The number of social media platforms out there which can host businesses and help them market themselves is… a lot. It’s overwhelming for owners to know what network they should dive into or create marketing strategies specifically tailored towards their needs – do you just sign up with every single one?
It’s complicated when you have two drastically different social media platforms. For example, one is for your family and friends to share photos from their vacations while another website provides job seekers the opportunity of finding employment opportunities on there too.
Let’s take a look at both these platforms to see which one provides the best tool for your business.
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Facebook vs. LinkedIn: A Side by Side Comparison
LinkedIn and Facebook are two very different social media platforms that have been created with unique purposes in mind. Of course, when you start comparing the two they both share many elements or functionalities which can be seen as similarities but knowing what makes them differ from one another is essential for figuring out if either should be integrated into your marketing strategy correctly.
So let’s compare the two right now.
Facebook:
- 2.9 billion monthly active users
- Has many posting functions specific to social media platforms: status updates, liking, commenting, private messaging
- Supports sharing photos, videos, GIFs, links, and text posts
- Was initially created as a socializing platform
- Has a newsfeed
- Has groups (Facebook Groups)
- Has a diverse audience
LinkedIn:
- 303 million monthly active users
- Supports sharing posts, links, private messages
- Was initially created as a platform to support recruiting
- Has a newsfeed
- Has groups (LinkedIn Groups)
- Its audience tends to be more on the professionals’ side
So again, apart from a few small technicalities, you could easily confuse the two platforms if you just go about the broad description. But if you boil it down, 4 main differences could potentially help you decide between them:
1. Facebook Has a Larger Audience and a More Diverse Group
Facebook is a social media behemoth with 2.9 billion monthly active users, while LinkedIn only has 303 million. This means that there are more potential customers on Facebook than any other platform – which could make it worth your time in considering how to reach out and connect these people who have shown an interest or concern about what you offer them through this large audience target market for marketing purposes (especially if they’re interested).
If you’re looking to target decision-makers in a company because you’re a B2B marketer, then LinkedIn’s the better option. On Facebook, some may add their job title and company they work for, while others don’t. But on LinkedIn, that’s the whole point of the platform.
2. People Spend More Time on Facebook
LinkedIn users spend around 17 minutes a month using the site. That’s a very small window to catch their attention, especially if you compare it with Facebook’s average 2 hours and 24 minutes a day.
The reason for the difference in behavior may be user intent. People who go on Facebook without a specific intent will simply scroll through their news feed whereas those with job-hunting or networking purposes tend to sign up with LinkedIn and use its site more purposefully.
LinkedIn provides a great opportunity for reaching those users who are focused on your business, but you may have less luck with Facebook.
3. LinkedIn Provides Better Lead Generation
Lead generation is LinkedIn’s thing, though Facebook tries its best to keep up. And if you’re a B2B marketer then it’ll likely be your main source of all leads – with different user intent from other sites like Twitter or Indeed where people post jobs publicly for anyone in search engine land see. There are even lead gen forms on their site which makes this process easier than ever before.
4. Both Have a Diverse Range of Ad Types
LinkedIn ads are more diverse than Facebook. While both have a mix of different ad types, such as carousels and lead generation campaigns on their platform; LinkedIn also offers Sponsored InMail type which allows you to show your advertisements directly in someone’s inbox! Not quite there yet for Facebook though…
Facebook ads have more targeting capabilities, and you can use a lot of personal information to perfect your targeting, but LinkedIn is still better at lead ads for businesses thanks to LinkedIn’s user base.
Again, it may come down to what your business goals are, and where you have a better chance of getting to your target audience.
The Conclusion?
The truth is that no one really wins in this debate. The business goals dictate what kind of means are best to help you reach them, but it’s a very frustrating digital marketing reality.
Schedule a free 30-minute strategy session with our Facebook Marketing Agency experts now and let’s see what you can do to improve your Facebook marketing efforts to boost results.
