Should you business use Facebook, Twitter or both?

Before the advent of social media, businesses reached customers through traditional advertising.

Ads on television and in magazines provided the bulk of customer interaction outside of face to face meetings. Word of mouth was the old style of social advertising.

Social networking is similar to word of mouth advertising, only on a global scale. Information moves lightning fast on the Internet. What is posted on Twitter or Facebook can go viral in minutes. A particularly good campaign can bring in new customers around the world.

Between the two social media giants, which is better for your business? Could it be possible that using both will be the best bet?

Facebook

Facebook is the one site in the world that has the most 'hits'.

It is viewed millions of times a day by millions of people. For social marketing purposes, Facebook is an amazing tool.

Unlike micro-blogging, Facebook allows you to post videos, long updates, run campaigns and events, plus pay for promotion. Advertising is easy, plug in the amount of money you'd like to spend on ad placement per day and watch the 'likes' roll in.

Customer service integration is also easy.

People that like a business page can send messages with questions, or post on the timeline of the page. This public customer service gives you a chance to let your customer service skills shine.

There are negative aspects, but even negative comments can be addressed in a way that allows others to see you care about customers.

Event creation is a great way to bring customer's attention to an event you are planning or that is in progress. Customers can choose to 'join' the event, participate, and even donate time or goods for charity events.

Interaction on Facebook is more personal than on some social sites which is a great tool for engaging audiences.

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Twitter

Twitter is a form of social networking known as micro-blogging.

People can post short updates up to 140 characters. Their followers can interact by 'favoriting' tweets, retweeting, and tagging tweets with hashtags.

The beauty of using Twitter for a business is that thousands of people can share your message in an instant. Interaction is similar to instant messaging, only with a potential audience of thousands or more.

As with Facebook, Twitter can be a place where customer service is showcased. The limit of characters in messages and tweets can put a damper on this, though.

Using Twitter and Facebook together is often the best choice for business.

Not every person that has one account will have another on the opposite network. Forcing people to sign up for one social account just to monitor your information can drive away some customers.

If possible, keep up on both networks. Their linking abilities allow your tweets to show up on Facebook while all statuses from both networks can be shared through a website 'widget'.

Keep all of your customers or potential customers in the loop by taking advantage of two networks instead of one.

About the Author

Tina Samuels writes on removing spokeo.cominformation, social media, and small business solutions.