Since its inception in 2004, Facebook has come a long way in influencing our lives and giving the world of social media marketing its unique identity. Facebook was renamed Meta Inc. in 2021 as part of the rebranding strategy and is the owner of two of the biggest social media giants – Instagram and WhatsApp. Nonetheless, the steep competition in social media marketing often raises questions about which is better – Instagram Vs Facebook.
For clarity on the subject, this article explores the secrets of the two social media platforms to find which is better for brand promotions.
Instagram Vs Facebook for Business
The popularity of the social media giants – Facebook and Instagram is growing significantly. As of September 2021, the number of monthly active users of Facebook was 2.91 billion, which was more than one-third of the global population. Its number of daily active users had also climbed to 1.93 Billion by September 2021. The monthly active users of Instagram stand at 1 billion, while its daily active users are 500 million globally. Given the size of the audience and reach, over 200 million businesses invest in these social media platforms to promote their brands.
A detailed understanding of how these social media platforms are thriving in the social media marketing business is crucial.
Instagram for business
According to Instagram statistics, at least 90% of people on Instagram follow a business, and two in three people interviewed said the social media platform enables interaction with brands. Moreover, at least 50% of users become more interested in a brand when they see its ads on Instagram.
Instagram helps your brand drive traffic in the following ways:
1. Instagram Culture Trends
It is not uncommon to come across a cultural trend on Instagram. Be it the holiday season or a socio-cultural movement in a region, Instagram is full of stories, posts and reels on the latest trend. According to a survey, over 69% of active Instagram users are likely to purchase from brands promoting inclusive content for all people and identities.
Meanwhile, 66% of users are likely to buy from brands that support a social movement they care about or from brands that reflect their values and beliefs. Businesses should consider supporting social causes that align with the mission and vision of the brand. For instance, the Down North Pizza of Philadelphia sought to reduce recidivism through economic empowerment and opportunity through its Instagram reach.
2. Awareness Drive & Building Community
A survey suggests that at least 44% of people strongly associate Instagram with finding local brands. On Instagram, you can create posts, videos or stories to interact with your existing followers and use content to create ads that help you get discovered by more people. Your business can drive awareness campaigns and interact with a specific community about your product. You can boost your posts and even use reels (short and entertaining videos) to engage your audience.
3. Get New Potential Lead
Another statistic suggests that at least 44% of users utilise Instagram for shopping every week. Instagram is the best platform to help people discover your products and inspire them to buy. It is crucial to make sure all of your content is buyable by using product tags. Use Instagram stories, Live chats and other features to find potential leads for your business on the social media platform.
4. Create Curiosity with Content
Nearly 2 of 3 active Instagram users believe the platform helps them build meaningful relationships with brands. On Instagram, you can create audience curiosity with compelling content and draw them to direct messaging and conversations through Instagram Direct. You can answer their questions, interact with FAQ responses and more. Moreover, ads that click on Instagram Direct are crucial to generating new leads for your business. Upload a product catalogue and use product tags to help users purchase your products on the platform.
Facebook For Business
Facebook’s Meta Business Suite inculcates the content management process of both Facebook and Instagram. It is easier to integrate the brand promotional content on the two social media platforms into one. Meta Business Suite helps you schedule, publish and manage posts for both Facebook and Instagram, helps you stay updated on messages, notifications and alerts and analyse insights. Meta Business Suite has taken social media marketing to a whole new level!
The following tools on Meta Business Suite help manage Facebook for Business:
1. Audience Engagement
Facebook for business tools provide numerous ways to make engaging with the audience manageable. The following tools make it effortless for you to enhance audience engagement of your brand:
- Business feed: You can follow and interact with professionals similar to your field to get new inspirational ideas and engage your audience.
- Content Creation: It makes scheduling, publishing, and managing posts and stories on Facebook super easy by helping you create draft posts and access Facebook photos.
- Message Response: You can set up automatic responses to reply to messages and comments and assign conversations.
- Marketing Calendar: A marketing calendar helps you plan your posts and stories by creating, scheduling and managing your content.
