How to choose between Facebook and LinkedIn

Home > Networking | 17,640 views | 10 minutes read
01-03-2014

Choosing between Facebook and LinkedIn might not be an easy choice. You probably know both platforms as a user. Let's try to analyze those two systems in order for you to decide which one to use.

Even though the web is now filled with tons of Social Media platforms, the major ones remain unchanged: Facebook and LinkedIn. You might want to explore Wechat, Vine, Snapchat, Whatsapp and other new channels but it will make sense only if you are present on the major platforms already. Actually, is that true?

   JulienRio.com: differences between Facebook and Linkedin                               

Is being on Facebook or LinkedIn mandatory? 

Those are, with Twitter and YouTube, the two major social media platforms. Whichever company isn't there is making a mistake. 

Wrong!

It makes sense for you to be on Facebook only if you can find your customers and prospects there. It would be ridiculous to invest time and money in a platform that can't even reach your market.

Start with a careful analysis: identify who are your customers and how you can reach them. The concept of buyer personas that I developed in an earlier article perfectly applies here.

 

How to choose between Facebook and LinkedIn?

The standard answer usually is: Facebook is for B2C while LinkedIn is for B2B. It is actually more complex than that.          

JulienRio.com: differences between Facebook and Linkedin

Facebook

Facebook is a personal platform. Whether you look for B2B or B2C relationships doesn't really matter as long as you are aware that you will reach people on a personal level.

Facebook is a highly active platform where a majority of people spend several minutes to several hours daily and share interesting content freely.

Recently, Facebook changed the rules of the game and made the process of reaching customers much more complicated

On Facebook, you will be able to create a large variety of content and truly customize your page. You will be able to brand it the way you want and add unique modules that will attract your visitors. 

Unfortunately, since the change mentioned earlier, there is very little potential for you to reach your target if you do not have a budget specifically for your Facebook promotion (ads + boosted posts). In average, each of your posts reaches 1% of your followers: you will have to build a serious fan base before reaching a valuable number of people. 

If you choose Facebook, make sure you are not over-expecting your return on investment: in an earlier article I explained what you could realistically expect from Social Media marketing

JulienRio.com: differences between Facebook and Linkedin

LinkedIn

LinkedIn works very differently from Facebook. People on this platform use it much less often and mainly for professional purpose, not for leisure.

The difficulty when it comes to reaching people on LinkedIn is quite different: your post will somehow reach your followers wall but not necessarily at a time they would be using LinkedIn. Moreover, it is more difficult to get likes and shares on LinkedIn: as it is a professional platform, people tend to "like" only things that would serve their public purpose.

LinkedIn provides you with three levels of advertisement to increase both your reach and your number of followers. The first two levels are very similar to what Facebook offers but for a higher price. The third level brings you to a complete different concept for a much larger scale.

Firstly, you will be able to post ads. Those ads are very small and appear on the right panel of people's LinkedIn account. The positive aspect is that you can target really precisely the type of individual you wish to reach based on their location, age, professional background. From my experience, this method is rather costly, pretty rigid and with low return on investment.

Second, you have the posts sponsoring. Prepare a piece of news for your wall and sponsor it so that it would reach a whole lot more of people you have targeted. This solution is very efficient for two reasons: first it gives you more options to actively customize your content and second it brings your news directly on people's timeline instead of on the side.

The third solution is called the "career page". This method is reserved to large companies that do actually constantly look for new talented people to recruit. The career page officially works as a recruitment platform but its actual purpose is to largely boost your number of followers. If you take a close look at those company pages that reach a few thousands to a few million followers, you will notice they all have something in common: a career page. If you have a few thousands dollars to spend per year, that might be an efficient investment for you. Just make sure LinkedIn is the right choice in the first place!

 

Comparison Facebook / LinkedIn

 

 

Facebook

LinkedIn

Catching people's attention

During their leisure time

While seeking professional related information

Pricing

Requires sponsored posts & ads to reach a large audience

Requires sponsored posts & ads to reach a large audience. Option for very large audiences.

Audience

Anyone

Mainly manager level and above with office work.

Average usage

Daily

Weekly

 

JulienRio.com: differences between Facebook and Linkedin

 

If you have been using the same Social Media platform for a long time, do not give it up. You can always add a new platform based on your schedule and strategy, but do not abandon a platform where people know they can find you. If you feel it is time for you to go deeper in Social Media strategies, I suggest you read "Mining the Social Web".

 

 

 Julien Rio.

Last update: 2024-03-16 Tags:

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