When considering Facebook vs Instagram and launching a social media campaign or you have already started a social media campaign. However, if you are smart you will make sure to know and understand your targeted audiences and know what social media platform they use. Smart marketers will not only study their audience; they will study social media platforms and understand how they can grow their business and which ones will be best for their business.
Social Media Marketing is a versatile, cost-effective, and powerful tool that not only marketers but small business owners alike can utilize. When used correctly it will help reach potential customers, boost sales, increase brand recognition, increase conversion rates, and so much more. It is no wonder, then, more businesses are deciding to include social media in their digital marketing strategy.
Facebook and Instagram
In case you are not aware, Facebook owns Instagram. Therefore, you will start to understand why both social networks have very similar capabilities when it comes to their advertising platforms. However, that works for your benefit! Both platforms will give you the chance to take advantage of using their ads.
Facebook, launched in 2004, and it is huge! Facebook has grown so much that the average number of daily users for June 2019 equals 1.59 billion. Although, it’s original mission was to help people stay in touch with their friends and family members. But nowadays it also helps companies reach their target customers through advertising on Facebook.
Instagram, on the other hand, is a younger platform. It launched in 2010 and Instagram is the home for visual storytelling for everyone: artists, celebrities, teens, brands, and others. It immediately gained popularity and in 2018 it has about 500 million users daily!
Brand Engagement
Did you know that there are over 60 million Business Pages on Facebook? Unfortunately, although many users Like or follow a FB Business Page, only 32% of them engage with brands on Facebook regularly by sharing content, leaving comments, and asking questions.
The situation looks a bit better with Instagram. Many companies created Instagram Business Profiles and advertise regularly. Even more so, 80% of users follow a business on Instagram, and, even better than on Facebook, 68% of users engage with brands on a regular basis.
Although Facebook has lower brand engagement, it receives over 8 billion daily video views. Instagram, on the other hand, does great with images. Thus, it is a good practice to invest in Video Ads on Facebook and Photo Ads on Instagram. However, the times are changing with IGTV. IGTV is a great tool for small companies to promote “how-to” videos and other product reviews or tutorials.
Audience and Targeting
While Facebook might not be the best social media platform in terms of customer engagement, it has an enormous audience worldwide.
According to research, men and women from all age groups are active on Facebook. However, the most active users are 25-34-year-old men.
Instagram, on the other hand, has a smaller audience. Statistics show that although both men and women use Instagram equally.
Therefore, it depends on who your audience is will determine which platform is right for your business.
Types of Ads
When you take a look at Facebook Ads Guide you can notice that there are many different types of ads available on Facebook, some using cost per click (CPC) and some using cost per impression (CPM). In fact, there are 11 types of ads you can choose from:
1. Video Ads: recommended videos up to 15 seconds with subtitles.
2. Image Ads: an eye-catching image accompanied by a persuasive message.
3. Collection Ads: a cover image or video followed by a few product photos.
4. Carousel Ads: you can showcase up to 10 images (or videos) in a single ad, each with its own link.
5. Slideshow Ads: video-like ads, which use motion, sound, and text to tell your story.
6. Facebook Instant Experiences/Canvas Ads: mobile-optimized ads that show all your videos, photos, carousels and product images in a single ad.
7. Lead Generation Ads: capture user’s information.
8. Offer Ads: allow you to create and extend timely discounts and promotions to your target audience.
9. Post Engagement Ads/Boosted Posts: help you share information about your business with users.
10. Event Response Ads: help you to promote events.
11. Page Likes: can be used to drive your audience to Like your Facebook Page.
As you can see, there’s a variety of ads you can create on Facebook. While each can give you great results, two will be the most engaging, will give you a lot of space for creativity and can give you a remarkable ROI: Facebook Carousel Ads and Facebook Collection Ads.
Now, what about Instagram?
There are only 4 types of ads for you to choose from on Instagram:
1. Photo Ads: allow you to showcase your products through images.
2. Video Ads: can be up to 60 seconds.
3. Carousel Ads: users can swipe through up to 10 images or videos, each with a CTA button that connects them to your website.
4. Stories Ads: full-screen ads in which you can share photos and videos with your audience.
5. Collection Ads: visually inspire and help your audience discover, browse and purchase products.
6. Ads in Explore: Reach people in a discovery mindset
As you can see, there are fewer types of ads on Instagram than on Facebook. Still, Instagram has something to offer. Let’s take a closer look at Stories Ads.
A recent study by Agora Pulse proves that Instagram Stories have a 23% higher conversion rate than Feed Ads and have 78% more clicks, therefore, leading to Stories Ads being better than News Feed Ads. Also, Stories Ads are versatile, giving you a lot of space for creativity and allowing you to launch many different types of social media campaigns, such as brand awareness, app installs, lead generation, traffic for clicks, or driving sales. Thus, they are one of the best and most cost-effective types of ads to use on Instagram.
Investment
Of course, an important question is always how expensive and what the cost is of a Facebook or Instagram ad campaign.
It is not cheap to advertise on a social media platform. But, just like advertising on Google Search Engines, you can get a high ROI (return on investment) when done properly.
According to Facebook, the average CPC (cost per click) is on average $0.27 and the CPM (cost per thousand impressions) is $7.19. There are many factors that can influence the cost of your ads:
● Ad objective
● Bidding type and amount
● Audience
● Ad quality
● Your industry.
Therefore, it is possible to pay more than expected in the end.
Sadly, Instagram advertising is not any cheaper. Although the average CPC is $1.41 and CPM $7.91, the cost of ads is influenced by a number of factors ranging from your audience to your ad feedback.
Since the costs can be quite significant, it is worth advertising on any of the two platforms. Remember, Facebook Ads can give you a high ROI. But, in order not to go bankrupt with social media advertising, you need to be smart about creating and choosing ad types.
If it’s possible we recommend hiring a professional who will help you launch your social media campaign and guide you through it. I know what you want to say: it’s an additional cost. Yes, it is, but if you’re a beginner marketer who’s never done any advertising, ask yourself: will hiring a professional cost you more than trying to learn everything by investing in every type of ad and seeing how it goes?
Running Your Social Campaign Bi-Platforms
Why not? Both Facebook and Instagram have a variety to offer and can give you a high ROI. Hence, taking advantage of both platforms can increase your performance. Remember, running ads on one platform might perform better than others (like image and video ads). There are many possibilities and strategies you can use that can be overwhelming.
The team at Blue Water Marketing are Social Media experts. They can create stunning ads for you, understand what platform will work for your target audience, and be able to explain this to you, to help build your confidence in their assistance. You have enough to worry about, let us worry about your social media by calling us today!
