Facebook is usually thought of by many as the biggest and most popular social media site, but could there be a new contender on the market? Instagram could be making its way to the top platform for brands and advertisers, based on engagement, reach, and demographics. Let’s take a look at the social media stats and see how these two sites stack up against each other.
Engagement
In terms of engagement, Instagram is the top dog compared to Facebook. Business Insider reported that engagement rates are at least four times higher on Instagram than on Facebook. For instance, major brand Mercedes-Benz posted a preview of a new car on Facebook and gathered just over 10,000 likes. Not too shabby, but the same post by the brand on Instagram gained over 150k likes; That’s 15 times the engagement!
It is thought that the simplicity of Instagram’s user interface and the ability to double-tap to like is what gets users to engage more often. This also makes it an ideal app for advertisers and for brands to get celebrities to sponsor their products.
Reach
While Instagram is top ranking for engagement and is home to over 800 million active users, Facebook would be the place to advertise if you are looking to gain visibility. Facebook has over 2.2 billion active monthly users, which makes it an ideal place to reach a large amount of people. Facebook also has impressive targeting options for advertisers, based on location, age, gender, and connections. Though it’s not as large of a reach on Instagram, they do have a more organic reach than Facebook.
Demographics
Facebook has an impressive and broad reach, but it depends on what the brand’s target audience is. For instance, Instagram would be the ideal place to reach a younger audience, considering 55% of internet daily users between the ages of 18-29 use it. Facebook is also popular among this age group, but also 79% of internet users between 30-49 and over half of the 60+ internet population are also users of Facebook. This shows that Facebook is a better place to reach people of all ages.
All-in-all, Facebook is still one of the top places to advertise and reach consumers of all ages, but brands should definitely start utilizing the visually-inspired Instagram app. Instagram makes it easier for consumers to engage with the brand and the posts, and statistically Instagram brings in more highly-engaged users and they stay on the Insta app 45% longer than they do on Facebook. Generally, any ad you run on Facebook can be optimized for Instagram, so experiment with both platforms and see how the stats stack up for your own brand!
Sources:
https://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-tops-facebook-on-engagement-2017-5
https://www.dreamgrow.com/instagram-facebook-advertising/
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-ads-vs-facebook-ads/
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/#facebook
