Facebook vs Twitter – How Smart Marketers Use Both Differently

The following is an excerpt. The complete article, available in our Facebook Marketing Bible, includes more key differences between Twitter and Facebook, Twitter mistakes to avoid, and how to optimize your marketing strategy for the two platforms.

Facebook is not Twitter, and Twitter is not Facebook.

For veteran users of both platforms, this statement is well understood. But for marketers and brands new to either network, or for those with an extensive level of experience in one but not the other, the differences are not immediately apparent.

In this article, we compare brand Twitter Profiles to Facebook Pages, looking at the ways in which one is different to the other and the pros (and cons) each platform offers to the marketer.

How Do Facebook and Twitter Compare?

While the marketer’s aspirations for both platforms are similar – namely, to build a large and engaged audience to raise brand awareness and drive footfall – the manner in which each network and audience is approached and cultivated needs to be tailored specifically to that network.

Facebook and Twitter have many apparent similarities, both in functionality and in jargon, including:

• Usernames
• Profile Pages
• Avatars
• Status Updates
• Tagging

Both platforms also provide an outstanding way for businesses to market themselves to users, and offer first line customer support. However, the use of similar terminology aside, the ways in which these features are both implemented and received are often very different.

Size

Perhaps the most important difference between Facebook and Twitter is the size of the respective networks. As of July 2011, Facebook said it had over 750 million registered monthly active users. Twitter is cagey with the release of its user data but recent estimations put the platform at somewhere between 200 and 300 million users. However, these numbers only reflect registered accounts — the active user count on Twitter is considerably smaller. For example, third party measurement firm comScore shows it reaching 139 million unique users worldwide in May.

Post Frequency

Popular Facebook Pages typically post one or two updates every day. Whether a Page’s fans see that post is determined by the Facebook news feed EdgeRank algorithm. This is designed to show users the most relevant posts in the default Top News tab of the news feed, though users can also select to view a more comprehensive stream of updates in the Most Recent tab of the new feed.

The goal for marketers with Facebook Page posts is to attain the most Likes and comments, which increase a post’s EdgeRank, and drive re-shares of posts, which expose branded content to the friends of fans. Therefore, marketers should compose posts that they think will be the most engaging for their audience.

Popular Twitter profiles typically post much more frequently, sending out closer to a half dozen tweets a day. Twitter’s stream displays tweets in strict reverse chronological order. A profile followers are therefor only likely to see the tweets if they’re reading Twitter within a small timeframe after an update is published, or if it is retweeted by a high volume of people they follow.

The goal for marketers with Twitter updates is therefore to publish as much solid content as possible in order to catch followers when they’re reading. The real-time nature of Twitter also favors breaking news. The first profile to post about breaking news or something important will often receive many retweets. Therefore marketers should try to turn as much relevant content about their brand into tweets as possible, and move quickly when posting about topics that appeal to a wide audience.

Brand Presence vs. Broadcast Channel

Overall, however, Facebook appears to be most focused on reinforcing its focus on private, real-world connections through ongoing improvements to features like Groups and Chat. It is also focused on providing a platform for full-featured brand presences, where business can host engagement applications, contests, and rich media content as well as distribute updates. Twitter has meanwhile settled into becoming a broadcast channel for brands with some conversational functionality.

Facebook and Twitter share some similarities but these are considerably outweighed by the differences between the two networks and their audiences. Marketers looking for success on both must invest time and expertise into tailoring strategies that fit within the unique constraints of each.

Learn about more key differences — and how to optimize for each platform — in the full Facebook Marketing Bible article.

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Facebook Making Facial Recognition Function Easier to Opt Out Of

Facial recognition software, while all marvelously twenty-first century, creeps some people out in a big way, as companies that have implemented it are beginning to find out.

Earlier this year, social networking site Facebook implemented a facial recognition solution ostensibly to help people “tag (News – Alert)” their photographs better. (The application can automatically recognize who is in the photo and tag them automatically.)

The technology scans photos that are uploaded to Facebook (News – Alert), compares faces in those photos with previous pictures, then tries to match faces and suggest name tags, reports Business Insider. When a match is found, Facebook alerts the person uploading the photos and invites them to tag it (identify the person in the photo by name).

Not everybody liked the convenience. Privacy groups complained, and Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen came calling, sending a letter to the company in June informing it that the application invaded users’ privacy.

Today, Facebook has announced that it will make the function easier to turn off for people who feel it’s just a little too Jason Bourne for their Facebook profile. The company has run ads telling members about the feature and offering instructions about how to opt out.

“People across the country using Facebook will be more aware of our personalized privacy settings, and how they can be used to benefit their experience on the site,” said Tim Sparapani, director of public policy at Facebook. “We hope that people on Facebook will find the results to be helpful and useful.”

Jepsen is satisfied, he said in a statement today.

“Facebook has made significant changes that will provide better service and greater privacy protection to its users, not only in Connecticut, but across the country,” said Jepsen. “The company has been cooperative and diligent in its response.”

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News – Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It’s also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.

Tracey Schelmetic is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Tracey’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell

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