2. Advertisements
Facebook ads help you reach out to more customers and increase your business. The following features of the Facebook ad manager help you achieve your goals:
- Ads: It is easier to create, manage and track the performance of your ads for your Facebook Page and connected Instagram account.
- Ads Manager: The ad manager helps to create, manage and track the performance of your campaigns, ad sets and ads for your ad account.
- Custom Audiences: You can now create custom, lookalike or saved audiences for your ad campaigns.
- Events Manager: Event Manager helps connect data from your website, app or store to understand customer actions.
- Instant Forms: Instant forms help manage forms and connect your CRM software for lead ads.
Instagram vs Facebook Insights
Billions of users are online on Facebook and Instagram and engage in the posts, stories and reels, making the two platforms the hub of social media marketing. Analysing the insights and analytics of these interactions will help you learn what works better and what doesn’t. The following is a detailed overview of Facebook and Instagram insights that businesses need to understand:
Checking Instagram Insights
- Recent highlights: The highlights section informs any notable boosts in account performance in your chosen preset or custom-made time frame within the past 90 days.
- Overview: The overview section displays the number of accounts reached, accounts engaged, total followers and approximate earnings. The overview section also showcases the collective demographic data based on several factors, including individual Facebook data and Instagram profiles. You can visit each of these metrics for a more thorough breakdown.
- Accounts reached: In social media marketing, it is crucial to know the number of unique accounts your the content reached, including top countries & cities, age ranges and gender breakdown. The account reach for reels is the number of times the reel appeared on the screen. Account reach varies from impressions, which includes multiple views of your reel from an account.
- Content Interactions: In the content interactions section, you can view the audience’s actions while engaging with your content, such as likes, comments, saves, shares and replies.
- Ad Insights: The ad insights section provides more information on your post and if it has reached a larger audience.
Checking Facebook Insights
- Facebook Page reach: The Facebook page reach section gives insight into the number of people who viewed any content from or about your Page, including posts, stories, ads, social information from people who interact with your Page and more. Facebook reach differs from impressions, as the latter may include multiple views of your posts by the same people. This metric is estimated.
- Content Insights: The content insights estimate the post/story reach among the audience:
- Audience Insight: Audience insight showcased the overall demographic data based on several factors, including age and gender information that users provide on their Facebook profiles.
- Organic Engagement: The organic engagement section estimates the number of Facebook post reactions, comments and shares.
- Top-performing organic posts: Facebook insights also display the top-performing organic posts over the last 90 days. Such insights are crucial to identifying the more appealing posts and stories.
Facebook post reach: The Facebook post reach shows details of the number of people who saw your post at least once. Post reach differs from impressions, as the latter may include multiple views of your post by the same people.
Facebook story reach: The Facebook story reach section showcases the number of people who saw your story at least once. This metric also includes insights into people who viewed your Facebook story after someone else shared it.
Facebook Page likes: The Facebook Page Likes estimate the number of likes on your Facebook Page.
Age & gender: The age and Gender section shows the approximate demographic data based on several factors, including age and gender information that users provide on their Facebook profiles.
Key Takeaways:
Billions of users are online on Facebook and Instagram and engage in the posts, stories and reels, making the two platforms the hub of social media marketing. Analysing the insights and analytics of these interactions will help you learn what works better and what doesn’t. The following is a detailed overview of Facebook and Instagram insights that businesses need to understand:
- Facebook has a greater audience reach and more active users compared to Instagram.
- Facebook and Instagram have similar business management systems, but Instagram promises more leads.
- Facebook and Instagram integration in brand marketing are more likely to have a visible impact than focusing on a single platform.
- Facebook provides more detailed tools and insights to businesses for social media marketing.
- Instagram provides more trend-based information compared to Facebook.
Final Warp:
The details of Facebook and Instagram algorithms are vast and ever-changing. Amidst the tough competition of brands in social media marketing, no strategy is correct and full-proof. Experimentation is the key, and consistency in approach takes your brand a long way in building relations with its audience.
Irrespective of your choice for social media marketing, Instagram, Facebook, or both, every brand performs differently and uniquely engages audiences. Get detailed insights and customised brand strategies designed specifically for you with MMW. Contact us today and speak to our experts!
