Some
three years back, Twitter was a leading force in the social media marketing
world. Marketers flooded to the quick-paced platform to get their content out
in front of millions of people. Fast forward to today and Twitter is still very
popular, but the network is not as dominant as it used to be and one of the
causes of this, is the availability of the current giant social media app,
Instagram.
As a business owner planning to take
your business to the social media space, one of the first questions you'll ask
yourself is this one -- Should my business be on Twitter, Facebook, or
Instagram?
Those three social media sites offer
considerable opportunities to connect and engage with a network, increase brand
awareness, and drive traffic to your site. But they're also extremely different
in terms of purpose.
Ultimately, Twitter is used to share
ideas, real-time information, and trending news. While people may also use
Twitter to connect with friends and family, they largely use it for a bigger
purpose -- to connect to the wider world as a whole, and hear what's happening.
And then, Instagram is used to share photos and videos. People mainly use this
app to post their "highlight reel" and follow influencers. This is
where people become a part of a social media community.
The Twitter vs Instagram argument has
been a very interesting one. Lots of big brands are beginning to shift their
marketing prowess from Twitter towards Instagram. Presently, Instagram is where
consumers live. But does that suddenly make Twitter irrelevant?
Well, not necessarily. But, we've
created a comprehensive breakdown of these two giant social networks and we
hope to help you get a clearer picture of which one is better for your brand.
Looking
at the Numbers
As we know pretty well that statistics
can give you a lot of insight to help you determine which social network is
best for you & your business. However, you shouldn’t make your decision only
on these numbers, but they’ll definitely give you a great head-way.
TWITTER
STATISTICS INSTAGRAM STATISTICS
316 million monthly users 400 million monthly active users
80% of active users on mobile 40 billion photos shared
77% of users outside the U.S 80 million photos on average per
day
500 million Tweets sent per day 3.6
billion likes per day
Source: Twitter.com Source: Instagram.com
Even though Twitter has been around
longer than Instagram, Instagram surpassed Twitter’s number of monthly active
users. These statistics alone has made more businesses show interest in the
social network.
Although in terms of posts being
shared, Twitter leads the way as there are more than 500 million Tweets sent
out per day compared to 80 million photos posted per day on Instagram.
DEMOGRAPHICS (WHO ARE THE AUDIENCES?)
When you look at their demographics,
you’ll notice that the two social networks both have identical audiences in
age, income, education level, and even location.
To start, let's consider the potential
demographic your business could reach on each platform
The main age group of users for both
networks is 18-34. From age 40 and above, the number of users starts to drop
significantly. Although, this is not likely going to be the case in some 10 years
from now. These two networks are particularly popular among people in their 20s
who are either in college or have recently graduated.
If you’re after a younger social group
of internet users, you’d better get on either of these platforms. The two
networks have an even divide in gender and location and this gives marketers
significantly more reach.
Obviously, the overall demographics
for both social networks are pretty evenly matched,
ENGAGEMENT
It's important to determine, how long
per day users spend on each platform?
Here's a quick breakdown -- roughly
46% of Twitter users are on the platform daily, and 81% of millennials check
Twitter at least once per day.
Since Twitter is popular with a lot of journalists,
politicians, and celebrities, many users turn to Twitter for trending news. In
fact, 74% of Twitter users say they use Twitter to get their news.
With all these in mind, if you have
quick, easily digestible business tips or news articles you're eager to share
with your audience, Twitter might just be the best social media network for you.
For every one million Twitter followers, brands can expect about 300
interactions.
Additionally, people tend to check their
Twitter an average of five times per day, On the other hand, when it comes to
Instagram, users check the platform six times a day. However, it's important to
note that accounts with fewer followers actually receive more engagements. In
fact, accounts with 1,000-5,000 followers typically have a 5% engagement rate.
On the other hand, accounts with over 1 million followers, average have a 1.97%
engagement rate.
Instagram has the most engaged users
of any social network. Instagram focuses on keeping its users glued while
they’re browsing with little or no distractions. There are really no clickable
links to external sites when scrolling through your timeline. Instagram is able
to keep consumers focused on the content that’s being posted, which is a huge
advantage for your business, as viewers of your content are not easily
distracted.
On the flip side, Twitter is very loud.
There are a lot of links to blog posts, news articles, videos, and other content
that takes you away from Twitter’s app/site. And this makes it much more
difficult to get your followers to see your content and engage with it. Also
because Twitter moves so quickly, the lifespan of your Tweets can drastically
vary depending on how many other users your followers are following. For
instance, if your average follower is following 500 people, as other people
start Tweeting, your content will be pushed down further, which can make it go
completely unseen in some cases.
While Instagram might have more
engagement on the platform, Twitter goes further to build engagement outside of the social network. This is why marketers should think twice about taking their
focus away from Twitter. Readers can’t easily share a blog post on Instagram.
When you read our blog posts here,
you’ll notice social sharing buttons within the post.
These buttons make it easy for readers
to quickly share content across Twitter and other social media sites. That
helps promote your content to new people who may not have been aware of you
before. Instagram doesn’t have this feature, which is a drawback specifically
for content marketing.
Social
media engagement for Instagram basically begins and ends in the app. But with
Twitter, you can drive engagement outside of the social network by getting
people to click on links that will direct people to content on your website and
other platforms.
FUNCTIONALITY
In terms of functionality. Instagram
keeps you within the app on purpose while Twitter is essentially a content
distribution tool. Though there isn’t very much original content on Twitter, the
app primarily consists of people sharing links or live updates. The value of
Twitter comes from the content you discover on other sites. This doesn’t mean
that either approach is better than the other, they’re just different.
Depending on your brand’s goals, one might be more favorable than the other.
For instance, if your brand has an
active blog and you have a consistent supply of fresh content that you need to
promote, Twitter is a must-have. It’s one of the easiest places to share your
content.
However, let’s say you have just a static website, you can share quality content on your Instagram page and put a
link to your website on your bio.
We also can’t overlook one of the
other key functionalities of Twitter for businesses–customer interaction. Twitter
is specially designed for conversations, which is why so many brands use it as
a customer service tool. Consumers have also gotten into the habit of using
Twitter for customer support and feedback. People aren’t afraid to voice their
opinions of companies on Twitter, good or bad.
Instagram doesn’t really have that
same functionality. Despite its rapid growth, a lot of companies don’t actively
monitor their Instagram accounts like they monitor their Twitter accounts. In
fact, most businesses have made it a norm to have dedicated Twitter accounts
strictly for support.
If your company sells physical goods
or serves the masses (as opposed to a solo consultant for example) then Twitter
is going to be important. Twitter gives companies a better way to interact
directly with customers than Instagram. That’s also a big reason why Twitter
continues to be one of the top social media channels. On the Twitter app, you
can quickly communicate in real-time.
Instagram is more focused on the content than customer-to-business interaction. The conversations typically revolve around the Instagram posts instead of customer issues and questions.
So this is it, Twitter is the ‘cocktail party’ of the internet; when
stuff is happening in the world, Twitter is where you go. When there is an
unfortunate world crisis and breaking news, we run to Twitter for breaking
tweets and live news updates.
Understanding
the difference between how people use Instagram versus how they use Twitter is
extremely important when it comes to deciding which is best for your brand.
Is
Instagram the “Twitter killer” that some people claim? Not really. Even though
they serve a similar demographic and audience, they have two completely
different functions in your marketing strategy. Instagram is a place to publish
original content and build your brand. Twitter is a great tool to curate and
distribute content, educate, as well as engage and interact with your audience.
You
don’t have to choose one over the other. Look for ways to integrate both into
your social media strategy and you’ll get much greater results.
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