The problem is that the current state of social marketing is much like online marketing was 10 years ago when every channel – search, email, affiliate, display – was lumped into the same general “online marketing” category and marketing strategies were applied uniformly across all. In the time since, the industry has evolved to understand that these channels have unique opportunities for engagement and should be managed as such.

Social marketing is in that same early stage with many marketers treating Twitter and Facebook the same by simply synching their Twitter Tweets with their Facebook Newsfeed. What gets lost in the excitement is that Facebook and Twitter offer completely different opportunities for brand building, direct marketing and customer engagement.

A look at how each site classifies connections tells you all you need to know about where Facebook and Twitter fit in the mix.

ON FACEBOOK YOU MAKE FRIENDS
Facebook offers a rich interactive experience with the “friends” you make. Facebook provides a multi-dimensional interface for discussion and engagement with prospects and customers. Marketers using Facebook at its best are interacting with their friends on an ongoing basis and not just broadcasting mass market messages. For example:

• Engaging in conversations started by anyone (not just the marketer);
• Posting, tracking and sharing events with others;
• Sharing, tagging and discussing relevant photos by anyone;
• Posting and discussing content such as industry news, emails and blog posts.

On Facebook, brands are interacting one-on-one with key customers and influencers. Generic messages have a limited place in that kind of environment. A personal touch will pay off in spades.

ON TWITTER YOU GAIN FOLLOWERS
Twitter is the place to listen and join in on the mumblings and shouts of the web at large. Unlike Facebook where users must be “friends” to participate with each other, Twitter allows anyone to see a user‘s updates. This provides a whoe set of opportunities for marketers on Twitter. For example:

• Broadcast events live with tweets, twitpic, etc. to gain more participation;
• Monitor tweets via Twitter search or Tweetmeme to gauge public opinion and attitudes;
• Follow specific users to see what they are saying on an ongoing basis and join the dialog;
• Broadcast deals, news and other important information out to their followers.

Just as important as broadcasting, Twitter provides a completely unique opportunity for marketers to listen to their customers’ general attitudes and thoughts about brands and competitors. This latent monitoring – of sometimes seemingly irrelevant thoughts – can provide incredibly valuable insight into the mind of a customer.

One other key difference with Twitter is that discussions are broadcast in short messages for all to see. This allows anyone to join the conversation at any time, and as a result it also more difficult to track the history of a specific discussion or the full thread. In effect, it is less of a discussion and more a running dialog on any number of topics at any given time with any given number of people.

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