It’s been a competition of the social media sites for a while now. But since Instagram Stories premiered this week, the competition is getting even stiffer. It’s a question whether Instagram or Snapchat was in the lead prior to the launch, but since, it seems Instagram has pulled ahead.
Let’s analyze just how to two compare to each other, so we can weigh in on which platform really is the king of social media.
- As of May, Instagram had four million monthly users, but Snapchat had 100 million daily users, which was a 5x increase in video traffic over the last year.
- One-third of teens say Snapchat is the most important social media platform for them, but 32 percent claim Instagram is.
- 60 percent of Snapchat users are aged 13-34, but 53 percent of Instagram users are aged 18-29.
So how will Instagram Stories change these numbers? Well, it’s up to us as marketers to find out. The beauty of Instagram’s new 24-hour feature means marketers have the opportunity to experiment with new content. If the content is successful, then we have the opportunity to put it back out on Instagram permanently. This allows us to manage our brand, but also try new things and gain new followers.
It is still beneficial to use Instagram over Snapchat because a potential follower can stumble upon your account through hashtags or likes; with Snapchat, potential followers need to know your Snapchat handle, which makes it a little more difficult.
Another benefit of Instagram Stories is that if you choose to publish new content permanently from your story, you don’t have to publish the whole story. Instead, you can feature a part of it on Instagram.
Overall, I believe it’s more beneficial to market on Instagram, especially with Instagram Stories now, because it is the best of both worlds. I’m sure there will be some kinks with Instagram Stories, but for now, I say we take advantage of the benefits.
If your company needs help with social media, contact ENX2 Marketing today.