Snapchat or Instagram? Deciding Which Platform Is Ideal for Your Visual Content

By Ana Gotter
Published October 27, 2015

Is visual content part of your social media marketing?

Are you trying to decide whether to use Instagram or Snapchat?

Snapchat and Instagram share the same basic purpose. While many businesses want to know which is better for marketing, the truth is both have value.

In this article you'll find insights to help you decide whether your visual content campaigns should be on Snapchat or Instagram.

Instagram and Snapchat have more similarities than just being photo sharing platforms. They also have some commonality in how they both appeal to younger age groups, are mobile-driven and have large portions of their audience use the apps daily.

Discover how to decide whether Snapchat or Instagram is ideal for your visual content.

When determining which platform to use for your next campaign (or even in general), learn the important metrics for each to make an informed decision.

Snapchat Metrics

Snapchat launched in 2011, though it's only recently that businesses and brands started to use it as a marketing tool.

Snapchat has 100 million daily active users, and there are 400 million snaps per day. More than 60% of Snapchat users in the United States are 13 to 34 years old, and 37% are between 18 and 24 years old. The platform is particularly popular among college students; 77% of them use it daily.

Engagement on Snapchat, if any, is private. Snapchat's images (which do not have to be high-quality) are only temporary, and only 2% of marketers are currently using Snapchat.

The Social Media Marketing Industry Report revealed that only 2% of marketers are using Snapchat while 36% are using Instagram.

Instagram Metrics

Instagram was launched in 2010, and quickly picked up steam, especially since Facebook purchased Instagram as their new sister company.

Instagram has more than 400 million monthly users, and there are more than 80 million photos posted daily. The platform also skews young: 53% of Instagram users are 18 to 29 years old; 25% are 30 to 49 years old, and 11% are 50 to 64 years old.

Engagement on Instagram is public, and comes in the form of hearts, comments and shares. Instagram now offers Ads, partnered with Facebook Ads.

Instagram heavily utilizes hashtags, has a wide international reach and incredible click-through rates. Instagram allows cross-posting to Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

Snapchat allows users to either send snaps (photos and videos) to specific individuals or to share them with all of contacts through "stories." These images and videos aren't professional; they're "snapped" with a phone's camera. You can edit snaps with the platform's basic features, which include the ability to add text.

Snapchat holds a lot of potential for marketers who have good timing.

When you share a snap individually, it disappears quickly; an image lasts 10 seconds and a video only for its duration.

Since only 1% of businesses currently use Snapchat as a marketing tool, there's a lot of room for businesses to grab hold of their audience without worrying about the looming competition. If you aim to target college students, Snapchat can be incredibly valuable.

With Snapchat, it's all about the timing. Businesses that have done well on Snapchat understand how to harness good timing and urgency in promotions.

Businesses Using Snapchat

Taco Bell, GrubHub and 16 Handles are examples of businesses and brands that have done well on Snapchat.

Taco Bell, which knows their target audience well, followed users to Snapchat. They successfully take advantage of the timely feel of Snapchat: snaps and stories are temporary and the audience doesn't linger.

Taco Bell has been known to send out stories late at night, when nothing else is open and college students have the munchies. Considering there's a Taco Bell on or close to most college campuses, and almost no one sleeps normal hours at major universities, this is near genius. It has brought them success.

Taco Bell sends snaps late at night, when college students have the munchies. Image: Placeit.

GrubHub also takes advantage of the urgency of Snapchat. They'll send out coupon codes, updates and deals, which are sometimes hinted about on Twitter, but require Snapchat to obtain. The codes are temporary, and require immediate action.

Customers are getting great deals, so they stay tuned and check the GrubHub stories whenever they see them.

GrubHub's audience knows the company offers coupon codes on Snapchat, which is incentive for users to check when they see a new snap.

16 Handles, a frozen yogurt shop based in New York, ran a successful marketing campaign on Snapchat to promote user engagement and new followers. The company asked users to send a snap of the user eating a 16 Handles frozen yogurt, and he or she would get a coupon in return. Users were told not to open the snap until they got into the store, because the coupon would disappear after a short amount of time.

Customers of 16 Handles were sent a coupon code in exchange for a snap of them tasting the product.

The 16 Handles promotion worked on so many levels. It boosted engagement and increased sales, since users were required to take pictures of themselves eating the yogurt and then encouraged to buy again with their Snap coupon.

