23 Oct Social Media Report Card: How Well Does Facebook Use Other Social Networks?
Recently, I thought it would be interesting to dissect how well Twitter uses other social networks. The results were surprising. Then I thought, why not analyze the social network king of them all: Facebook. How well does the giant employ best practices? Read on to find out.
How Well Does Facebook Use Instagram?
If you spent a billion dollars on something, you would probably want to get the most out of your investment. Facebook has done just that and demonstrates a real savvy when it comes to the Facebook Instagram account.
The photos are a treat for the eyes and they’re posted frequently but not so much as to annoy followers. The account has all the ingredients when it comes to the recipe of brand marketing success with Instagram and the positive results are evident. Earlier this year, pictures were averaging around 800-900 Likes and now they receive around 2000-3000 Likes.
Grade: A+
How Well Does Facebook Use YouTube
Facebook knows how to make superb video content. Videos on the Facebook YouTube channel are well-produced, interesting, and fun to watch.
My one gripe is that the channel doesn’t produce content on a regular basis and it hasn’t posted a video in the past two months. If Facebook put out a new video even just twice a month, it would be an easy A.
Grade: B+
How Well Does Facebook Blog?
Facebook Newsroom is the social network’s blogging hub. It is a fantastic source for Facebook news, trending topics, and a whole lot more. Posts are frequent, interesting, concise, and well-written – everything a good blog should have.
Unfortunately, it suffers from the same, albeit relatively minor, fault as the Twitter blog. Like the Internet version of a rice cake, it has everything you need – just too bland for my tastes.
Grade: A-
How Well Does Facebook Use Twitter?
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Facebook using one of its strongest rivals. I think I was half expecting Facebook to not put much effort into Twitter. I was really surprised to find an extremely well-run Twitter handle.
A new Facebook for iOS, designed with iOS 7 in mind, is now available in the App Store: https://t.co/0psQrFuz8I
— Facebook (@facebook) September 18, 2013
Despite only having about half the number of followers as Twitter, Facebook often matches the number of Retweets and Favorites on several of its tweets. The only fault here is that Facebook’s Twitter handle doesn’t push content frequently enough. One quality tweet a day and it would be an A+.
Grade: A-
How Well Does Facebook Use Facebook?
This is about as meta as it gets, people. When I reviewed Twitter’s Twitter account, I discovered a true mastery of the social space. You could tell that they spent as much time using the network as they did developing it. Facebook, however, is a different story.
If you were to look at the first half of 2013, you would think, “No brainer A+.” Content was visually engaging, frequent, and varied – everything you would expect from a well-run Facebook Page. The second half of 2013 is far less impressive. For everything Facebook gets right before July, it gets something wrong after.
Grade: C
I thought this section deserved a more comprehensive review. For a full breakdown, read my follow up blog post: Facebook Isn’t That Good At Facebook: Why the Social Network Fails on its Own Platform.
Final Thoughts: The Not So Social Network
I’m not sure about you, but I find it hilarious that Facebook uses other social networks much better than it uses its own. It just goes to show you how important it is to follow best practices no matter who you are or how large your fan base is.
