An impromptu analysis of HubSpot customers by blogger Rick Burnes yielded some very interesting results about the Twitter and Facebook reaches of various industries.
Burnes looked at the number of Twitter and Facebook followers of 2,600 companies, categorized these companies by industry and determined the average reach for each industry. Each category was represented by at least 10 companies.
B-to-b industries had a much wider reach on Twitter than on Facebook almost across the board. Check out these stats:
- B-to-b equipment – Facebook: 34; Twitter: 223
- Business consulting – Facebook: 55; Twitter: 252
- Business services, general – Facebook: 70; Twitter: 236
- Business services, training – Facebook: 104; Twitter: 572
- Data processing and hosting – Facebook: 24; Twitter: 299
- IT consulting – Facebook: 55; Twitter: 352
- Marketing, Web, PR, social media – Facebook: 278; Twitter: 1,164
- Sales force optimization – Facebook: 38; Twitter: 304
- Business services, general – Facebook: 70; Twitter: 236
The majority of the industries – both b-to-b and b-to-c – had a wider reach overall on Twitter, but the difference in reach was significantly wider in b-to-b industries. Interestingly, there were a few odd b-to-b industries that had a much wider reach on Facebook, including manufacturing and wholesale and coaching/business services.
While these results are thought provoking, I’m wary – as is Burnes – to take much stock in them and jump to the conclusion that one social media network is better than another other for a given industry. I’ve pounded it into your heads, but I’ll say it again: Social media success isn’t about jumping on the bandwagon because it’s the cool thing to do or because another company found success. It’s about identifying your company’s challenges and objectives, and determining whether (and which) social media strategies can help solve them. It’s also about experimenting and finding what works by dabbling in different social media channels – you’ve got very little to lose and potentially a lot to gain.