LinkedIn vs. Facebook…and the Winner Is?

The tipping point of social media is how you utilize it to engage your customer and your market. Facebook and LinkedIn speak in different voices, to different audiences and both have their pros and cons that your franchise and franchisees need to be aware of. When choosing a platform, whether from an individual location or franchise head office, there must be strong reasoning behind the choice for social media success.

Let’s start by looking at some statistics: 

When choosing a platform, whether from an individual location or franchise head office, there must be strong reasoning behind the choice for social media success.

Facebook : over 1.59 billion users, 1 billion visitors a month, 43% male, 57% female, 66% of users are +35 in age.

LinkedIn: over 400 million users, 100 million visitors a month, 50% male, 50% female, 80% of users are +35 in age.

If your franchise serves B2B, LinkedIn is a great way to reach your more business-focused network. Last year, LinkedIn also introduced tracking systems making them a great resource for B2C franchises as well.

Facebook offers instant messaging, which from a franchise perspective is a key tool and concern. Being able to engage immediately with clients and potential customers can make or break a delicate customer service moment. LinkedIn is much less frequently used for customer service issues.

Facebook is not left behind in the business space, however, with new management tools for businesses and ad campaigns. While the team at Facebook is dabbling in more professional pursuits than family photos and school reunions, the support for both ads and Facebook Business is still lacking. We’ll continue to keep an eye on this promising addition to the Facebook family.

While Facebook makes it easy to target ads to demographics and areas, LinkedIn is catching up in this area as well, albeit slower. LinkedIn shines in person-to-person outreach, supplementing wider marketing initiatives with sales connections and lead nurturing.

The battleground of choosing the right social media platforms is constantly changing.

The battleground of choosing the right social media platforms is constantly changing. The most important take away here is the importance of directive- if you know what you need accomplished, you can look at the two comparatively and utilize accordingly.