Socialbakers Report

The State of Social Media Marketing:

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021

 About the Report
Introduction

Facebook and Instagram serve as the de-facto leaders in social media What does it mean to have a “current” understanding of Facebook and
advertising when it comes to usage and volume - more than 6 million Instagram? As both platforms evolve their feature set, consumer behaviors
marketers leverage Facebook and Instagram in their marketing campaigns and demographics shift, and marketers adjust their strategies in response,
and no other social network comes remotely close to matching the paid the landscape of both paid and organic social on either platform is constantly
spend on these two platforms. When it comes to organic content and the changing.

volume/reach of non-promoted posts, the story doesn’t change much -

Facebook and Instagram still reign supreme and have yet to be seriously This report will reference Socialbakers’ Facebook and Instagram data
challenged by another platform.

from 2019 - 2021 to uncover the latest trends and insights that are
crucial for marketers to understand if they want to find success
Key Point: The sheer dominance of Facebook and Instagram when it leveraging social into 2021 and beyond.

comes to both paid and organic social means that it is crucial for successful
marketers to have a comprehensive and current understanding of both This report will also review the current (Q1 2021) distinctions between
platforms and how they differ. Facebook and Instagram that are important to consider in order for marketers
and brands to:

Effectively allocate paid advertising budgets between the two

platforms

Create content strategies that align with both platforms

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 1

 Table of Contents
Facebook and Instagram at a Glance
3
Facebook or Instagram in 2021? 15-20

Key Trends and Developments

4-12
Key Audience and Demographic Figures
16

Engagement on Instagram vs. Facebook

6-7

Facebook Audience Analysis

Industry Specific Insight: Ecommerce

Instagram Audience Analysis

Reach on Instagram Surpasses Facebook for Top Brands

8
Ad Formats and Placements
17-18

Shift in Paid Spend Towards Instagram

9
Ad and Campaign Objectives

19

Rapid Growth of Instagram Stories 10

The Takeaway 20
New Feature Adoption and Development
11-14

Instagram IGTV
12

Instagram Shops and Checkout

13

Algorithm Changes 14

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 2

 Facebook and Instagram at a Glance

Facebook and Instagram

at a Glance
User Location - Top 3 Countries
Facebook and Instagram are the two biggest platforms
used by brands and agencies for social media marketing.
Before diving into recent trends and insights regarding the
two platforms, let’s look at a quick snapshot of both
India 320 M U.S. 140 M
platforms and examine how their use for businesses and
brands have evolved over time. 


U.S. 190 M India 140 M
Number of active users on each platform

Monthly Active Users

Indonesia 140 M Brazil 99 M

Facebook 2.797 B

Instagram 1 B+

Source: www.facebook.com, 1 - www.statista.com, 2 - www.statista.com, 3 - www.statista.com Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 3

Key Trends &
Developments

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 4

 Key Trends and Developments

Facebook and Instagram -


Instagram’s Contribution to Facebook’s Revenue in 2020
Key Trends & Developments
In 2016, Instagram brought in $1.61 Billion of ad In 2020, Instagram brought in $12.32 Billion of ad
revenue out of the $12.24 Billion of ad revenue revenue out of the $33.71 Billion of ad revenue
generated by Facebook as a whole (13.2%) generated by Facebook as a whole (36.54%) One of the biggest trends covered by almost every marketing publication
over the past two years has been the rapid growth of ad spend on
Instagram, a trend that continued at a far more blistering pace in 2020
compared to previous years. This trend can be seen when we look at
Instagram’s contribution to Facebook’s total revenue over the years (left).

2016 2020 We can look at Socialbakers’ data from the past year (with metrics compiled
from the top 100,000 branded accounts across all social media channels),
and see that the increase in ad spend towards Instagram can be tied to
positive trends in engagement and reach metrics on the platform over the
past two years. Despite the impact of COVID-19 in Q1 of 2020, these trends
largely continued throughout 2020, a testament to Instagram’s consistent
Instagram Facebook Total
growth in the paid advertising space.

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 5

Key Trends and Developments

Engagement on Instagram Total Interaction Rates

Continues to Pull Away
From Facebook
Over the course of the past three years, Instagram has cemented itself as
the dominant platform over Facebook when it comes to engagement. In Q4
2020 this trend continued and the gap between the two platforms
continued to rise with total interactions on Instagram averaging more
than 20x higher than Facebook, although brands posted less on the
platform.

To see how drastic the difference in engagement is across both platforms,

we can simply look at any number of brands and analyze cross-posted
content.

We can see an example of Disney cross-posting the same content onto

both Instagram and Facebook to promote the film Soul. For two identical
posts published at the same time, the number of interactions was
dramatically higher on Instagram compared to Facebook.

