Instagram Vs. Facebook: Who is better for brand awareness in 2022

Undoubtedly, Instagram and Facebook are two of the hottest social media platforms out there. Twitter makes them the perfect trio. 

Both platforms have over 1 billion active users, with Instagram just surpassing the 1 billion mark and Facebook doing amazing with 2.9 billion users. 

It is often very tempting to spread your marketing resources across both platforms. However, a detailed comparison between them can help you become aware of the slightly different degree of advantages each can offer your brand.

With the change in digital technology championing the growth of the marketing space, the various demands and needs of the modern business world are more strategic and detailed than in the past.

Several brands are turning to paid social media advertising to multiply their sales and increase their ROI. The best way to acquire this upturn in business is through brand awareness created by the various social media platforms. 

Facebook or Instagram. Which can get you a better brand awareness in 2022? 

This article provides the answer to this question and offers other relevant comparisons between these social media giants. You get to know when to hedge your marketing bets on each platform and which can better benefit your awareness strategy. 

Instagram vs. Facebook: Algorithms

If you want your brand to be popular on social media, it has to be visible. One of the crucial determinants of that is the algorithm of the platform you’re using. 

A social media platform algorithm refers to the code that decides which posts are seen by which users and in what order the posts are seen. 

Social media platforms use algorithms to provide a more fulfilling experience to users. The approach enables you to see more of the posts you like and less of those you show a limited interest in. This also helps generate traffic to business users.

As you’re probably wondering, the algorithms can’t get this right all the time. However, more often than not, they do. 

So between Facebook and Instagram, whose algorithm fares better for marketing? 

This is particularly challenging to determine as the true specifics of the algorithms are unknown trade secrets. However, you can get a pretty good idea of how they work with some analysis and monitoring.

Here are a few things each algorithm focuses on.

Instagram’s algorithm

• Engagement: Instagram’s Algorithm favors accounts with a higher number of likes and comments on  posts.
• Relevancy: If a post’s genres relate to what a user loves, Instagram with promote the post to the user.
• Relationships: Posts from accounts that the user interacts with frequently are placed higher than those a user doesn’t interact with.
• Timeliness: Newer posts tend to gain more favor from Instagram than older posts.
• Profile searches: Posts from accounts that users search for are often placed higher.
• Time spent on a post: The time a user spends viewing a specific post can influence how Instagram’s algorithm promotes the creator’s post in the user’s feed.

Facebook’s algorithm

• Posts from friends and family: Posts from accounts the user knows personally are placed higher. Meanwhile, posts from brands rank lower.
• Engagement: Facebook also considers now many likes, comments, and shares a post receives when trying to promote it  But they also consider the time frame within which the engagements came.
• Encouraging engagement: Posts that are likely to create a conversation are placed higher.
• Pictures or videos and texts:  Visual posts are placed higher than text-only posts.
• Promotional posts are demoted: Posts that push people into purchasing a product/service or are placed lower. Facebook also demotes known advertisements and unofficial ads.

Instagram vs. Facebook: Which is preferred for business

Picking between both platforms can be quite difficult. Both platforms have excellent business marketing features. You can use both to invite users, post new products, share pictures, etc.

However, some marginal differences make their usage quite different, and therein lies the differences in their usefulness for business. 

Instagram boasts of a similarly large audience to Facebook but still doesn’t come close to its total users. However, it has over 400 million daily active users and 800 million users monthly. It gets up to four billion likes each day, with over a million advertisers on the platform for engagement. 

With Facebook, the statistics are completely different. The platform has a much larger audience than Instagram, with daily active users of 1.32 billion across different age ranges. The platform’s monthly active users stand at 2.1 billion, with 655 million using mobile devices. Also, there are over 40 million business accounts on Facebook.

With these differences, many businesses count on Facebook over Instagram. Below, we’ll show you why some people prefer one platform over the other.

Facebook’s key marketing features

Here are some features that make Facebook more suitable for businesses. 

• Facebook Events

Users and company pages can use Facebook Events to build special landing pages for their events. Guests may discover more about your brand and communicate with your business and other attendees on your event pages.

The reminder feature that comes with this update is particularly helpful as it reminds your audience of upcoming events. This makes your customers never miss an event and easily get information about products and services. 

• Facebook Ads

Facebook ads make it easier to spread awareness about brands and products. These ads can reach a wide audience and are usually effective. 

• Facebook Live

You can engage your audience in real-time by going live with the Facebook live feature. The feature helps your online presence and engages your audience.

• Facebook Business Pages

These pages help create an “online “profile for small businesses or brands. They help you make instant responses to customer questions and draw good feedback from your followers.

• Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups provides an online social community that can make your brand more popular among interested audiences. It can also help you gather a targeted, interested audience and acquire honest feedback from loyal members.

• Facebook Stories

Just like Instagram stories, Facebook stories are a way to keep in touch with your audience daily. Facebook stories are meant to be more casual and relatable, which can help businesses connect better with their audience. 

• Facebook Shop

The Facebook shop is a business application on Facebook that helps customers buy products by examining them through the photos and feedback of other consumers. All brands will benefit from this feature.

• Facebook Messenger

Facebook messenger serves as a good communication platform to discuss any customer issue as regards purchasing and product-related queries.

• Facebook Insights

These help you track and assess engagement results for your marketing campaign. Insights show the value of views you get on your posts and other metrics.

Instagram’s key marketing features

Here are some features that make Instagram suitable for businesses.

• Instagram Ads

Instagram ads push brand awareness and help popularize products and services. Although they don’t have as much audience coverage as Facebook,  they are just as good.

• Instagram Live

This feature comes in handy for communicating with an audience in real-time. 

• Instagram Business Accounts

Instagram business accounts can permit you to add links to your profile and show the industry you belong to. They help you connect with like-minded entrepreneurs and share meaningful business information and ideas.

• Instagram Direct Messages

Direct messages can aid customer satisfaction by answering queries about the brand, product, or purchase. 

• Instagram Insights

Much like Facebook insights, they assist you in learning follower demographics, profile visits, actions, Website clicks, and much more. However, Facebook has more detailed analytic features compared to Instagram. 

• Instagram Shop

The Instagram shop helps customers examine products and make their purchase directly. It is an excellent feature for online social media shopping.

Instagram vs. Facebook, which is better for your brand awareness?

Overall, both platforms perform well in online business marketing. However, if your brand or small business relies heavily on visuals, Instagram will be the best option. 

Furthermore, if your business is more description-oriented rather than depending on best-clicked photos, Facebook will be a better option.

But in the game of brand awareness, Instagram has proved to be a more suitable solution for business owners.

You can increase your brand awareness through Instagram stories, advertising, IGTV, Reels, Live Feeds, and many more. Instagram is the perfect channel to set your brand awareness ad campaigns.

This is because Instagram is a success with younger audiences. This demographic of audiences is in high demand by brands and businesses  throughout the world. 

In 2021, more brands started investing in Instagram ads compared to Facebook. Businesses invested 7.16% more money on Facebook and 8.69% more money. It’s a sign that though Instagram is not as big as Facebook, in the nearest future, it’ll be. 

Bottom line

Both Instagram and Facebook are excellent choices when it comes to social media marketing. However, before deciding which platform is better for your business, it would be best to identify your target audience and evaluate which platform they’re most active on.

In a nutshell, Facebook is more suited for generating traffic and conversions, while Instagram excels more at various ad placements to improve brand awareness.

 

03/05/2022