Conversion Rate- A study of Facebook Vs Instagram:

Can you confess something honestly? If you plan to launch a social media campaign, which platform will first come up in your mind? Facebook obviously! However, have you ever thought that Instagram is also spreading all over the market gradually? With the use of images and hashtags, this social media platform has become one of the powerful mediums to reach a large number of audiences and engage them. 

When beginner marketers consider launching a campaign on social media, they launch it on Facebook or Twitter. However, smart marketers study all the social media platforms for successful and integrated campaigns so that he/she can ensure an effective promotion. 

There is no denial of the fact that social media is a cost-effective and time-saving tool to reach the target audience. According to studies, investments in social media advertising have increased up to 32 billion dollars in 2017. It has also been predicted that in 2021, the investment can reach up to 48 billion. Don’t you think it’s pretty impressive? Apart from this result, it has been also found that Instagram has more conversion rate than Facebook.  However, before you know the reason, it is better to acquire a clear idea about what a conversion rate is. 

Conversion Rate- Definition

When you want to sell a product, you have a certain target audience. If you approach 10 customers to buy your product, you can convince only 2 to 3 customers. These two or three customers are the conversion rate of your business. In a nutshell, the definition of conversion rate is the percentage of users who take a decision and implement any desired action. There are different tools that help to find out the percentage of this conversion rate. The number of customers visits your website or business platform is calculated in a percentage to determine the conversion rate. 

Why Conversion Rate is Important?

It is important to understand consumer behavior and actions if you want to excel in your business domain. Therefore, knowing the conversion rate is inevitable. If you see that despite putting honest and needed effort your conversion rate is low, you have to find out the route cause and work on it. Marketing and promotion are two wheels of the vehicle that you are on. You need to put these two wheels together to make your business progress in the rat race. 

Otherwise, it would become difficult for you to sustain in this competitive market. Social media has become one of the powerful mediums of promotion and advertisement. A remarkable number of conversion rates are ensured by promoting business in social media platforms. 

Various platforms have emerged in the world of digital marketing. Although Facebook is the old horse in the race, Instagram is the new potential horse that can win the race effortlessly. 

There are different reasons for which researchers have come to this conclusion that Instagram is more powerful than Facebook now. 

Let us divide the two social media platforms into three different categories. 

Reach:

Facebook: 

Facebook has more active users than Instagram. According to credible reports, Facebook has 2.07 billion users (monthly). The number of active users indicates that Facebook has a greater chance of reach to the target audience. Therefore, if you want your brand to be visible to many targeted audiences, this is the one and only greater medium for you. However, with the advent of Instagram, people are now keener to use this platform with less content and more images.

Instagram: 

This social media platform gets 800 million users per month. Although it is lesser than Facebook, still the competition is tough for sure. As Instagram has more images than contents, branding is easier, and the conversion rate increases accordingly. Instagram is the best platform if you want to go with Photo Ads and aim to guarantee a good amount of conversion rate. Instagram also has a strong and organic network reach. It has newer features and ability with hashtags and ‘suggestions for you’ section. Therefore, Instagram is more considered by the users. 

Engagement:

Instagram: 

According to US reports, 70.7% of US businesses were using Instagram in 2017. In 2016,

the percentage was 48. This is indeed a huge jump. What can be the reason behind such engagement of users in Instagram? Reports from Instagram show that 80% of users follow at least one business on this social media platform. One of the reasons behind this is the mobile-friendliness of the app. Instagram can only be used over a smartphone. Therefore, it has a huge range of engagement. Apart from that, businesses that are showcased on this social media are attractive with bright and eye-catchy images. These images can attract customers instantly.

Facebook:

Facebook engagement in different organic posts often fluctuates. You can get a specific amount of engagement in a good post; however, it is now less than Instagram. Facebook doesn’t allow you to edit your images and present it in a more attractive way.  With the images posted on Instagram, users tend to show attention and ensure engagement. In case of Facebook, user’s engagement is lesser due to inorganic contents and less opportunity to edit the images. 

Demographics: 

Instagram: 

According to research conducted by Pew Research, it has been found that more females use Instagram than men. Therefore, businesses of jewelry, garments, Female bags, watches are more found on this social media platform. As Instagram is mostly used by teenagers, the conversion rate is high for these businesses. With the use of hashtags, audience engagement is higher. As a result, the conversion rate of Instagram is also increasing day by day. 

Facebook: 

In case of Facebook, the user base is huge. Starting from the age of 10 to 60, Facebook has users of different age groups. However, if the users are mostly aged, then they may not be that much active to look or read any post in detail. Therefore, the conversion rate decreases with the user base. 

Apart from that, there are also other reasons for which Instagram gets more conversion rates than Facebook. 

Facebook Vs Instagram- Price:

Facebook: 

Advertising in Social media isn’t free. However, different platforms have a different sets of rules. The rate of advertising on Facebook depends on different factors like ad type, goal, the industry, and the competition as well. If you have a larger audience base, your cost will be higher accordingly. You need to bid the amount you are ready to invest for a click, video view or download and installation. 

The costs vary from industry to industry. It is often found that Facebook ads become unaffordable for the company if it is not a big one. 

Instagram: 

Instagram’s CPC or cost per click is lower than Facebook. The main benefit is, it has a different set of pay for different countries. The social media platform gives the opportunity to spend according to the country you belong to. That is why; the acceptability rate of Instagram is more to the businessmen. They tend to promote their business via Instagram. As the posts reach more customers or target audience, it ensures more conversion rate. 

Wrapping it up:

After reading this post, a question can come up in your mind as should you run your social media content in both the platforms? Why not? Both social media platforms can give you a satisfactory amount of ROI. Therefore, it is always wise to use both platforms. However, you need to follow certain tricks and understand which ad will bring in more customers via which platform. You need to set certain strategies based on your target audience.

As Instagram has more young users, you can ensure more conversion rates from Instagram if your target audience is Gen Y. On the other hand, for attracting the old generation, Facebook is an inevitable platform. Decide accordingly and run your campaign intelligently. Good luck with your business!