Which is the MVP of Social Media?

Hockey has pretty much taken up our existence here on the wet coast.  As I type this, the Vancouver Canucks are one game away from winning the Stanley Cup. Just to put that into perspective for you, or the three of you who are reading this who are not hockey fans or have been living in a cave without access to any technology, this is a moment forty years in the making. Forty years!

When the Canucks win the Stanley Cup (because there can be no alternative), there will be all kinds of talk about who the MVP, or the most valuable player is. Luongo, our goalie, will no doubt get a vote, then there’s the Sedins, Kessler, Burrows, Bieksa…

When it comes to social media, Facebook, clearly, has the social clout. On the edge of tipping over 700 million users worldwide, the next closest social network, numbers-wise, is Twitter, with a mere 200 Million users. But Facebook also has three years on Twitter. Then there’s LinkedIn, at 100 Million users, rounding out the top three (technically, MySpace deserves a spot there, but it is in serious decline, so we won’t include it).

But when it comes to quality interactions that convert to sales, which social network takes the trophy? According to this recent article in the Media Post News, it’s LinkedIn, followed by Twitter. 59% of users polled in a recent survey say that LinkedIn is the most important site to have a profile on, followed by Twitter. Now, just to be clear, we are talking about quality interactions that lead to sales or conversions of some kind.

Why would LinkedIn and Twitter have more clout in that regard when they are less than half the size of Facebook, even when you combine them together?

Facebook is about keeping up with friends and family, at the end of the day. I preach that the golden rule of social media marketing is Always Provide Value, but even I don’t follow that rule when it comes to my own personal FB page. I post stuff about my son, what I’m doing, how my day is going… that’s what it’s for. But because there is so much of that going on, it dilutes the messages that businesses are trying to slip through. LinkedIn, by contrast, is all business. I wouldn’t even consider posting a photo of my son, or talking about how we spent our Saturday on LinkedIn. It’s not appropriate. So, because everyone on LinkedIn is there to do business, more business happens, even though the numbers aren’t as great, and not as many people check in with LinkedIn on a daily basis (only 20%, as opposed to 70% who check in on FB on a daily basis).

Certainly if you have a business, you need a Facebook page. But don’t negate the impact that Twitter and LinkedIn can also have.

Read the entire article.