If Marketers Can Only Pick One, ‘Like’ Facebook

More sales generated on Facebook than Twitter

Two recent reports suggest content initially posted on Facebook is more likely to gain momentum than if the content was initially posted on Twitter.  For marketers, this means it is better to have consumers talking about you on Facebook than Twitter. Not only do Facebook users share nearly five times more content than Twitter users, but mentions on Facebook also are more likely to result in sales.

GoViral found that the number of shares and subsequent actions, such as commenting, is nearly five times higher on Facebook compared to Twitter.

Among video content distributed by GoViral in the third quarter of 2010, the average number of interactions on Facebook was 5.64 per 1,000 views, compared with just 0.75 on Twitter.

Sales from Facebook exceed Twitter

Event ticketing startup Eventbrite looked at how sales correlated with an event being shared by someone on social media sites, and Facebook again was the tops for reaction. Eventbrite’s share button allows someone to promote an event on Facebook, via email, on Twitter and LinkedIn.

• Facebook generated an average of $2.52 from referrals
• Sharing via email came in second at $2.34
• LinkedIn shares were worth $0.90
• Tweets were worth just $0.43