If you’re a small-to-medium business with a somewhat limited advertising budget, you may be wondering where to spend it — Instagram ads vs. Facebook ads? While the answer may not be obvious, there are perks to advertising on both platforms.
However, in order to make the best-informed decision about where to spend your budget, you’ll need to assess a few things first. This includes your advertising demographic, ad management, your industry, content, and overall goals.
The reality is that both platforms are similar in many ways, but they do not yield the same end result. Check out the rest of this blog on how to make the best social advertising decision.
Instagram Ads vs. Facebook Ads: How to Make Your Decision
A good place to start is by creating a list of the pros and cons of each platform. It’s also wise to break down the components of creation for Facebook ads and Instagram ads. This will give you a good idea of how much time, effort, skill, and money you’ll need in order to successfully advertise on each platform.
You may want to do some basic research on advertising advice to get a feel for the types of strategies that work best for each platform. Check out these top 10 Facebook advertising secrets for more.
You should also closely consider these factors:
1. The Management of Your Ads
You’ll need to consider the functionality of each platform and what type of ad management this allows for. When it comes to Facebook, you have a multitude of options for ad objectives, ad sets, and ad types. This means you can test out a number of ad combinations and have access to plenty of ways to preview your ads.
When it comes to Instagram, the ads manager is far more simplified. The process to establish an ad is easy, fuss-free, and perfect for advertising beginners. If you’re looking for a user-friendly interface that keeps things simple, Instagram ads manager is for you.
This being said, you don’t have access to all the detailed information that Facebook offers, which essentially allows you to optimize your advertising. It’s best to start with Instagram first, before taking on more complicated ad management with Facebook.
2. Your Target Audience and Demographic
This is an essential piece of criteria to consider. You have to make sure that the platform you choose is best suited to your audience, otherwise, what’s the point, right? If your social media ads are targeting the wrong market, this is a huge waste of your advertising budget.
Remember that there is a difference between audience and demographic. Your audience is the people that follow your business account — the people you are able to reach. Your demographic is the overall base of customers you serve. You may not be able to reach all of them, all of the time, but with the right advertising, your demographic grows into an audience.
Do some research on your demographic and figure out their preferred network: Instagram or Facebook? You want to ensure they are already active on this network before you begin advertising.
3. The Type of Content You Have and Want to Produce
Before you decide where to allocate your advertising budget, take a look at the existing content you have. Has your content been produced for ad purposes, or do you have posts that you can boost, to increase your visibility? You’ll also need to assess how much money you’re willing to invest in new content creation.
The advertising options on Facebook and Instagram differ slightly. With Facebook, you can choose from carousel ads, single media posts, and boosting or sharing existing posts.
With Instagram, you have similar options, but you don’t have the power of in-caption links that are clickable. Instagram relies on call-to-action buttons such as ”liking”, ”commenting”, and ”sharing”.
You’ll then need to consider the type of content each platform is able to share. Facebook allows for interesting links, and informative posts in the form of blogs, news articles, and case studies. It also leans towards interaction with friends and family.
Instagram, on the other hand, is incredibly visually oriented. It’s all about catching the attention of your audience with compelling video and imagery, before thinking about anything else. If visual content is your strong suit and within your budget to create, then Instagram is your best platform.
4. Your Overall Advertising Goals
If you hadn’t noticed yet, your audience and the overall goal of your content play two of the biggest roles in choosing an advertising platform. In fact, they are the two most crucial elements to think about.
If you don’t have a clear-cut set of goals for your advertising, then you could be spending (or wasting) or budget in all the wrong places. With a concrete advertising goal in place, you can work with metrics that allow you to measure the success of your advertising campaigns, and how to improve.
If you’re looking for a platform with detailed insights and metrics, then Facebook is the best choice. This platform makes it easier to choose and outline your goals from the start. Facebook advertising is good for building website traffic and leads and business reviews.
Instagram does not offer the same detailed functionality if you choose to manage your ads from the app. However, if your end-goal is brand awareness through compelling visuals, this is what Instagram advertising is good for.
5. Your Business Niche or Industry
Finally, it’s imperative that you take a close look at the industry or niche that your business falls into. This points to your overall demographic and what type of content your audience will prefer.
For example, if your business is based in the travel, food, cosmetics, or fashion industry, visual content works best to build your brand. This makes Instagram your best platform for advertising. However, if your industry is a little more technical and requires a good amount of organic interaction, Facebook is for you.
Keep in mind that your industry also affects the cost of your advertising. In short, the greater your competition within your industry, the more costly your advertising will be. You’ll need to choose the right platform with the right amount of healthy competition to aim your ads towards.
Are You an Up-and-Coming Business Owner?
If you’re new to the business world as an entrepreneur, choosing between Instagram ads vs. Facebook ads may seem overwhelming at first. Where do you allocate your budget and how can you be sure it will work? The reality is that you have to accept a few losses before you find what works for your business when it comes to advertising.
If you’re looking for small business advice, be sure to explore the rest of this site for your entrepreneurial fix! We offer a plethora of business topics and even a small business forum to learn from like-minded individuals.
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