So, you’ve got your business up and running or maybe you’re an existing business ready to start a new campaign to reach bigger audiences and increase your revenues. You may be asking yourself where will your marketing budget be best spent, Facebook or Instagram? Well not to worry we’re about to break down the pros and cons of Facebook and Instagram when used for your marketing master plan.

For the past 15 years, Facebook has helped to extend the possibilities of expansion for many different types of businesses. As of June 2019 Facebook, was the top social media channel for active users with a whopping 2.38 billion active users. Instagram is fairly new as it was founded in 2010 but it’s the fastest growing social media channel globally with 1 billion monthly active users.

It may seem like since Facebook has the most active users, it must be the obvious choice for marketing. This isn’t the case when you break it down. Instagram’s user demographics show that the majority of its users are under 30 and the older users aren’t very active at all.

Whereas active Facebook users are made up of a range of ages with 62% of them being older. Therefore, if young consumers who like to stay on trend are your target audience, Instagram may be best for marketing. But if you’re looking to reach an older audience your best bet will most probably be Facebook.

Another factor to consider when choosing which platform to use is engagement. A study by Selfstartr in 2015 found 60% of users on Instagram regularly interact with brands, while only 32% of users on Facebook regularly interact with brands.

This same study also found that an engaged user on Instagram is worth more. Engaged users on Instagram tend to spend around £53 per order and an engaged user on Facebook spends around £45 per order. So, the stats show us if you’re focused on building your brand, or a community of consumers, Instagram is best for this type of campaign.

Before deciding whether to post on Instagram or Facebook, you should ask yourself; what type of content you are going to post? Are you looking to use paid ads to push consumers onto a third-party site or online store? If you answered yes, Facebook would be a great choice as link sharing on posts isn’t prohibited. This makes pushing traffic to online stores/third party sites much easier.

Whereas if you’re planning a competition or promotion Instagram would be great to use, thanks to its great engagement rates. Any hashtags that are created on Instagram can be tracked to understand the reach of your campaign.

A dual approach could also be taken, as a brand running a competition on Instagram could use Facebook to promote the competition and push traffic on to their Instagram.

When you’re deciding which platform is best for your marketing pound, you’ll need to consider the goals of your campaign. Which may include the demographics of your target audience, the type of content you’ll be posting and how much engagement you’d like to receive.

Instagram is rapidly growing and proving to be a great tool for marketing. However, Facebook still has a lot of power when it comes to marketing. So, to wrap it up a dual approach of using both platforms to meet different targets is likely to be the best way to go.

 

 

Let’s grow your business! Looking to market through Facebook or Instagram? ELC Associates can help. Through various strategic marketing and PR we can help you increase brand awareness, lead generation and sales. Here’s how it works.