly 11 percent of the world's population, and nearly half of the population of people currently using the Internet. There is no social media platform with greater reach.
Now, the sheer numbers won't matter to you if your business is local. Your business might not be looking for customers who live thousands of miles away. That said, a greater percentage of the would-be customers in your community use Facebook than use other networks.
Facebook has more ways to engage
There is something to be said for quality over quantity, and in many cases Facebook has the edge there too. Facebook allows you to create events, check-in locations, local deals, galleries, and other tools that draw customers in and drive engagement.
Some of these features are available on Twitter as well, but they're provided by third parties which integrate with Twitter, like Foursquare. The problem is that some of the people you're trying to reach on Twitter might not also have accounts with those other services.
Facebook integrates all those things under one virtual roof. You can tie events and check-ins in with your primary business Page, so engagement with one feature can easily lead to engagement with another. That means more results for less work.
Facebook is a robust advertising platform
Facebook's computers read the profiles and updates written by the social network's members, then targets ads to those people based on what they've written. It's how the company makes its money.
You can link these ads back to your business' Facebook Page, along with all those check-in offers and events. It won't work for everyone, but more and more business owners are including Facebook in their advertising strategies.
One study found midway through this year that Facebook ad buys grew 280 percent year over year. Furthermore, the social network is always adding helpful new ways to manage your ads. Some of your competitors may already be using this platform.
When you should focus on Twitter instead
Because of all these factors, Facebook is critical to most businesses—particularly small or local ones. But Twitter shouldn't be ignored by everyone.
Many Twitter users are bigger spenders, for one thing. More importantly, Twitter allows you to track what people are saying about your brand publicly. Facebook only gives you the tools to track what people say directly to you on your Page, or the updates people have flagged for public consumption. The thing is, most people keep their Facebook updates private.
This is not the case for Twitter users. You can easily search for mentions of your company or products on Twitter, giving you the opportunity to take the initiative to engage with people who wouldn't have thought to go to you directly.
The best business social media strategies will include both Facebook and Twitter, but start with Facebook. Once you're comfortable there, head out into the wilder Twitter frontier.
American Express OPEN offers YourBuzz, a free app that can help you manage your online reputation and connect with customers via social media. For more information or to start, visit YourBuzz.com/freeapp.
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