You have managed to set aside a limited budget for online advertising but you are not sure where to spend it: Instagram or Facebook? This is a difficult question and it the answer is: it depends entirely on your business. The users using the two platforms often overlap, but the demographics and interactions are very different.
There are a number of advantages of running ads on both platforms. Just note, that running the exact same add both medias will not give you the same results. Instead, make a detailed analysis of your content, future goals and audience, and try to figure out which is the best option for your business.
Try and break down each component of your ad, this will help you make the decision which platform you should use. If you are looking for an easier way to get into online advertising and are looking mostly for the ad to gain traction? This Instagram is perfect for you. Need full control over your ads? Try Facebook.
Managing Ads
Both Facebook and Instagram ads can be managed using Facebook Ads Manager. This tool makes it very easy for admins to choose multiple placements and audiences. You can download the statistics and manage every aspect of the campaigns.
Using Facebook, you will have a number of objectives to choose from, ad types and sets. You can test and preview all created ads.
With Instagram, they went for the making it as simple as possible. You just make a few taps, and your ad is all set up with a post and story. If you want to skip all the needless analysis and get straight to the results, Instagram is the platform for you.
If you are just starting out in advertising, both platforms require you to choose a target audience. You can do the test ads using Instagram. Once you get the hang of it, you will be prepared to dive deeper into Facebook Ads Manager.
Audience and Demographics
A major element when creating your ad campaign is choosing audience and demographics. What to both mean? In certain cases, the demographic usually refers to the over user base with billions of accounts. The audience, however, are actually your own followers which you can reach.
If you are looking to expand your reach to new followers, then you need to examine the demographics, making sure that the users in your target audience are active on the exact network.
If you will be using Facebook’s demographics then you will have access to the largest database any network could provide. Most brands will find at a fraction of their desired audience on Facebook.
Instagram’s demographics, for instance is significantly younger.
Once you choose your desired demographic, you can launch your ads.
If wish to get more interaction and engagement on the ads, then take a closer look at your audience. You can find this info on Facebook’ Insights tab, same with Instagram. Another option, is to use a social media management tool and get the insights from there.
Facebooks’ audience targeting has a lot more details than the one on Instagram. Instagram is perfect for ad newbies, as it’s a lot more simplified and streamlined.
For successful engagement, you need to have an existing fane base, who will be interacting with your ads. The best and easiest way is by boosting your post, accessible on both Facebook and Instagram. No need for Ads Manager.
Content
Analyze your content budget and existing content. What type is it, can you invest more? Have you created images and videos specifically for ads, or are relaying on posts which you will boost?
Facebook and Instagram are very different in terms of content type and fans’ interactions with it. With Facebook, you can advertise with numerous ad types:
- Single media: video, image or slideshow of images
- Carousel: two or more scrollable videos or images
- Existing posts: this can include links, you have already shared
In Instagram you gave the same options, specified above, but in-caption links will not be clickable. This is replaced with the call-to-action button.
Think deeply about your goals, when analyzing your content. If it does not match your goals, then your ads will not deliver the expected results. Facebook behavior leans more towards interactions with family and friends, as well as sharing informative and interesting information. News article and blog post are high more likely to get attention.
On Instagram, user behavior is more visually oriented. You need to create eye-catching images and videos, prior to any other type of content. News article don’t really perform well, unless the images grab the attention of users.
If you have plenty of quality visual content, then Instagram is your platform. Also, if you have the budget for creating such content, this means Instagram is good for your goals. For more written content, stick to Facebook.
Goals
If you have not specified your goals yet, stop for a second and think about it. Without them, you can’t establish your metrics, campaign success and even targeting.
With Facebook ads manager, you can easily choose a goal at the beginning. This will manage both Instagram and Facebook ads, although not of the above option can be found on Instagram.
Goals such as bigger brand awareness, together with attention grabbing content will perform great on Instagram. While a goal like site clicks combined with review or news article will do better on Facebook.
Industry
Another factor you should take into account is your business niche. Industries which are in favor of more hip consumer products, fashion and food, will perform stronger on Instagram. If you have profiles on both platforms, take a closer look into your analytics and see where the organic traffic going.
Your industry also affects your budget for online ads. Luxury and expensive products need to show up to users’ multiple times, so that they can consider the purchase carefully. If your industry is not big on social media, then you would have less competition and ads at a lower cost. With this in mind, aim your ads towards a high target demographic and with small industry presence.
Conclusion
Don’t be scared to experiment and try out different types of content and goals. A/B testing is available on Facebook for this exact purpose.
With both platforms, you have the option to make changes to the ads as they are running. Is the budget going a bit over the line? Trim it down. Is once add performing better than others? Stop the poorly performing one.
Success on social media is a mixture of analysis, planning and a bit of luck. Your strategy from the previous year might not work today. Also, the platforms are constantly making changes to their settings, algorithms, and features. We can soon expect to see Instagram’s targeting reach the one of Facebook.
