One of the first questions when planning a marketing campaign is where does my target audience congregate? The answer to this question will usually help determine what social network you should use for marketing.
Unfortunately, there are times when it is not 100% clear which network is the best to use for marketing. For those times, a basic understanding of the two networks can help.
Let’s take the two social media network powerhouses – LinkedIn and Facebook: and highlight what some of the differences are between them when it comes to marketing your business and finding your customers online.
How are each of the networks used?
People tend to use LinkedIn and Facebook for two very different reasons. Facebook is a true social network, meant for sharing and engaging in conversations. It’s like hanging out with your friends and family. LinkedIn was originally established primarily for job recruiters and job seekers to connect. It has since evolved far beyond that, however, LinkedIn is still focused in the business realm.
LinkedIn users tend to be white-collar college graduates, making the LinkedIn environment appealing to the business user. All businesses need employees. All businesses need to sell. So the network is very active with white-collar professionals, sales people, job seekers and corporate recruiters. It has not been very successful in attracting a large blue-collar audience.
LinkedIn vs. Facebook Stats
Beyond the educational and occupational differences seen between the social networks, the shear difference in the amount of people on Facebook versus LinkedIn, as well as the amount of monthly visitors is enough to make some businesses, especially businesses with consumer products or services, choose Facebook for their advertising.
This shows that people are much more likely to visit Facebook over LinkedIn on a regular basis.
How Business are Using Facebook and LinkedIn
According to Facebook, over one billion people “like” and comment an average of 3.2 billion times daily. Having a business page and connecting with your customers allow you to participate in these ongoing conversations. From a banding perspective, creating a Facebook business page and actively posting and engaging your customers give you an upper hand for the people who search for businesses in Facebook to prove credibility.
Businesses often use LinkedIn to create company and corporate pages, post job openings, attract talent, start and nurture conversations with customers and prospects, create leads, and promote other social media channels or initiatives. There is advertising on LinkedIn, however the targeting options are not nearly as extensive as Facebook targeting options. However, if you are selling B2B, LinkedIn may have the audience you are looking for, as they are typically more business-minded. Meanwhile, Facebook is much better for a B2C ad campaign.
Know Your Audience
Both Facebook and LinkedIn have proven to be beneficial social networks, but for different reasons. Ultimately what it comes down to is what your audience interacts with more and what they prefer to use. When you know where your customers spend their time on social media, you can develop your strategy and interact with them in that space.
For more information about social media marketing and how it can help your business, contact us at info@digitalnomadsasia.com