Twitter vs. LinkedIn: Which One Should You Use for Business?
Should you tweet or link up? Here's what you need to know before you spread yourself too thin! Explore our full guide to Twitter vs LinkedIn for business marketing.
These days you can’t do business without social media. In B2B, both LinkedIn and Twitter work well. To make choosing between them a bit easier, we’ll look at LinkedIn and Twitter in detail to help you make the decision:
Should you use Twitter, LinkedIn, or both?
LinkedIn for Business
With over 800 million users, LinkedIn aims to help professionals and businesses connect with their customers and peers. The platform is built to support the goal, and it’s pretty effective, too. 79% of B2B marketers say it’s great for sourcing leads.
LinkedIn gives you more formats to play with than Twitter
Twitter for Business
Twitter has over 200 million users worldwide, and the platform is aimed explicitly at short-form social engagement, interaction, and debate. For some businesses, Twitter can be a very effective marketing tool, depending on who their customers are. Typically, you'll see opinionated founders and CEOs perform best (as opposed to brand profiles).
Twitter loves tips & threads
Twitter vs. LinkedIn: Which One Should You Use for Your Business?
It’s not as simple as just picking one. There are a few things you should consider:
Who are your customers? The first step in deciding between Twitter and LinkedIn is knowing who your customers are. When you do, you’ll know what social media platforms they use, how much time they spend, and what they do there. LinkedIn works better for passive consumption, but Twitter was designed to stir debates.
What are your customers’ needs and expectations? You won’t just solve your customers’ problems with your products (or services). First, you must get them into your sales funnel with your social media content. Once you understand what they’re struggling with and how you can help, you’ll find the ideal context mix. Then - decide which platform works as the best channel to amplify your content.
What are your time commitments? Let’s face it, effectively managing a social media account takes time. Fortunately, some platforms require less of a time investment than others. For example, Twitter, which focuses on short-form interactions and engagement, could take less time to manage than LinkedIn. However, LinkedIn - when done right - generates more leads. We always recommend choosing one platform if you’re strapped for time rather than spreading yourself too thin and not seeing results.
Where are your competitors? Finally, figure out which social media platforms your competitors use and how they use them. Plenty of B2B companies only have “vanity” LinkedIn company profiles; they don’t get traction for them, but they’re keeping them up for the sake of appearances. If that’s not working out for them, you may decide to promote through your personal LinkedIn profile, which gets more engagement.
How to Successfully Use Twitter and LinkedIn in B2B Marketing
If your audience uses both platforms and you have the time to create unique content, mix & match Twitter and LinkedIn to give your revenue a boost:
Twitter is the ruler of short-form content. Create threads that showcase your opinions and invite your followers to engage with you. Don’t forget to engage with other profiles as you grow your numbers, too. As with LinkedIn, personal Twitter profiles work best. (No one wants to chat to a brand.)
Experiment with new LinkedIn formats. We often discuss LinkedIn B2B marketing best practices, but LinkedIn keeps evolving. Stay updated on new formats like carousels and leverage the novelty to share your content with potential audiences.
Create an omnichannel social media strategy. Don’t cross-post from one social network to another. Instead, expand. For example, you may supplement a Twitter thread with additional examples and resources to turn it into a LinkedIn post.
Finally, don’t forget to measure everything you do.
Businesses often fall into a vanity metric rabbit hole, maintaining social media profiles without understanding how they drive revenue. Consider a marketing attribution tool and integrate your social media into the rest of your marketing.
If your audience loves LinkedIn and you use your personal profile to increase revenue, sign up for Inlytics. It’s the only platform that gives you strategic insights into personal profile analytics:
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