USE FACEBOOK AND TWITTER TO BUILD BRAND AWARENESS
And then there was two. Twitter and Facebook.
With all due respect to visually inclined platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, we focus today on the Batman and Robin of social media, Twitter and Facebook. Or more specifically, how these two platforms are are a one-two punch used to build brand awareness.
Facebook has 757 million daily users, which would make it the third largest country in the world. Twitter has 248 million monthly users who share 500 million tweets every day. The sheer number of each platform puts them on top of any marketing strategy to build brand awareness.
But the two platforms working in tandem? Now we’re getting somewhere. In this way, Twitter and Facebook are the yin and yang of social networks, used by the same people for different reasons. Twitter’s strength is its immediacy, and it excels in breaking news and events. Facebook is more of a deep dive, and content has a longer shelf life.
In planning your brand awareness campaign, the question shouldn’t be Twitter or Facebook, but Twitter AND Facebook. Your goal is to shape content that fits on both platforms.
REVENUE AND ADS
In the past, Twitter and Facebook were at a constant crossroads of a growing or stagnant user base, with the question of how each platform is going to generate revenue. But now, the objective is clear: targeted ads.
Every Facebook status update, picture upload, or tweet sent out translates into date. The end game is to turn that data into marketing and advertising dollars. Facebook has done exceptionally well at this, generating $7.9 billion last year. Twitter lags behind, making $665 million in 2013.
THE TAO OF CONTENT SHARING
Social network discussions always involve brand awareness through content sharing, and Facebook is mighty impressive in this respect as they drive 20 times more traffic to sites than Twitter. But these numbers may be missing a key point. Facebook not only has the largest numbers to begin with, but content lives longer in a user’s feed. The nature of Twitter gives content a shorter shelf life, although their recent feature of “pinning” a tweet to a profile is a good start to longevity.
As Mark Schaefer said when we interviewed him for our blog, the relevancy of Twitter relies heavily on a second screen. This displays how Twitter is at its best as a secondary source to document reaction and analysis, as opposed to the stimulus itself (Facebook).
MOBILE: THE KEY TO THE FUTURE
If content is now, sharing content through mobile is both now, and the future. With 945 million mobile users on Facebook and 227 million mobile user on Twitter, mobile is where your marketing campaign and brand awareness must thrive.
52% of social sharing happened on mobile devices this year, largely driven by Facebook (Facebook’s smartphone app alone generated 53% of the company’s revenue). 62% of articles shared on Twitter came from a mobile device.
So let’s start our conclusions by working backwards. Mobile and content sharing are where the magic (the virality of content) happens. Facebook is especially dominant at this specific purpose, and content lasts longer. Twitter is at its best during a live event, where the peaks are higher, but ultimately, shorter.
One is adept at the long game, the other great for the short game. And both are essential for increasing your brand awareness.
