What is the Difference Between Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads

Investing in digital marketing campaigns is very important for companies that want to use the internet as a means of establishing their brand in the market and increasing the number of customers. Regarding ads, Google Adwords, Facebook, and Instagram Ads are the most used systems today.

If you have a website, this type of investment becomes essential to get more visits to your content faster, as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies usually take some time to take effect. In addition, ads help in generating leads, sales and increasing the fan base.

Nowadays, with the new digital technologies, the entrepreneur is able to carry out more advanced segmentations and carry out tests that were not possible at the time when the most common ads were made on TV channels, magazines, radio, and newspapers.

And if you’ve been using social media for some time, you must have noticed that the reach of your organic publications doesn’t usually have the same success result as before. So, ads help alleviate this situation.

The limited budget of many companies sometimes forces them to choose between platforms that are not entirely the same. So we compared 6 aspects between advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Check out!

The information available for monitoring

Both Facebook and Instagram use graphs and various metrics that can be viewed in the ad manager. They are data such as gender, age, and location of the people who, in some way, engaged with the campaigns.

A small difference is in the reports of some specific cases, of ads that are not common to both social networks, such as desktop campaigns, which are only eligible for Facebook and Instagram Stories.

Audience Profile

According to Research, Instagram is preferred by younger audiences, being most popular among 18-29 year olds, and 55% of people in this age group who are online use the social network.

Facebook, on the other hand, is better at attracting adults and, despite being more popular among people of the same age group as Instagram, the number of users is greater: 77% of those who use the internet have a profile on the largest social network in the world.

Engagement on Facebook and Instagram

While the audience is larger on Facebook, engagement is usually higher on Instagram. Since younger people use this social network more, ads with more beautiful visuals, especially about fashion, beauty, and architecture, gain a lot of user interaction.

According to Instagram, 60% of users say they learned about a product on the social network, 1/3 of the most viewed Stories are from companies and more than 200 people access a business profile a day.

Segmentation possibilities

On Facebook, it is possible to reach a wider audience, since the number of users is much higher than on Instagram. Therefore, it may be more interesting to invest there if it is to increase brand recognition and reach as many people as the budget can.

The segmentation possibilities are almost identical between the two systems. The only difference we noticed is that on Facebook you can advertise to both desktop users (and specify the browsers) and smartphones. On Instagram, only the mobile option is possible.

Types of Ads

There are different types of ads for Facebook and Instagram. You can create campaigns with carousel, photos, videos, slideshow, and collections.

The first difference is that on Facebook, videos can be longer, exceeding Instagram’s current limit of 60 seconds for feed and 15 seconds for Stories.

So, if you are planning video ads on social networks, remember that you will have to edit them and respect the time limit for Instagram or even invest in just one social network.

The second is that Facebook also provides Messenger Ads, which facilitates the connection between people and companies through an online chat.     

Another difference is the canvas ads that, despite being available on both social networks, on Instagram, it is not possible to use offers and products added to Facebook or the store locator. This type of ad, on Instagram, appears in Stories.

Investment costs

Pricing also varies between Facebook and Instagram ads and that depends on several aspects. A survey showed that on Instagram, the cost per click (CPC) is typically $2.40 on average, while another study found that on Facebook it is $0.33.

The study on Instagram also found that values ​​tend to vary according to the segmentation of the target audience, while on Facebook the time of year has more influence.

On Instagram, advertisers who want to communicate their message to an audience between the 18-24, 25-34, and 35-44 age groups often pay more in CPC. On Facebook, campaigns run on commemorative dates, such as Black Friday, are much more expensive than on ordinary days, especially between the months of October, November, and December.

But in the end, which one is better?

The answer will depend a lot on your goals, your audience profile, type of campaign and even the available budget. There is no way to definitively summarize which would be the best strategy to advertise your campaigns, so the best way out is to test both and analyze their results. Choosing between Facebook and Instagram to create marketing and sales campaigns depends a lot on your goals and the budget you have available. If you can afford to invest in both, this is a good thing to do as you can optimize each channel and compare performances.

Have you tried Facebook and Instagram ads? What is your niche and where did you get the best results? Share your experiences and ideas in the comments section below!

Priyanka Sharma
Priyanka Sharma
I am Priyanka, currently dedicating myself entirely to writing for ournethelps.com. In my role as a writer, I am committed to producing content of exceptional quality and collaborate closely with the ONH Team to ensure the delivery of outstanding material. Outside of work, my hobbies include creating humorous videos for my Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook channels.

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