FB vs Insta – A Numbers Guide for the Modern Digital Marketer
Aditya Kathotia — April 12, 2019 — April 12, 2019
The internet! It is probably the most dynamic invention of the last century. Technological advancement has connected people across the globe with the help of the internet. There are billions of people who are using it for various purposes. The more the people gain access to the internet, the more that start exploring social media. Smartphones have also assisted in the growth of the social media usage.
Social networking websites have seen a steady growth over the last few years as the user-base has been increasing gradually. As per findings by The Manifest, social media is used at least once a day by 86% of the population and 72% among them visit their social media handles multiple times a day. If such a huge part of the population is using social media daily, one can only imagine the kind of potential it must be offering to marketers? Small to medium and even big companies are now making use of social media channels for advertising.
There are many benefits of using social media for marketing including cost-effectiveness. But that is not what I intend to convey today. If you are new to social media marketing or if you want to take your marketing strategy up by a notch, this post is for you.
Even though there are many social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. Facebook and Instagram are two platforms that the marketers leverage the most. The competition is pretty stiff here. However, if you want your marketing strategy to show results, you first must know which of these two social channels is best suited for your business.
The following is a detailed discussion on both Facebook and Instagram so that you can make informed decisions about which one to choose.
Statistics related to Facebook:
When Facebook started its journey from a dorm room, who knew that it would have so much to offer! But now that it does, let’s take a look at the statistics.
Popularity:
In terms of popularity, Facebook is right up there. Many other social networking sites have come up ever since. But none has been as popular as Facebook.
There are 2.2 billion monthly active users on Facebook. It gives us a fair indication about the kind of reach that it offers to marketers.
Demographic:
Being one of the oldest social media channels, Facebook caters to a wide range of demographics. As per recent studies, 46% males and 54% females use Facebook.
Facebook is popular among the age group starting from 18 to 64. However, the most active users on Facebook are between 18 and 29 followed by the age group from 30 to 49.
Engagement:
Do you know that Facebook has more than 60 million business pages? However, when it comes to user engagement, Facebook might not be the best in town. As a result, the contents on these business pages do not get shared as much as they should. People do not engage enough in posting comments on these pages.
It’s very important to understand what exactly engages users the most and drives them to an interaction. Once this is clear, user engagement will increase by itself. The following diagram illustrates the various post-type performances on Facebook.
Ad performance:
Facebook has encountered enough backlashes for misusing its user-data in the last year. It has hampered the ad performance of the site. However, Facebook has learnt from its mistakes and improved its policies. Consequently, its earnings have also increased. According to the data released by Facebook, in the last quarter of 2018, the ad revenue was 16.6 billion dollars.
There are 11 different types of ads that you can pick from. Video ads, image ads, lead generation ads, offer ads, page likes, boosted posts etc. Over the past few years, marketers have seen a huge increment in the ad revenue on Facebook. Even the click-through-rate or CTR is much higher on Facebook in comparison to other sites
Statistics related to Instagram
Now, let’s take a look at the social media platform that is growing rapidly – Instagram.
Popularity:
When Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for 1 billion dollars, the social platform had only thirty million users. Do you know how many people use Instagram today? As per the data available in 2018, the social media platform has 1 billion (monthly active users)! Yes, you read it right. And among them, around 500 million are daily visitors! And as I am writing this in 2019, the number has surely exceeded to a billion.
The whopping statistics indicates that Instagram is the second most popular social media site.
Demographics
Knowing your targeted demographics is essential in choosing the right social media platform for your business. As per the statistics shared by Sharethis, 15% of the Instagram users are from the United States and the rest 85% are from different other locations.
If you are a brand that caters to only US citizens, knowing the demographics on Instagram helps you to leverage the social media site. Similar to the location, the age group that uses the media channel is also equally important for your brand to gain the competitive edge.
Statista has published its report on the demographics of Instagram by age and gender. According to the website, people within the age bracket of 18 and 34 are the most active users of Instagram. While 32% of the users belong to the age group of 18-24, 33% of the population belongs to the age group of 25-34.
You can also see from the screenshot above that gender wise the world wide demographic of Instagram is split in almost 50:50 ratios. Gender segmentation is an important aspect to consider while formulating a marketing strategy.
Proper insights into the demographics based on location, gender and age definitely provide you with an edge. You can set more specific goals and create your strategies accordingly.
Engagement
Proper customer engagement is one thing that every brand thrives to achieve. As a marketer, you constantly have to create engaging content to gain and retain customers over the social media channels. Instagram comes handy in this case. Why? Instagram has multiple features that allow you to engage your audience in a better way. The most interesting fact is that though these features are also available on Facebook, it does not work the same way.
Actually, the algorithm of Instagram promotes your post if you use these features correctly and wisely. Besides, the more you can engage your target audience, the more they will stay on the app. Instagram favors those who can make people use the app for longer.
Even the grids of Instagram are used to engage the audience. Marketers often plan the grids of their Instagram page in such a way that it creates a collective image to represent the brand.
According to a study, the engagement rate has increased from what it was in 2018 to now in 2019. Essentially, all influencers have seen a growth of 22-25% in the engagement rate apart from those who have 5k to 20k followers. They have noticed a growth of 6%.
Ad performance
Ads are one of the most prominent ways to drive your sales growth. But does Instagram offer you as many options as Facebook? Do you get the same ad performance from Instagram as from Facebook?
Unlike Facebook, Instagram has only 4 segments of ads that you can choose from. Photo ads and video ads already allowed you to showcase your product through images and videos (1-minute in length). Later, Instagram came up with carousel ads and story ads. While carousels let you upload 10 videos or images that your audiences can swipe through, you can upload full-screen images or videos to market your products through story ads.
It is seen that people relate more with the story ads on Instagram than the different ads on Facebook. As a result, Instagram creates better impression than Facebook.
Final takeaway
What platform you end up choosing depends on what your requirement is, who your target audience is, what your product/service is, and the kind of ads you want to target. The above statistics can help as a guide while you sit to pen down the marketing strategy of choice.
If you own a brand that wants to make its position in the market, you need to make your business visible to as many people as you can. Facebook offers better visibility than Instagram. However, you must keep the age of your target audience in mind. Teenagers are more active on Instagram in comparison to Facebook. Instagram gives you the opportunity to be more creative. As a result, you can visually engage more customers on Instagram. If you are looking to share links as a part of your marketing strategy, Instagram will not be of much help to you. Instagram doesn’t allow you to share more than one link and that too on your Bio. Therefore, in this case, I would prefer Facebook over Instagram.
This is not a tug of war and there does not have to be a winner. Picking the right platform based on the above points is important. A well-defined marketing strategy is bound to work on either.
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