I recently was posed the question why should Twitter not be synced to a Facebook page, why does it matter if tweets show up on a Facebook page? I want to do it because it is matter of convenience, it is time saving, etc.
My answer to that: absolutely not! Twitter and Facebook should not be synced to each other, Tweets should not be showing up on your Facebook timeline and Facebook posts should not be showing up on your Twitter feed simply because Twitter and Facebook are different platforms with different etiquette rules. If you are going to do social media then you need to make time and effort to do so.
Facebook Vs. Twitter
Facebook is more of a social networking site that allows you to connect with friends, family, classmates, acquaintances, businesses, brands, etc. and acts like a scrapbook of your life. Facebook relationships often come from offline relationships and acts as a means to strengthen relations.
Twitter evolves around communicating in 140 characters and acts like a town hall for people to be heard. Twitter is used to communicate and share content. Some Twitter relationships can come from offline relationships but often enough relationships are created online through common interests. Twitter acts like a listening tool as people can read about industry trends and what people are discussing. Engaging in conversations helps to build relationships with others on Twitter, and people with a large following can act as an influencer with what they say.
Let’s look at some of the issues.
1. If you tweet often on Twitter and your tweets show up on your Facebook page, you are going to inundate your Facebook friends/fans with status updates taking up their newsfeed and it will appear spammy. Your Facebook audience is going to tune you out even unfollow you just so that they can stop being inundated with your Facebook posts showing up on their timeline.
2. @Mentions do not work on Facebook, Hashtags are a recent featured added to Facebook but it is something rarely used in Facebook at the moment. Facebook may change its platform sometime in the future to integrate hashtags; Twitter may do away with hashtags as rumour has it. You can click on the hashtag in a Facebook post and it will take you to a link that will show posts from other people who have used the same hashtag.
3. What is the point of having Twitter and Facebook if you are posting the same thing? You might as well have only one platform to use, but then your chance of finding new business slows down. You want to be able to have users connect and engage with you, Twitter allows you to hold conversations and interact in real time while Facebook can show your followers what you are about.
In summary, keep your platforms separate from each other, it is ok to tell your audience that you are on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn and provide a link to let them know where you can be found. Plan out what you want to post on your platforms — make a social media calendar and best of all, know what your audience likes so you can get the most out of your posts. Keep updating your pages by being active, and don’t neglect interacting with your audience!
Further reads:
Entrepreneur – Facebook Etiquette for Businesses
Entrepreneur – Twitter Etiquette for Businesses
Words and Thoughts 