Social media and networks are as social as selling. A complaining Tweet about a company can be picked up by a different company and maybe a few hours, days or weeks later you close a deal with that other company. Social media can be used for various reasons, but these days it’s all about selling and engaging.
Of all kinds of social media, I think Twitter is the one which is the easiest. How many times have you posted a complaining Tweet because your phone was not working properly, because you couldn’t make a phone call, when a store gave you a damaged item … Been there, done that. How fast do these company actually answer? Most of the time, they don’t even take the time. Luckily there are quite a few other companies which do answer, because they have implemented a great social media strategy and they put time and effort in their customers. One example I would like to give is a campaign from KLM called ‘KLM Surprise’.
KLM wanted to surprise its customers with something they could use on their trip and that wasn’t too big. They gave away about 40 gifts to their customers and made a video showing how they did this. Even though 40 gifts is not much, people were tweeting about it and even that same month the KLM Twitter Feed was viewed more than one million times. It is a great way to start interacting and engaging with your customers. People will tell others about their experience, it is a trending topic on social media and it will give a better Return On Investment than placing a billboard somewhere.
Facebook also gives opportunities to engage with customers. The more you can reach out to customers, the more they will actively participate on Facebook and the better they can engage their customers. The less campaigns per day, the better. So put time and effort in the quality of the campaign, not the quantity. Adding a picture to the campaign, increases total reach and companies should avoid posting between 14:00-15:00. When the campaign is focused on getting Likes and Polls increase the total reach of the campaign, as does the day on which the campaign is posted. Campaigns posted on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have the highest total reach. I tried to think about reasons why the day and time for advertisements are so important for reach. I think it’s because more people work from home at these days and between 14:00 and 15:00 a lot of people are busy with their work of school. What do you think?
Take a look at the infographics. Facebook or Twitter…?
So, Twitter can be used to search for complains or setting hashtags out which will be shared. Or you can use Facebook where people can like and share your message. Facebook can create much more rich content then Twitter, but Twitter may be easier. Many pros and cons. Do you like to follow a brand on Facebook or Twitter? What do you prefer?
- Giamanco, B., and Gregoire, K. 2012. Tweet me, friend me, make me buy. Harvard Business Review 90(7/8) 88-93.
- Li, T., Berens, G. and de Maertelaere, M. (2013). Corporate Twitter Channels: The Impact of Engagement and Informedness on Corporate Reputation. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 18(2), pp.97-126.
- Li, T. and Soonius, G. (2012). Is your social media strategy effective? An empirical study of the factors influencing the success of Facebook campaigns. Proceedings of the Workshop on Electronic Business, Orlando, FL, December
- http://www.digett.com/2011/01/11/klm-surprise-how-little-research-earned-1000000-impressions-twitter
I do follow brands on Facebook. A clothing brand for example. For me it is very convenient because they keep me up to date. They let me know when the new clothing will be in the shops, or when there is sale. I also follow the solarium, so I know when they have special offers. They also have ‘sharing actions’, when you share their advertisement, you can win 20 minutes free sunbathing. I also follow a local restaurant, so I can see what their daily menu is.
Sometimes I also use Facebook as a customer services. There are times that I tried to contact the company through mail and by phone, but “I’m sorry miss, I cannot help you any further”. But when I make a complaint on Facebook, they are suddenly able to solve my problem. So there are a lot of pros when the company is on Facebook, both for them as for the customers.
I do not have a Twitter account, so I would not know how it is to follow a company on Twitter.
It actually kind of shocked me that there a such big differences between Facebook and Twitter, mostly in revenues and net income/loss. I wouldn’t have thought that Twitter has such a big net loss, because it is still a widely used platform.
For me, Facebook seems more appealing to follow a company. A company is able to post a lot of details on Facebook and I am susceptible for this. I like to read a lot of something when I find this interesting, so on Facebook this is more possible than it is on Twitter. A few years ago, I used Twitter as a kind of diary. I posted everything I thought and what I did, because that was what people my age did. As time progressed, Facebook created more respect for people my age and we kind of changed our main social platform. Our way of posting changed, we didn’t post everything, but only things that mattered. I think this is also wherefore this platform is meant. It isn’t meant for people to post everything that’s on their mind, because other people might find this annoying (I do, actually). For companies it is usefull to post detailed information about a certain product or about their company itself. I haven’t used Twitter since my switch, although I still have my account. To come back to your post and the detailed information you provided, I guess I wasn’t the only one thinking this way. Facebook has so much more monthly active users and for me, this is because of more extensive possibilities. I therefore definitely prefer Facebook for following brands!