3 Reasons why publishing your Facebook status to Twitter is problematic
Social media marketing can be very time consuming, and automated tools are welcome in just about any marketer’s toolbox. It’s very crucial however to select the right tasks to automate. Twitter automated DMs are an example of problematic automation. So is publishing your Facebook status updates to Twitter.
Back in August, Facebook announced on their blog the release of a feature that allows administrators of Facebook Pages to publish their Facebook status updates to their Twitter accounts automatically, enabling sharing with as many supporters as possible. Automating communications to your Twitter followers is problematic though because you can’t properly target your messages, you miss out on split testing opportunities, and you fail to engage with your Twitter followers.
Facebook and Twitter audiences are different. As a platform, Facebook has better retention and is more personal. Facebook centers on real-world relationships; friends must be authorized before they have access to your profile. Twitter users on the other hand are often a little more tech savvy. They’re not only following personal friends on Twitter, but they’re also following keywords and hashtags.
Take a close look at your Facebook and Twitter audiences. What differences can you identify?
When you publish your Facebook status to Twitter, you’re blanketing two different audiences with the same message. It’s very likely that your targeting is going to suffer.
If you still want to blast both the Facebook and Twitter landscapes with the same message, why not use this as an opportunity to split test? This could provide you with important information about what kinds of messages and promotions work best with your audiences.
The lack of engagement has to be the single most important issue on this subject though. Twitter is supposed to be about conversations—it’s not just a for broadcasting sales promotions. When I see a Twitter page full of one-way messages pushed from Facebook, I can’t help but think that this person doesn’t really care about engaging me. So, why would I care about engaging with them?
Facebook and Twitter are different animals and deserve distinct strategies. The major benefit of publishing Facebook status updates to Twitter is that it saves time. Therefore, only if saving time outweighs the issues highlighted above should you take advantage of this feature. Still, I wonder: if you don’t have time for Twitter, why are you involved in social media marketing?
