One of the things I do regularly for clients is drive awareness of their news through social media channels. So I read with interest an article from Mediabistro’s PR Newser about comparing Facebook vs. Twitter for driving traffic.
PRNewswire worked with the social media company CrowdFactory to analyze activity around press releases over a period of months. They found that while PR Newswire clients used Facebook more than Twitter to promote their releases (48% vs. 37%), a Twitter share drove 30% more traffic than a Facebook share. I’ll bet they didn’t break out b2b v. b2c clients – if they did I’d bet Twitter would lead Facebook in overall usage as well.
Here’s the full infographic:
When using Twitter to promote your news/releases, I’d add three recommendations:
- Craft an interesting tweet — “hey, we announced this today check it out” doesn’t cut it. Try to think like your followers — why will they find this interesting?
- Don’t view Twitter as a distribution channel alone — there’s nothing wrong with using Twitter to spread the word, but are you ready for comments, questions? Don’t be one-dimensional in how you use your Twitter stream.
- Don’t link to the release, link to coverage — apologies to PR Newswire here, but I’d rather link to coverage of the announcement than the release itself. Even if it’s a straight pickup, there is perceived third party validation that the release itself can’t deliver.
Okay I have a question regarding your first recommendation.
What is an example of a “good – interesting” tweet? Most of the
tweets I receive are of no value to me.
I would like an example of what you think an interesting tweet is.
Gabe Gabrielsen
http://www.gabesfascinatingstories.blogspot.com
Gabe:
Thanks for the comment. Good question – interesting is subjective. In general, my definition would be a tweet that delivers what it promises if there is a link, the content delivered matches the tweet in other words. And the information tweeted is about something worth a couple of minutes of someone’s time.
But let’s see what my followers think. I went back and found some tweets that followers clicked on, as possible examples. Judging by that metric, my audience found these interesting:
#SOPA makes Facebook, Google join together as allies – Wash Post Tech:
FCC plans cheap Internet service and computers to bridge digital divide- Wash Post:
Save #GovTwit! GovTwit directory turns three, but forced to shut down | GovTwit blog:
Chris,
Thank you for the reply. I am still not a born again tweeter.
I have long term relationships with clients and just don’t see a burst
of short statements being of value.
I will keep watching tweets and returning to your blog.
Maybe you will convince me of the value of tweeting.
Gabe
http://www.gabesfascinatingstories.blogspot.com