eCommerce marketers always have to ask themselves “where am I going to see the best bang for my buck.” Bucks don’t 
just mean money, but as we know social media marketing is considered more or less “free,” but what’s not free is time. Time is one of a eCommerce marketer’s most valuable resources. When it comes to social media, we really have to think through how much focus we should put on the various platforms. A recent Mashable article, Facebook “Likes”
More Profitable Than Tweets [STUDY] reported:
[Eventbrite] announced Wednesday that an average tweet about an event drove 80 cents in ticket sales during the past six months, whereas an average Facebook Like drove $1.34…[Reason?:] People shared Eventbrite events on Facebook almost four times as often as they did on Twitter. The company attributes this disparity to Facebook’s wider reach and greater emphasis on real-world ties.
Does this mean that Facebook is better for promoting events, services, or products? Not necessarily. Facebook does seem to be THE platform where people go to share things with closer friends and acquaintances, whereas Twitter has become more of a place to broadcast life events and insights with the world. We assume a tighter circle of Facebook friends are much more likely to take recommendations more seriously over any number of virtual Twitter strangers.
Should you just quit wasting time and shove Twitter aside? Not yet. First run your own tests to see which is working better for your business. If you see differing results than what was discussed here, please feel free to share by commenting on this blog.
Here are a few things you need to remember if you want to maximize your social media interactions:
- Twitter is still a good medium for event coverage and other business updates (mainly because search engines quickly index your keyword-rich posts, which become great fodder for those searching for what you’re releasing.)
- It’s fairly simple and convenient to sync Twitter to your Facebook page/Linkedin etc. so might as well let your other social posts go out through Twitter too.
- Don’t abandon your account. So many businesses set up Twitter accounts only to abandon them weeks later, which can cause frustration among a customer base that expects you to reply to customer service oriented mentions, direct messages, etc.
Social media, like driving, isn’t too difficult to manage, as long as your watching the road and responding to what’s out there.
