According to recent reports from STRATA, the media technology group, Instagram is now being utilised by brands more than Twitter for advertising purposes. In the race of social media platforms, Twitter is lagging behind all of its main competitors.

The below stats have been revealed, showing which social media platforms brands are choosing to invest their advertising budget:

o96% use Facebook
o67% use Youtube
o63% use Instagram
o56% use Twitter

Although Facebook and Youtube are still winning the social media race, what’s interesting about the statistics is that Instagram has overtaken it’s older competitor, Twitter.

Instagram’s success in raising the awareness of brands has been growing over the last year, while the number of brands using Twitter has dropped by 4%. 

But why is Twitter lagging behind? And does that mean brands should jump the Twitter ship completely? Not necessarily. The Jammers have run successful campaigns on both Instagram and Twitter, and here are some key points about the two social networks to help guide your social media plans.

The Numbers

– Twitter: 316 million monthly users, 500 million Tweets sent per day
– Instagram: 400 million monthly active users, 80 million photos shared on average per day
– Despite Twitter existing for longer, Instagram is beating its monthly user average by 84 million people.
– That being said, Twitter is still apt for a constant stream of content, with a whopping 500 million Tweets sent every day.

Audience

The below infographics from Sprout Social show how similar Instagram and Twitter’s user demographics are, in everything from age, location and income. As both social networks are used by people aged 18-29, it’s safe to say you won’t go far wrong using either platform to target younger generations.

Engagement

Reports from Forrester Research have shown that Instagram has the most engaged users of any social network.

As Instagram’s content is solely images and videos, content is able to effortlessly capture consumer’s attention, more so than its competitors, Facebook and Twitter, creating a huge opportunity for brands to display quality, shareable content with potential customers.

Twitter has a much higher number of content shares per day (500 million), which can cause the user to be inundated with content. This means small, 140 character brand updates can often get lost in a sea of other tweets.

Should you choose Instagram over Twitter? 

Here at JAM we say all social media platforms have completely different functions in your marketing strategy. You don’t have to choose one or the other, but you can create an integrated plan utilising multiple platforms that best suit your target audience.

For more information on the benefits of all social media platforms and to find out how the Jammers can help guide your campaigns, email Jaime@jampr.co.uk.