Social Media Advertising: Facebook Is For Food, Twitter For Entertainment (Research)

Social Media Advertising: Facebook vs. TwitterThe best-performing advertising categories on Facebook are the worst-performing on Twitter, and vice-versa.  According to new research from Washington Post Co. subsidiary and social media marketing firm SocialCode, consumers use Facebook to connect around their personal lives, while those on Twitter are sharing realtime news about events.  As a result, the two platforms require very different advertising approaches.

SocialCode compared the results of campaigns for a number of clients.  According to its findings, as reported in MediaPost, the most responsive of eight user categories targeted on Facebook — food and social media — were the lowest-performing on Twitter.  But the two highest-performing categories on Twitter — entertainment and sports — were the lowest ones on Facebook.

The research also found a huge difference in response rates from followers and fans when compared to non-followers:  a brand’s Twitter followers are five times more likely to accept offers than non-followers, while Facebook fans are two to five times more likely to do so, per Social Code’s research.  In other words, you need to maintain an ongoing presence and build a community over the long term in order to see the best results from a social media advertising campaign.