Twitter vs Facebook: Which is Really Better?

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Twitter vs Facebook: Which is Really Better?

Twitter-vs-Facebook-Debate Choosing the right social media platforms for your business to have a presence on is absolutely critical to the success of your online marketing strategy. When it comes down to it, most businesses choose to incorporate Facebook and/or Twitter into their social media marketing strategies. These are the two social media powerhouses with some of the highest numbers of active users. But if you want to be more selective with the sites that you have a social media presence on, taking a deeper look at Twitter vs Facebook can help you determine which social networking site is best for your business.

Let’s assess 3 core components of each platform and see how Twitter vs Facebook performs in each of these areas–a Twitter vs Facebook matchup if you will:

Round 1: Growth Both Facebook and Twitter offer organic and paid ways to grow your online following. However, on Facebook, it has become nearly impossible to grow your audience without spending a penny in facebook page like ads.

Contrary to Facebook, Twitter gives you the ability to grow your audience without any paid advertising, if you choose to.

Which is a major plus for those with little to no advertising budgets. Facebook is recognized for being a leader in paid social media advertising due to its wide breadth of targeting tools that makes it easy to reach and grow your audience. On Facebook you can target based on the following:
  • Location
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Language
  • Interest
  • Behaviors
  • And more…
You can also advertise to your website visitors, email list, and phone contacts on Facebook to get them to like your page. Facebook targeting is second to none – making it the best platform to laser-target your audience and grow your community of followers that are genuinely interested in what your business is offering.

Twitter, too, is very effective in fueling growth through advertising.

Here’s a peek at Twitter’s advertising platform to grow your following: Twitter vs Facebook On Twitter you can target based on the following:
  • Location
  • Gender
  • Language
  • Followers
  • Interest
  • Behaviors
  • And more…
The only thing Twitter is missing is the ability to target by age. So, which platform is better for growth? Winner: We’re going to have to call this one a tie. Because it depends. If you don’t have an advertising budget, choose Twitter as the platform to grow an audience on. It will cost you nothing but time, though you won’t have the targeting options mentioned above. But… …if you do have an advertising budget, Facebook is the clear winner based on their laser-targeted options to find the potential customers most interested in your business. Ultimately, Facebook and Twitter are both very effective social media platforms for growing your online following and creating awareness for your brand. Round 2: Reach If you look at the user statistics of Facebook, it’s pretty much impossible for any other social networking site to compete. Facebook has 1.44 billion active monthly users, and 968 million of those users are active on Facebook on a daily basis. Here’s a breakdown of the demographic makeup of Facebook: Facebook demographics

On the other hand, Twitter has 316 million monthly users.

And here’s a breakdown of the demographic makeup of Twitter: Twitter demographics That’s not to say that Twitter doesn’t offer any advantages to your business, though. 49 percent of all Twitter users choose to follow brands or companies on Twitter. Considering the massive number of Facebook followers, there is a very good chance that your audience has a presence on this popular social media platform. However, with so much content flowing through Facebook, your audience will typically only see less than 20 percent of the content that you share on Facebook. Therefore, in order to make sure your audience is seeing your content on Facebook, you really need to pay for advertising and exposure. In comparison, the content that you share on Twitter has the potential to reach 100 percent of your followers for free. Keyword: Potential Because the content shared on Twitter moves so quickly, there is a very good chance that your followers may not see your tweets. Winner: In terms of reach, we’re declaring Facebook the winner. Facebook has the largest audience by far in comparison to any other social media platform out there. Even though the typical organic Facebook post reaches less than 20 percent of followers, businesses can pay to use Facebook’s highly specialized targeting tools to help ensure that their content is being seen by the right people. While Twitter does get your content in front of your followers, it moves so quickly that your tweets can be gone in a matter of seconds. Round 3: Advertising With Facebook paid advertising, your business has ridiculous power over its targeting options. Facebook allows you to be very specific with the audience that you want your content to reach. You can narrow your audience down to the number of hairs on their head. Ok, it’s not that targeted but it sure feels like it. You can also factor in purchasing behaviors of Facebook users when building an audience for your ad campaign. Facebook has forged partnerships with huge data brokers like Epsilon and Datalogix that reveal much more about consumers than just how they’re spending their time on Facebook. For example, you can target specific purchasing behaviors by industry such as clothing, food and drink, and health and beauty. Basically, you can target ads to Facebook users that have purchased products and services similar to those offered by your business. Facebook offers a wide variety of ads that your business can choose from to best accomplish your objectives, and outlined below is a quick sampling: Facebook targeting And a brief description of each objective:
  • Page post engagements: Increase engagement on your post and get people seeing, liking, commenting on and sharing your content
  • Page likes: Reach people in your audience who are likely to take the action of liking your Page
  • Clicks to website: Send people to any website you like
  • Website conversions: Reach people in your audience who are likely to convert (purchase, signup, etc.)
  • App installments: Create an ad with a link to the app store where people can install your app
  • Event responses: Get people to see and respond to your event
  • Offer claims: Create an ad with a coupon, discount or another special deal you want to provide
Ad placement does matter on Facebook, and understanding how your audience is using Facebook (from a mobile device or a desktop computer) matters in choosing your ad placement. If you need help choosing the perfect objective, read this article on Facebook objectives. Cost is naturally a consideration with Facebook advertising, but you can choose a strategy that fits within your budget.

Of course, with advertising, most businesses are debating whether Twitter vs Facebook is the better social media platform to advertise on.

And a description of each objective:
  • Followers: Grow your community on Twitter
  • Website clicks: Send people to your site (to purchase, signup, etc.)
  • App installs: Get people to install or engage with your mobile app
  • Leads: Collect emails from people who express interest in your offer
  • Video Views: Get people to watch your video
So, which platform is best for advertising? Winner: When it comes to social media advertising, Facebook comes out on top.

While Twitter may come close, it’s hard for any social media platform to compete with Facebook’s wide range of targeting options for social media advertising.

So, when taking a look at all 3 of these core components for social media advertising and assessing whether Twitter vs Facebook is the smarter advertising outlet for your business, which platform comes out on top? The truth is, there’s not really one right answer. It all depends on your business and the audience that you want to reach. For example, if you look at the user stats of the social media sites, you may learn that your targeted demographic is actually spending more time on Twitter vs Facebook. Ultimately, it’s best to use a combination of both Twitter and Facebook as these two advertising outlets work very well together. Also, this will give you a more clear indication as to whether Twitter vs Facebook is a better use of your time and money. It’s definitely worth your while to review the demographics of each social media site to ensure that your targeted audience has a presence on the sites that you platforms that you are using to promote your business.