It’s an important question to ask yourself as you create your social media strategy- Instagram vs Facebook? Which one should you use for your business? Which one will help you reach your audience and get your message across as you need to?
There are various things to consider when trying to make this decision. While some brands or businesses may go for both, it could benefit your strategy if you stick to one of these social media giants at a time.
The truth is, although both platforms fall under the same company, there are differences in how you should approach them as a brand.
In this article, we will weigh the different factors that you should consider when choosing between Instagram vs Facebook.
Instagram vs Facebook: Important Statistics
Instagram Stats
- 1.39 billion active users
- 37% of American adults use Instagram
- Over 65% of people aged 18 to 29 years use Instagram
- 500 million active daily users globally
- 60% of its users visit the platform every day
- Percentage of marketers that use it for their social media strategy: 65%
Facebook Stats
- 2.89 billion monthly active users
- Two out of three adults use Facebook
- Number of active users that access the platform on a mobile device: 96%
- Percentage of marketers that use it for their social media strategy: 89%
- Number of small businesses with a Facebook Page: 65 million
Instagram vs Facebook: Engagement
Statistics also show that Instagram has a higher engagement rate per post than Facebook. Facebook has a median engagement percentage of 0.09% while Instagram’s engagement rate soars at 1.60% per post.
The engagement rate is an important statistic to consider when planning your campaign. It tells you how your posts may perform on Instagram vs Facebook, and gives you an idea of potential interaction with your content.
When thinking about engagement, though, you shouldn’t simply look at it in terms of the rate. Remember that different kinds of content perform differently on various social media platforms. So, sometimes, even an Instagram post that isn’t a popular content type may have a low engagement rate in comparison to the same post on Facebook. (More on this in the content section!)
Instagram vs Facebook: The Audience
When deciding on the digital spaces to target in your social media campaign, it’s important to consider the audiences that use the platforms. You need to understand not only who you’re targeting but who each platform caters to predominantly.
For example, Instagram tends to have a pretty young audience with younger users being more active on the platform. This makes Instagram a more effective platform for businesses that want to target younger audiences ranging between 18 to 34 years old.
On the other hand, Facebook may be a more effective space for brands and businesses hoping to target older customers.
This difference in age and other audience demographics has to do with a lot of factors including the kind of content shared on the platform.
Instagram vs Facebook: The Content
You also need to think about the kind of content that works best on each of these platforms. This has an effect on engagement and other metrics relating to your post.
Visuals, like images and videos, may perform better on Instagram, for example. After all, that’s what the platform is all about- getting users to engage with important moments.
Facebook, though, may be better for lots of text. It is an informational space where users can find different pieces of information and details about a company, brand, event, etc.
It also offers a variety of different ways for users and customers to engage with your brand. From Facebook events, pages, games, videos, messaging, and more; there are so many content forms for you to choose from.
Understanding the audience demographics of the platform works hand-in-hand with knowing the best content to share. By knowing how users opt to use a network, you can also create the best content for them.
Instagram vs Facebook: Functionality
When managing social media pages, there may be little more important than convenience and functionality. As a campaign develops and changes, you need to be able to upload new posts, edit content, and more at a moment’s whim.
This can be a little bit tricky on Instagram since the desktop version of the platform has various limitations. Using Instagram on a web browser makes it difficult to edit and upload images as these are features that work more effectively on your mobile device. In fact, Instagram only recently made it possible to create posts on the desktop version.
Facebook, on the other hand, offers the same experience no matter where you use it from. This makes it easier to manage your accounts at any time.
Instagram vs Facebook: Business/Brand Marketing
Social media platforms form the core of many brands and businesses’ marketing efforts.
Both platforms cater quite effectively to the needs of brands and businesses through the features they offer. This includes paid advertising, marketplace and shopping, and more.
With creative input and strategy, both social media platforms have the potential to transform your brand’s social media campaigns.
Choosing between the two also depends on who your brand is, your brand message, your audience, and the brand personality you want to build online.
On Instagram, you can potentially build a visually powerful brand which is extremely beneficial for more creative businesses like agencies, boutiques, etc.
As we mentioned before, Facebook may suit businesses trying to share information, especially in textual form.
The Bottom Line
Instagram and Facebook may be sibling platforms now under Facebook as a corporation, but the platforms still have pretty distinct characteristics. The kinds of users and audience demographics of each platform differ significantly and so does the popular content type shared on each space.
By taking into account the factors we’ve shared in this blog, you can make the best decision for your brand or campaign. Whether you want to use both platforms or focus on one, the choice is completely up to you and what you think will work best for your business.
And if you need a little help planning your feed and scheduling posts on either platform, Preppr has got you covered!
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