See what I did with the title there? Even DGB can’t escape from the American Election!

It is true though. Our industry has taken to Twitter on a B2B level so much better than on Facebook. Remember this post I did in May 2011? https://www.doubleglazingblogger.com/2011/05/the-benefits-of-social-media/  in it, I wrote about the benefits of both platforms to our industry. But almost 18 months on, the world of social media has evolved and so has the way our industry uses it. So I thought it best to go visit this subject again!Lets start with Facebook. Since the last post on this subject, I haven’t seen any real growth on this platform within our industry. Yes there w

ill be plenty of people on there from the fenestration sector, but they certainly don’t use it to talk about issues within the industry. Most people use Facebook as a place to look at pictures, stalk ex’s and generally be a bit nosey and to tell everyone what they have bought from the supermarket that day. On a business-to-business level, the interest just simply isn’t there. It’s a place to interact with friends on a non-business level, that is it.

However one thing I have seen is that Facebook is being used more and more to leave complaints. If a business has a Facebook page, anecdotal evidence tells me that people use it to leave angry messages and complaints to the business, rather than asking questions and leaving positive feedback. Because of it’s open forum layout, it’s become an effective complaints tool. Though it is also possible to leave negative feedback to a company on Twitter, it is very quickly forgotten about as the Twitter timeline moves on much more quickly and anything negative is quickly forgotten about.

Now Twitter. Twitter is probably the best instant information resource the social media world has to offer. Ask a question and within minutes (depending on who you’re following) you get an answer. As a platform, the B2B community has really taken to it. Business leaders and those within our industry see it as the more professional social media platform and our industry is the perfect example. It has far more active a number of industry professionals than Facebook does. For a number of reasons. Conversation is quick, the
refore less time being wasted in front of a screen. Twitter’s restriction to 140 forces you to get across your point more effectively and concisely. Meaning people reading what you have to say process it quicker and becomes easier to consume. Conversations can include as many people as it wants and in real time. Plus, the people on twitter also seem to be a lot nicer bunch of people. Facebook as always had the reputations as being populated by a large number of idiots making stupid or hurtful comments and generally being irritating to everyone else on there. Twitter doesn’t have that same problem.

There are various reasons why Twitter has become the social media platform of choice for our industry. Ease of use, quick conversation, friendlier atmosphere and so on. One place it has failed to make an improved impact however is lead generation on a business-to-consumer level. I think Google and relevant company websites will remain the main way people will find goods and services. I still have only had one lead from Twitter.

On a B2B level however, it is becoming better. @LegacyWindows tweeted this: @NigelGrantUpvc @GardiniaWindows @PhilSirr @glazingblogger thanks Nige!! I sold over £250k through twitter leads from July 11 to July 12 – so clearly progress is being made in this department.

Obviously I could be totally wrong on this so it would be great to hear your views as to which platform you prefer and why.