Facebook: The marketer’s friendliest platform?

April 22, 2014

Would you like to know which social media site offers the top tools to target users, or the best platform for building brand awareness? Look no further as the Direct Marketers Association’s Social Media Council introduces the first ever social media scorecard for the UK… and it may come as a surprise that Facebook has taken the top spot as the marketers ‘most friendly’ social media site.

The poll of 171 UK social media marketers ranked our top social media sites against the following criteria, considered key in employing a social media campaign: campaign planning, execution and post-campaign analysis to support optimisation. Participants were asked to mark the platforms on several elements, such as ease of use, the ability to target users and the performance of analytics tools. Overall, Facebook came in as number 1, followed shortly by LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Google+, which ranked the lowest.

The fact that Facebook came on top for all three categories was unexpected since it is becoming increasingly difficult to market from the platform and achieve organic reach without the backing of paid media. Twitter came in second, ranking highest in generating brand awareness, and LinkedIn was found to be the most effective platform to target users.

This scorecard is a starting point for marketing professionals when choosing a platform appropriate to their campaign objectives. However, it should be taken with a pinch of salt as the way users interact on social is a constant and evolving process.

For the full report, check out the infographic below:

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