Like a lot of things, it’s easy to get in a rut. Social media is so rapidly-evolving that it can be very easy to forget there are now new tools and platforms, as well as different ways of using social media, for your business.
Most businesses and in-house marketing teams are comfortable with conducting engagement and creating posts on Facebook, as well as sharing tweets and images on Twitter, but beyond that, do things seem a little blurry?
Over the last three years, the landscape has evolved, its commonplace for organisations to have abandoned Twitter for Instagram, as well as focusing on creating visual content - images and video - rather than posting text-only posts, as was once the norm, especially on Twitter.
Because companies have to create more of this visual content it should be easier to incorporate Facebook Stories or Instagram Stories - but which is best for your SME?
Why Your Business Should Be Using Instagram Stories
1. Your audience is younger
If your typical audience is under the age of 34, Instagram is probably a good shout. If your typical audience is younger than 25 then it will be a no-brainer - Instagram is the right choice for your Stories efforts.
Statistics from Sprout Social show that 72% of 13-17-year-olds use Instagram, whereas, just 51% of 13-17-year-olds use Facebook.
2. You're hoping to improve engagements
Overall there are many more engagement opportunities with Instagram Stories than there is with Facebook Stories - something that Instagram's typically younger audience will appreciate.
Use quiz and poll stickers, or the questions feature to get engagement from fans, as well as sharing countdowns, encouraging urgency, plus music, hashtags and GIFs, all within the Stories app.
3. You need to nurture your audience
Your audience can be better nurtured using Instagram's engagement options.
Of course you require 10,000 followers to make use of Instagram's 'add link' feature into your Stories, but you can also use Shop Now or Donate stickers to encourage purchases and contributions.
Why Your Business Should Be Using Facebook Stories
You have an active audience, that is already engaged with your content or specific areas of your content - Groups and Events - that you wish to further target with visual marketing.
1. Your audience is typically older
Facebook’s numbers are declining there is no question of that, and particularly with younger audiences, who have turned away from Facebook and towards Instagram.
According to Sprout Social, 78% of 30-49-year-olds use Facebook, whereas just 40% of that age bracket use Instagram. Similarly, 65% of 50-64-year-olds use Facebook compared to 21% of that age bracket who use Instagram.
2. You use Facebook Groups
Stories don’t have to be global. If you have specific Groups, whether they’re made up of staff or customers, you can share stories specifically with them, as opposed to your whole audience. This allows you to create bespoke content for these segments. It also means that others in the Group can contribute to the Group Story, allowing for some real interaction.
3. You’re using Facebook’s Events tool
In a similar way to the Facebook Groups Stories function, you can create bespoke Stories for your individual events that are advertised on Facebook. Anyone that identifies as ‘interested in’ or ‘going’ to your event can contribute to the story and is a great way of documenting the build-up and actual event.
By bringing all of your attendees together you really help to create powerful brand unity and is an easy way of entering into the world of user-generated content (UGC).
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