After experimenting heavily with Facebook and Twitter marketing, I now have pinpointed which social media outlets to use based on the product/service and the situation. This is what I have found out so far.

Starting and Holding Meaningful Conversations

Winner: Facebook

Are you looking to get feedback about your business? Do you want to interact and start discussions with prior and current customers? Facebook is the best medium. No matter how many platforms there are to organize Twitter, I have such a hard time keeping up with all of it, plus I am not constantly staring at my @replies the entire day, so it’s tough to go back and forth with conversation. Facebook’s commenting features that work like a comment thread on a blog are great for holding conversations, because it’s easy to keep track of, you don’t want to make your statement with only 140 characters, and Facebook is good about alerting you when someone replies to you.

News And Information About Your Industry

Winner: Twitter

Twitter does a great job at giving you real-time information and news regarding any subject matter you want to keep up with. All you need to do is identify the quality twitter accounts that can deliver this information to you. Then, you can choose what to read, when to read it, and so on. Facebook’s platform is not good for consuming massive amounts of information and finding new article recommendations from trusted sources.

Reaching Out To Young People

Winner: Facebook

The Guardian and others have written about why teens aren’t on Twitter. It’s true, the majority of them haven’t embraced Twitter. They are more into Facebook, because they feel more like a community, they can choose who they are friends with, and they can control who sees their updates and photos. With Twitter, anyone can follow you and start reading your stuff. Sure, you can block them, but that’s Twitter suicide if you block everyone.

Building Brand Awareness:

Winner: Facebook And Twitter

This is why both should be part of your social media marketing campaign. Both allow you to tap into a different market segment and demographic. Both give your brand more exposure and allow people to learn more about your company and recognize the logo. Both require interaction on your part. You can’t be one-sided and pump out marketing information. The strategy I like when using Twitter is to send Tweets that could be valuable to your followers. Send out valuable links from blogs and news sources other than your own. Give out a tip or trick pertaining to the industry you are in. Ask questions that don’t require long answers. Think of Twitter as a sophisticated information stream. Then, use Facebook to connect more intimately with your customers or potential customers.

photo credit: szlea

My most recent job that I found was on Craigslist, but I met several people in the Orlando area connected in the social media marketing industry through Twitter beforehand. They helped me navigate through my decision to take the position. I spend hours upon hours tryig to convince people like my wife, friends, and family that Twitter isn’t just an application to check out what Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton are doing. It has endless ways to be utilized, and finding a job or networking with people to help you find a job are just a few of Twitter’s capabilities.

Sign up for a Twitter account if you don’t already have one.

Use your full name or first initial and last name if possible. If you have a really common name, get creative, but try to incorporate as much of your full name as possible. Just make sure it’s a semi-professional username. Remember, potential employers might be looking at your profile. You don’t want to be @xboxstud or @barbiedoll69.

Download a free Twitter management desktop application.

There are a lot of great applications out there to manage your Twitter account, but I like Tweet Deck and Seesmic the most. You can use whatever you want, but I have found that these two have the most features. Also, if you have an iPhone or Blackberry, download a Twitter mobile application. Tweet Deck for iPhone is currently free, and most people use Twitter Berry for the Blackberry.

Start tweeting about your job hunt.

Be very specific, because recruiters and employers could be searching for certain keywords. Don’t just tweet, “looking for a new job”. Say something like, “just got done revising my resume in social media and internet marketing”. Describe your skills, and tweet about anything you are currently doing that has to do with your desired profession.

Start Searching For Keywords and Hash Tags

Use your desktop application to run searches for certain keywords and hash tags related to the industry you are looking to land a job. You can look up pre-defined hash tags at Hashtags.org. You can run real-time searches with Tweet Deck and Seesmic or at Search Twitter. Start following anyone that is tweeting something interesting about the keywords you are following.

Be Interactive

If you are only creating new tweets and reading other tweets, you are being one-dimensional. Social media is called “social” because it encourages conversation and community. People that only view facebook profiles and read twitter profiles are not engaging in social media. They are just reading conversations. Participation is key. Make friends, and reply to tweets. Re-tweet something really interesting from someone you are following. Use a direct message only after you have already struck up a conversation with someone.

You may not find your next job on Twitter, but you could meet the person who helps you get your next job. The job market is tough right now, so stop wasting time on Twitter, and start putting it to good use.