Sometimes Social Media Isn't So Good

While my past two blogs have been raving about the advantages and potential of social media in business, I can't ignore that it does have its down falls. And the consumers, the main driving force behind the success of social media, are also the culprits of the damage. Someone could tweet about a bad experience at a store, or post comments about a poorly produced product on Facebook. In minutes, all of their followers and friends know exactly what's up which could be detrimental to company, especially small businesses.

Social media also let's that "personal" relationship between the customer and a business be forgotten. It's so easy to post an ad on Facebook, send out a Tweet on Twitter or even skim through a resume on LinkedIn. However, it is much more likely that you will sell a product if it is done in person. You can talk to the person, persuade them, see what they're interested in and cater to their needs. A website doesn't have that ability to interact with a customer in that way. In fact, when it comes to clothing 57% of people age 21+ prefer to be in store according to this graph:








Let me just make this clear: I am NOT by any means telling companies that they should not use these social media resources. All I'm suggesting is that they consider the ups as well as the downs of the systems while still taking advantage of theses sites. 

LinkedIn Has Potential

As a social media fiend, I have yet to get involved with LinkedIn. I have heard the name, but the magnitude of Facebook and Twitter seem to have drowned out any hope of me learning about this media outlet. So, I decided to look into it.

LinkedIn is a professional network created for businesses and potential employees to get in touch with each other. This is not only a great opportunity for students hoping to have a job out of college or those who were laid off, but also for businesses hoping to find the cream of the crop from around the world.

Unfortunately, it has not taken off as fast as Twitter and Facebook yet. But I have a feeling it will once more people are exposed to what it is. I honestly think that people, like myself, really just assume it's the same idea as what we already are using, but it's not. It's basically a tool to connect with companies everywhere and a way for them to connect with you. Currently, 69 of the Fortune 100 companies are using LinkedIn and it is operating in over 200 countries. In my opinion, more businesses should be taking advantage of this.

The gains a company could have are substantial. Users are not only from all over the world but also from every job category from finance to art to construction. This allows a business to go in and view all these different people and, in a sense, pre-interview them saving time which means saving money. And saving money meaning more profit. What business doesn't want to do that?

Is Twitter More Effective than Facebook?

Recently, Twitter has become a world-wide phenomenon. In 2007, the average number of tweets per day was just 5000. As of June 2011, now there are over 200 million tweets per day. This means that over 200 million people are accessing twitter in some way every day. On Facebook, the average user only updates 90 pieces of information per month. And even worse, each user accesses Facebook a mere 40 times a month. That is no where near the volume of action Twitter is getting. Take a look at this image below:




A business using social media (which all should be doing) should be impressed to see that 25% of people follow a brand and 67% of those people are purchasing products from that brand. Facebook pages that businesses have generally have likes on them yes, but how many of us actually revisit those pages we liked?


Celebrities have also taken a liking to Twitter. While some celebrities do have facebook accounts, it is less common because Facebook is much more intrusive to someones personal life. However, Twitter allows them to simply send out a tweet to all their follows without risk of being completely exposed to the public. It's also been a great mechanism for them to self-promote. The Kardashians are always tweeting about their new collection at Sears and Mac Miller has been promoting his new singles and albums non-stop even getting some of them to trend. Businesses can do the same thing.

Twitter should be looked at as free, consistent and easy advertising for any company. With Facebook, businesses seem to have to purchase an ad to be effective. And with Twitter, the information is sent that much faster. I constantly see deals for my favorite stores and restaurants on my Twitter feed. Never once have I been inclined to purchase something due to a Facebook ad.

So what am I saying? I'm saying that yes, Twitter has topped Facebook from a business stand point. The number of people a company can reach multiple times a day all over the world in such a short amount of time FOR FREE is simply something that Facebook does not compare to. Facebook must agree with me too considering you can now post your tweets as your Facebook status. Twitter is #winning.