So you’re on both the social networks of Facebook and Twitter now. Do you know which of your fans are more valuable? Recent research suggests that it’s your Twitter fans who will bring more benefit to your business.

We came across this research at this site. What it tells us is that:

  • Twitter users are more than twice as likely as Facebook users to purchase from a business after following them
  • A third more Twitter users than Facebook users are more likely to recommend a business or brand

And according to the site, it’s not the first time that such comments have been made by consumers.

Which begs the question: why do people tend to sign up on Facebook first, and Twitter last? Possibly it’s because Facebook looks less scary or intimidating than does Twitter.

And yet, while this research is interesting, you can’t just blindly follow what it suggests. Instead, you need to take this knowledge and compare it with where your customers are more likely to be. Even if Facebook users are less likely than Twitter users to buy or recommend a brand, if you have more customers on Facebook, common sense would say you ought to go there first.

Marketing is all about going where your customers are. After all, there is no point casting a hook into the lake, if the fish you want are in an estuary somewhere else.

But in the mix of social networks and who buys what from where, don’t forget that everybody still has email. In your marketing mix it’s easy to chase the golden social network and neglect the simplest networking method of them all: email.