Tips for Marketing on Snapchat

There's not a lot of competition for brands and businesses on Snapchat, so the door to opportunity is wide open. Remember these few things:

Timing is everything. Your stories and snaps don't stick around forever. Figure out the best time to send snaps and stories to maximize their reach and success.Make use of urgency. Images and videos disappear quickly. Users even see that timer ticking away at the top, which makes them want to take immediate action. Use that to your advantage (offer your followers something motivating, like a coupon code or promotion), and you'll do well with Snapchat.Creativity goes a long way. Unique, exciting, original and creative snaps are going to get the most attention. The images don't have to be insanely high-quality, but they do need to be interesting.Influencers matter. Plenty of brands are partnering with influencers to connect with relevant users on Instagram. Find an influencer to appeal to and get involved in your Snapchat marketing, and you could see amazing results.

Instagram made such waves in the social media marketing world that Facebook acquired the app quickly.

Instagram holds a lot of potential for marketers who have great images.

Use the platform to share video and image sharing to either your list of friends or to anyone who looks at your profile. After people follow your business on Instagram, your content shows up in their feed. Users can engage publicly by commenting, liking or sharing your content.

Instagram recently gave businesses the ability to reach consumers with Instagram Ads, which comes with huge marketing potential.

Instagram, like Twitter, utilizes hashtags. This makes it easy to connect with relevant users interested in what you're discussing and generate conversation with and about your brand by using a hashtag.

Businesses Using Instagram

Lush cosmetics, Ben and Jerry's and Starbucks are three of many businesses doing Instagram marketing well. While few businesses are on Snapchat, many use Instagram.

Lush Cosmetics may be a slightly smaller brand, but they've done a great job with their Instagram marketing. They share behind-the-scenes images of their team making their products by hand. This is something all customers love to see.

Lush posts videos on their channel and uses custom branded hashtags, such as "#lushoween," which has helped increase engagement.

Lush Cosmetics shares behind-the-scenes photos with their Instagram audience.

Thanks to drool-worthy posts that show off their ice cream flavors, Ben and Jerry's has built a huge list of Instagram followers quickly. They keep followers engaged by including relevant hashtags, regramming user–created content and using Instagram ads.

After running just a few ads, Ben and Jerry's saw their follower numbers increase massively (and quickly). Ads aren't just for businesses and brands getting started, they can work for everyone.

Ben and Jerry's posts great images with hashtags, and gets lots of engagement.

Starbucks is doing everything right on Instagram. They share gorgeous images (using hashtags, of course) that promote products without pressure. Starbucks remains timely, promoting their products seasonally. They have even done a great job nurturing relationships with followers by making an effort to share user content with the Starbucks hashtag attached.

Starbucks shares great seasonal images that are not obtrusively promotional.

Starbucks builds rapport while distributing images that promote their product in a way that feels natural, instead of intrusive.

Tips for Instagram Marketing

Marketing on Instagram is very different than marketing on Snapchat. Your content must stand out in the middle of a feed, whereas on Snapchat, a user needs to click on it before it fills the screen.

Share behind-the-scenes pictures. Customers love it when you give a behind-the-scenes look at your business, and Instagram is a great place for it.Use Instagram Ads. Ben and Jerry's showed just how powerful ads on Instagram can be. They combine the power of Facebook with the reach of a whole new platform, and will become a major force in social media marketing.Don't forget the hashtag. Hashtags are just as important on Instagram as they are on Twitter. They can help you find a relevant audience and enable you to track how your campaigns are doing by how much your hashtag gets used. They even generate conversations about you and your brand.Share user-created content. If you want to win your users' affection, share the content your fans create about and for your brand. (Search for them through relevant hashtags). This will not only win the favor of those whose posts you share, more users may start creating content, too.Share videos. Videos matter. They are garnering high engagement and view rates across all social media platforms. While not all of your posts should be videos, add some here and there (whether it's an organic post or an ad) to your Instagram marketing. It can make a big difference for your brand.

Final Thoughts

While both Snapchat and Instagram are all about the images (and in some cases, videos), they go about photo sharing in two different ways. Snapchat is more casual and places less emphasis on image quality, while Instagram (which greatly resembles Facebook) emphasizes sharing great content to everyone at once.

It's not a question of one or the other. Each platform has its own unique quirks, benefits and challenges, and both have their place in marketing.

Experiment on both Snapchat and Instagram. Create different types of content, and see which works best for your business.

What do you think? Have you used either Snapchat or Instagram to promote your business? Which platform do you prefer for marketing? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Tips for deciding whether Snapchat or Instagram is ideal for your visual content.

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.4&appId=159389674132284"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));About the Author, Ana Gotter

Ana Gotter is a freelance writer specializing in social media and content marketing, though she writes on a variety of other niches and subjects. She can be contacted at anagotter.com. Other posts by Ana Gotter »

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Original source: Snapchat or Instagram? Deciding Which Platform Is Ideal for Your Visual Content.
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