Being the online savvy that you are, you will always find ways to improve your market reach. But did you know that one frequently asked question of an online marketer is what to choose between the top social media platforms?
Out of the ten top most used social media platforms, two of them standout the most because of their popularity – Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook has an estimate of 1.1 Billion monthly visitors, while Instagram has 500 Million. Although one of these has greater advantage in numbers, both of them prove to be successful in building your brand – the success however depends on how good of a match your brand is to the social media platform. – MORE HERE
Here’s a detailed guide to measuring how both platforms could effect your business.
Reach + Visibility
Facebook remains as the most popular social media platform as it has been around earlier than Instagram, but that doesn’t mean that Instagram isn’t effective.
Source: Pew Research Center
Although Facebook has the advantage when it comes to popularity, the site’s reach is different from Instagram’s. Facebook’s users range from the older generations to the millennials, while Instagram users are mostly teens.
Instagram has greater appeal to the young audiences who are mostly visual individuals. If you’re business is geared towards the yuppies or to the teens, Instagram is for you.
This means it’s the perfect platform to engage a younger customer base. In fact, this is how Harley Davidson managed to raise awareness about their motorcycles and engage a younger audience. The motorcycle brand launched an Instagram ad campaign. Their goal was to reach men aged between 18 and 35.
They developed a campaign involving carousel ads. These ads featured creative illustrations mimicking designs that are popular in biking culture. Each of these illustrations focused around their motorcycles in a unique storyline. Within just three weeks, they reached almost 1.4 million men in their target age group.
These ads also managed to drive 8,365 clicks to the brand’s website. As a result, Harley-Davidson accomplished its goal of reaching a younger audience. Here’s an excellent example of how Instagram can help brands in re-targeting and engaging younger people.- MORE HERE
As for visibility, without a doubt Facebook has authority over Instagram. One contributory fact is that Facebook has acceptance across different age groups – this you can use if your products are for general patronage.
Target Market + Business Type + Platform Functionality
The target market depends solely on the nature of your business, it is important to know your demographics as well – where they are based, their age and even culture has greatly shaped them, so to avoid glitches in communication, research well on these.
A younger target market means advertising on Instagram, while an older market is for Facebook. When your target market is for older generations, you have access to consumers who have higher income and spending power – a major plus, right?
You must also assess the platform functionality and how the functions for each platform is beneficial to you. For example, if your business is geared towards advertising visually – like fashion, beauty and aesthetic, Instagram is more preferred. On the other hand, if you want more detailed functions like creating your online store or page, where you’d want to incorporate product reviews, testimonials, and limitless links, then Facebook is better.
Engagement + Information Dissemination
Because Instagram is less complicated, you could directly message your clients and get immediate engagement. Unlike Facebook with multiple types of accounts, on Instagram you only have one type, which makes everything easier for engagement.
As for information dissemination, Facebook is much more preferred. Aside from greater amount of users, the multiple types of accounts like pages, groups or personal accounts means greater means to distribute information. There is also no limit to links you could put, unlike Instagram where you could only have one link in your bio.
Let me emphasize the fact that the effectiveness of these social media platforms depend solely on your brand. If you want to reach more, why not use both platforms? Personally, that would be the most effective.