Snapchat has been the first one to come with up the idea of uploading short videos i.e. ‘stories’ with added cool filters and a feature that created more buzz is that its self-destructing messages. But right after the cold war between Facebook and Snapchat, its success rate slowed down at the same pace as it was growing earlier.
Similarities between the two are:
- Stories live up to 24 hours on both platform
- Videos are of only 10 seconds
- One can add emojis, stickers, geotags, and text to their story
- You can search for people, brand page,s and events on both platform.
Now let us look at why brands are choosing Instagram over Snapchat for Advertising.
- Userbase
Facts and figures always play the game. There are currently 166 million+ users of Snapchat and whereas Instagram has 700+ million and increasing day by day. Brands on Instagram have a wider reach as compared to Snapchat where they have to start from level zero for creating a pool of target audience.
- Measurable
Instagram Stories has a large userbase drives most people landing on to websites and brand pages. If your marketing objective is brand awareness then Instagram is just the right option for your business. Instagram also helps you in tracking your performance through a special dashboard. So next time you post a story you can see how many people actually landed on your website. Snapchat doesn’t have any benefit other than seeing your views of your story… Snapchat here cannot be in the lead because if you want to search a brand you need to have an exact username.
- Visibility
Both competitors are always on a hunt for innovative ideas to stand out from each other. Snapchat came up with the idea of search bar although it was not a very innovative idea it let you search other people and stories that people have uploaded. For example, Coachella and EDC Las Vegas stories went viral recently on Snapchat.
Geotags and Hashtags on Instagram let you see what people have been doing around that location or a particular hashtag.
- User-friendly
Instagram has always focused on making it user-friendly, you can easily follow or unfollow anyone, and watch content repeatedly. The large user base of Instagram helps brands to achieve their objectives through ad campaigns. Snapchat, on the other hand, is a bit complex to use you cannot replay content if you want to follow someone you must have the exact username.
- Targeting
Since Instagram Stories are a part of Facebook it is more convenient to target the audience with its platform. You can choose demographic, location, and gender in targeting your audience. You can also keep a measure of your performance and see which one of your stories is driving the most result. Snapchat does not have any of these options it rather provides you with a space for advertising your product.
Now we leave it all up to you. You decide what is best for your business if you are into entertainment then Snapchat can be the right option for you but if your main focus is just to advertise then Instagram is the best for you.