Marketers eyes light up with newfound productivity when they learn they can push updates from their brand’s Facebook Page to Twitter via a simple Facebook application. But is this time-saving measure the best way to go? When does this make sense and when should it be avoided?
When It’s OK
For most of us, Facebook came first. We were on it earlier than other social networks and we may understand it a little better. That’s why when we consider adding another network like Twitter to our brand’s mix, it starts feeling like extra time. Time we may not have. If you’re at a smaller organization without a dedicated social team that’s more time away from your core function like marketing or customer service. That’s why many grab onto the Twitter Facebook application as a time-saving measure. And that’s OK to a certain extent. Having said that …
When It’s Bad
If you build this pipeline between your Facebook Page and Twitter and aren’t spending any time on Twitter listening then you aren’t leveraging the real power of Twitter. You’re limiting your engagement by blindly blasting all of your Facebook updates and not conversing with your new community. Truthfully you’ll never build a community without listening, retweeting, and responding. You probably follow a few brands on Twitter like this, right? Where the tweets come from Facebook and they don’t engage when you mention them. If you build this connection as a time-saving measure, make sure you are still spending time on Twitter hanging out and listening. At the very least you’ll want to set up an alert system via Google Alerts to monitor mentions of your brand.
A Better Option
Another challenge with blindly connecting Facebook and Twitter is control. Once set up, it sends every update to Twitter. You may discover over time that your communities on Facebook and Twitter want different things so you’ll need to curate your message for each channel. This control is impossible with the Twitter Facebook app. A better time-saving option would be setting up Selective Tweets in Facebook which allows you to send only tweets with the hashtag #fb from Twitter to Facebook. Or you can use a robust Twitter client like TweetDeck or HootSuite which allow you to maintain both time management and control.
Ultimately, while you can find cross-posting efficiencies for maximizing your time, they should never come at the expense of listening and engagement. How do you keep track of your brand-driven communities on Facebook and Twitter? Are there time-saving measures you use that still allow you to engage?
