Some companies (mistakenly) share the same information on Facebook and Twitter. I say “mistakenly” because these two platforms are very different and their audiences generate and seek different information on both. If your brand is auto-updating Facebook and Twitter with the same messaging (or worse, linking accounts), it’s time for a change.

According to a recent study published at Media Post, “Facebook users are typically connecting around their personal lives by posting photos, talking with friends and sharing opinions, those on Twitter are usually spreading news about outside events in real-time.” Does this mean that you cannot post timely content on Facebook? Certainly not. But understanding how users interact on these two interfaces will aid in your social marketing strategy. For instance, results from a recent study found that “the most responsive of eight user categories targeted on Facebook — food and social media — were the lowest-performing on Twitter. Conversely, the two highest-performing categories on Twitter — entertainment and sports — were the lowest ones on Facebook.” Therefore, it is obvious that there is certain information those on Twitter seek and it differs from that of Facebook.

Facebook and Twitter ads are an entirely different beast altogether, but the aforementioned differences still apply.  Consider the life of a tweet versus a Facebook post as well. Twitter, by nature, lends itself to more frequent updating than Facebook. It is bothersome to flood your fans’ news feeds on Facebook with multiple posts, but it is perfectly acceptable to update Twitter five times a day or more. Whether it is updating your organic content or paid advertising, it is important to educate yourself on the subjects people are talking about on Twitter and Facebook, what your competition is doing right (and wrong) and how people respond to brands on each platform.

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