Generally, marketers do view social media as yet another online channel that is similar to other channels like natural and paid search, email and affiliates. It is quite becoming clearer but not all social media initiatives drive prospects and customers to the business’ main website in a similar fashion.

People engaged in doing socializing and seeking meaningful interactions with peers and like-minded people do interact in a varied manner with different new media offerings and services. For better understanding such kind of phenomena, you can have a look at Twitter and Facebook from the very perspective of visitor acquisition.

Coming over to lead generation does help along with alluring people to your website, Twitter behaves similar to search advertising.  Most often, Twitter users do choose the topics, people and companies they wish to follow. When they get updates that are both relevant as well as intriguing to them and if those updates do contain links, such users are likely to interrupt their engagement with Twitter, click on the link as well as visit the destination website.

Search advertisers does work in a similar fashion, individuals voluntarily do identify their needs and wishes and advertisers as well as attempt to put them to their website through serving relevant ads.

Facebook users do exhibit more heterogeneous behavior. There are some users who immediately respond to targeted ads or even inviting links along with click their way out of Facebook onto marketers’ websites, other Facebook users aren’t in a hurry for interrupting their social activity. In several ways, Facebook acts as a semi-closed environment wherein the individuals do arrive at advertisers’ websites via varied channels but not before they have had meaningful conversations with the brands on Facebook.

Marketers do display Facebook both as an acquisition channel and trade click-through rates to the main website as well as also a place to nurture and cultivate prospects along with customers until they become ready to transact on the major website.