[Infographic] Differences When Advertising on Facebook and Instagram

Meta, formally Facebook inc, offers multiple advertising options to entrepreneurs and brands. This includes multiple targeting options, different placements, and the ability to advertise on their different channels like Facebook and Instagram.

Many times you will hear ads ran on both Facebook and Instagram referred to as “Facebook ads”. This is mainly due to the Meta ads manager being located on the Facebook Business website. You can also very easily select to run your campaigns on both channels by simply flipping a switch.

Even though your campaign may be delivering your content on both channels, you will experience very different cost from the two social audiences.

Infographic detailing the differences when advertising on facebook and instagram

Why The Difference?

Even though the social networks are owned by the same parent company, the design and function of each is different. How people use the app will dictate how they see and interact with your ads

Instagram is a mobile first app that is built to quickly share picture and video content. Although new features are added often, there are not a wide range of actions users can take on the app.

Facebook is more than a sharing app but an online hangout. You can share any kind of content here and a lot of people have more personal connections. Facebook offers advertisers the most amount of placement options to deliver their content.

Users are prone to engage more on Instagram. Users on the app are are literally there just to like, comment, and share stuff. So if you share content that is interesting to your audience, you will be rewarded with engagements. On the other side, users in Instagram like to stay on Instagram, so it may be harder to get clicks that take them off the platform.

Users on Facebook are not necessarily there to engage with content. They can be there for a number of other reasons like visiting a group or even shopping on Facebook Marketplace. If you have placements like Right Column selected in your campaign, you will find that your ad may get impressions from people who are not on Facebook to like, comment, and share.