Facebook vs Instagram: which is best for your social media strategy?

Facebook and Instagram are two of the most popular social media platforms in the world and they can offer a lot to a business. With billions of active users, it’s clear that these social networking sites are extremely powerful and offer a lot of opportunities for your business to engage with customers. If you’re wondering which is the better choice for your business, it’s a good idea to know what each of the platforms offers. So below we take you through some of the main differences between Facebook and Instagram to help you launch a successful social media marketing strategy for your business.

Statistics at a glance

Instagram statistics

1. Instagram now has over 1 billion monthly active users and among these users, 90% follow a business on the platform, which suggests that Instagram users are keen on hearing about and from brands.
2. In 2020 Instagram users spend on average 28 minutes per day on the platform
3. Instagram’s potential advertising reach is 928 million users

Facebook statistics

1. Facebook has 2.38 billion monthly active users
2. 65 million small businesses have a Facebook Page
3. 74% of businesses say they make use of Facebook more as part of their brand’s social media marketing strategy

What does Facebook have to offer?

1. Reach for your business

When it comes to reaching an audience, Facebook continues to be the leading social media platform. According to the latest research, Facebook has 2.38 billion monthly active users. So if the goal of your brand or business is to increase visibility alone, then Facebook would look like the way to go.

2. Engagement

In terms of engagement, Facebook has the second-highest audience engagement rate from all social media networks. It indicates that Facebook generates the second-highest number of user interactions with a business or brand. This is less than Instagram, which we will come to discuss a little further below.

3.Demographics

72% of online adults use Facebook, and the platform is more popular with women than men, however, this is quite a minimal difference with 66% being males and 77% women. The most popular age group tends to be the 18-29 group with 82% of internet users fitting into this age group, and 79% of internet users between 30 and 49 years of age are using Facebook. Finally, the same is true for those aged between 50 and 64 with 64% of internet users using Facebook. All these statistics would indicate that Facebook does well at reaching all age groups online.

4. Ad performance

Ads on Facebook has a history of performing well. Back in 2014, a study found that advertising on Facebook performed much better than a regular web ad. Mobile ads have a 9.1 x click-through rate and desktop ads from Facebook, have a higher click-through rate.

What does Instagram have to offer?

Reach

Instagram has more than 1 billion monthly active users and 80% of all these users are outside of the United States which, suggests quite positively that the platform has a massive global reach. If you want to boost visibility for your business, then the sheer number of users will help with that.

Engagement

One of the best things about Instagram is its high engagement rate. 95 million photos and videos are shared on Instagram per day and statistics have shown that the media engagement rate on Instagram is 3.5% and the average engagement rate for branded posts on Instagram is 4.3%. This is higher than other platforms such as Facebook, which gives Instagram a lot of appeal to businesses and brands hoping to engage successfully with their customers.

Traffic engagement

Alongside the high engagement rates on Instagram, the platform also brings website visitors who are also highly engaged. A study by Yotpo sought to find which social media platforms bring in the most engaged traffic. According to this study, those website visitors from Instagram averaged a time of 192 seconds. This was actually more than three minutes higher than any other social media platform including Facebook.

Demographics

Ultimately when it comes to deciding on which social media platform is better for your business, the decision will be based on who exactly you’re trying to reach, i.e. your target demographic. You’ll need to be on the social media network they use. Recent studies have shown that there are more female users on Instagram than male users. 51% are women and 49% are men. 75% of 18–24-year-olds use Instagram which makes it a great platform to reach a younger audience, and it’s a popular platform for influencer marketing.

The results?

Instagram is better for engagement

When it comes to engagement Instagram outperforms Facebook. This is the top metric that Instagram has over Facebook. Studies have reported that brands see a 1.6% median engagement rate per post on Instagram compared to a 0.09% engagement rate per Facebook post.

Facebook is better for higher visibility

If you want your business or brand to be noticed more, then Facebook is the better option. This is simply because of its huge user base and the fact that it has acceptance across all age groups. This means if you don’t have a specific target audience, then Facebook will give you a better chance at reaching all age groups.

Instagram will allow you to reach a younger audience

If your target audience is a younger demographic, then there is no doubt that Instagram is the stronger platform. A large majority of Instagram users are under 30, and many of them are teenagers.

Running ad campaigns on Instagram VS Facebook

When it comes to ad campaigns on both platforms, you’ve got everything covered from both when it comes to creating ads, tracking them, and reporting paid social campaigns. Both Facebook and Instagram for business allow you to easily track your data allowing you to clearly see who your audience is and the collaboration between the two platforms will give you the opportunity to monitor success for paid ads.

Instagram isn’t a replacement for Facebook and vice versa. Rather you need to identify your target audience, the type of content you want to publish and find the platform that works better for you. The end question isn’t which social network is better, rather it’s how can your company use each one to reach your audience and create gains for your brand or business.

For more marketing insights and tips into growing your business online, follow the Limecube blog.

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