Instagram VS Facebook: Which Is Better For Your Brand?

Instagram or Facebook – which social media channel is better for building your brand? As a business owner, you may have considered how to best develop your online presence, which may have led you to consider the above question. As two of the largest growing social networks, both brands have expanded the possibilities for businesses to use social media for engaging with customers.

In June 2019, Facebook and Instagram accumulated 2.38 billion and over 1 billion active users each. What’s more, both brands offer ways to bridge the gap between user bases so that content posted to one platform can be simultaneously shared on the other. Though there are many ways to use Facebook and Instagram for your business, you need to apply different techniques to make the most out of each network. Let us see how Instagram or Facebook can help make your brand popular.

Instagram vs. Facebook: Audience demographics

Consider demographic data when planning your social media strategy, as it will help you to target specific audience groups. Instagram has a larger audience in the age range of 30 years and below, while Facebook is more popular among millennials and older generations. If your company is trying to sell a product that would appeal more to a younger generation, consider using Instagram to highlight your product features.

Note that Facebook can also be used to connect with the younger generation. However, you will likely find more success in connecting with older users on Facebook. Since older consumers have higher incomes, targeting them can be extremely beneficial depending on what services or products your company offers.

Instagram vs. Facebook: Brand engagement

Creating a business page on social media is one of the easiest ways to enhance brand credibility and visibility. Data suggests that currently, there are more than 60 million business pages on Facebook. There are many users who follow a business page on Facebook, but only a small fraction of them actively engage with the brands by liking, sharing, or commenting on their posts.

By comparison, nearly 71% of companies in the US have an active business profile on Instagram. About 80% of Instagram users follow a business on Instagram, and nearly 68% of them regularly interact with brands. You might think that having a business profile on Instagram could be more effective than having one on Facebook. However, that might not necessarily be the case.

Although Facebook has a lower rate of brand engagement, videos posted on the network receive more than 8 billion views daily. By comparison, Instagram has a higher success rate with photos. Therefore, to better engage audiences, you could implement video marketing tactics for Facebook and photo marketing tactics for Instagram.

Instagram vs. Facebook: Ad types

Facebook is more versatile than Instagram when it comes to offering different types of advertisements. There are currently 11 types of advertisements available on Facebook, including page likes, event response ads, slideshow ads, offer ads, video ads, carousel ads, etc. While each of these ads offers positive results, some of them allow you to be more creative and yield a better return on investment (ROI). Carousel ads and collection ads are two examples of such ads.

Instagram, by comparison, offers a more limited range of ads. You can choose between photo ads, video ads, stories ads, and carousel ads. Though your options are restricted, some ad types like Instagram Stories offer high conversion rates. You can use Stories to launch different types of social media campaigns, which can be cost-effective as well.

Instagram vs. Facebook: Mobile-friendliness

Facebook can be accessed via a mobile app as well as a web browser on your computer. Regardless of which medium you use, there typically isn’t much difference in what you can see except in layout and design. You can create and see posts on both your phone and laptop and access Messenger on both devices.

On the other hand, users face difficulties with logging in to Instagram via their computers as the network does not have a strong desktop experience. It is not easy to upload photos or edit videos on Instagram via desktop. It has mainly been created to be enjoyed via mobile phones.

When you are planning to implement a social media advertising campaign, it does not matter which device you use for advertising on Facebook. For advertising on Instagram, you need to use a mobile app for a positive and smooth experience.