When it comes to social media, there is much debate about which outlets will get businesses the best results, and, clearly, opinions vary greatly.
For example, in a recent article, Edmund Ingham, contributor at Forbes.com, wrote about why he believes that Twitter is the best social media platform for start-ups, and while he makes some great points, we have to point out that there are certainly still some pitfalls on Twitter for marketers.
You have probably heard what he has to say about the other social media platforms before, and to an extent, it’s true: Facebook’s algorithm makes it near impossible to get organic reach; LinkedIn doesn’t allow you to connect with anyone on the site that you’re not already connected with in real life; setting up and organizing Google + circles is not a user-friendly process; and Instagram and Pinterest are very, very niche platforms.
So, what about Twitter?
Here are a few of Ingham’s points on why it’s such a great platform for start-ups:
It’s much easier to engage with the people you want to.
With the ability to follow and direct message anyone Twitter, business pages can engage with followers and non followers very easily; both LinkedIn and Facebook are far more limited in this ability. Twitter always you to create an account and start making (real) connections right away—a great perk for star-ups for sure.
There’s lots of opportunity to join the conversation.
It’s easy to establish your self as an industry leader by joining in on debates and discussions that are relevant to your business. By tweeting to and retweeting posts from prominent voices in your industry you will be providing your followers with great content that they are thoroughly interested in. As Ingham points out, you can simply get started on Twitter by retweeting other sources and have a profile full of relevant content in no time—no composing original Tweets required, although you’ll want to start doing that as soon as possible.
Tweets are easy to schedule.
Platforms like TweetDeck and HootSuite make scheduling tweets and retweets on Twitter a breeze. It only takes a couple of hours out of your week to schedule a full week’s worth of 140-character-or-less messages with these tools, and then it’s quick and easy to login from time to time throughout the week to tweet about trending topics or about what’s going on in your business that week.
But, like we said, there are clearly still pitfalls for marketers on Twitter: with more than 500 million tweets generated each day, it’s easy for your messages to get lost in the mix, and with a limit of 140 characters, crafting tweets that deliver your entire intended message in a creative fashion can be challenging.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that finding the best social platform for your business takes time and research.
Tell us: what has your experience with Twitter and other social media platforms been like so far for your business? Let us know what platforms or practices you have found to be most effective in the comments below.