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 6

 Key Trends and Developments

Engagement on Instagram
Ecommerce 20.0% Continues to Pull Away
From Facebook (cont)
Retail 13.8%
Services 9.6%
Fashion 6.6%
Electronics 6.0%
Auto 5.5% Almost 30% of Facebook’s interactions fall under the category
Fmcg Food 5.1% “other”, while Instagram’s engagement is more concentrated among a
Finance 4.8%
select number of industries.

Others 28.6%

While Instagram dominates when it comes to overall audience engagement,

the chart to the left shows us that there is still a clear distinction between
Fashion 24.0%
the content users value based on the platform they are on.

Ecommerce 20.3%
Beauty 10.3%
Retail 9.9% The fact that there are industries that see top eight levels of engagement on
Auto 9.4% Facebook but don’t come close on Instagram tells us that certain
Electronics 5.1% spaces/sectors have not found success leveraging Instagram.

Services 4.7%
Sporting Goods 3.5%
Regardless, Instagram’s continued dominance over Facebook when it
Others 12.9%
comes to engagement has led many to shift their spend to the newer
platform, especially in Ecommerce, where Facebook is losing ground.

Chart Time Range: October 01, 2020 - December 31, 2020; Sample: Facebook Brands Pages & Instagram Brand Profiles Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 7
 Key Trends and Developments

Audience Size on
Instagram Surpasses
Facebook for Top Brands Total Audience Total Posts Total Interactions

Similar to engagement, brand audiences on Instagram have been trending

up while the same metrics for Facebook remain stagnant. In Q4 2019, the
total audience size on Instagram (for the top 50 brands) surpassed that on
Facebook for the first time. In Q4 of 2020, that trend continued and the gap
grew larger – the audience size on Instagram was 39% larger than the
audience size on Facebook.

While Instagram leads in engagement and audience size, brands still post
more on Facebook. The platforms differ in how users interact with them, with
Facebook often being the choice for more informative content - in addition,
there are industries that likely don’t leverage Instagram at all.

Instagram is now a platform that is highly effective at driving engagement Q4 2019 Q4 2020
and reaching large audiences, but most brands still find value in Facebook,
and some don’t find success on Instagram in any capacity. This serves as
a testament to the fact that the platforms aren’t substitutes for one
another and must be approached as entirely separate channels.

Chart Time Range: October 01, 2019 - December 31, 2019 & October 01, 2020 - December 31, 2020; Sample: 50 Biggest Facebook & Instagram Brands Profiles Worldwide; Source: Socialbakers data Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 8
 Key Trends and Developments

Ad Spend by Platform Position

Shift in Paid Spend

Top 5 by Relative Spend Towards Instagram

70

60
Despite Instagram’s dominance in engagement and reach, the Facebook
News Feed has historically captured the majority of relative ad spend and
Relative Spend (in %)

50
still does as of Q4 2020. However, in the past two quarters there has been a
40 slight decline in Facebook’s share of ad spend, with more budget being
allocated towards Instagram’s offerings. The chart to the left illustrates the
30
relative spend for different ad placements on both Facebook and Instagram
20 in Q4 2020.

10
The Facebook News Feed still saw the largest share of ad spend by a
0 sizable margin at 58%. However, this figure has declined over the past two
Feed Feed
Stories
 Video Feeds
Instream Video
years, as it was at 62.3% of ad spend in Q3 2019.

Facebook Instagram Instagram Facebook Facebook

Both the Instagram Feed and Instagram Story ad placements are
Relative Spend
beginning to take a larger share of the pie, combining to make up
27.1% of ad spend.

Chart Time Range: October 01, 2020 - December 31, 2020; Sample: All Ad Accounts Benchmark; Source: Socialbakers data Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 9
Key Trends and Developments

Rapid Growth

of Instagram Stories
Although Facebook remains dominant in terms of relative ad spend, these
figures don’t put into context the rapid growth of Instagram Stories. Overall,
the spend on Instagram Stories in 2020 increased by 40% compared
to the previous year, and 91% compared to 2018.

A key longer term takeaway from Instagram’s success with Stories:

although a functionality directly copied from Snapchat, Instagram has
shown that they can implement features from other platforms and launch
them with high rates of adoption amongst their users (many of whom
utilized the original platforms).

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 10

New Feature
Adoption and
Development

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 11

New Feature Adoption and Development

IGTV: Still Relevant?

IGTV, or Instagram TV, is a stand-alone app intended to be the platform’s
venture into long-form video. Since it initially launched over two years ago in
2018, user adoption has been less than stellar. After IGTV failed to meet
Facebook’s expectations upon release, the company has added a number
of integrations with the main Instagram app, with the goal of increasing
viewership and adoption of IGTV. These integrations include:

Featuring IGTV content in the explore tab

Allowing creators to post embedded IGTV previews to their Instagram Stories

Allowing creators to post embedded IGTV previews to their feed

These integrations have led to increased viewership and reach for creators.
For example, the leftmost video was only uploaded to IGTV, while the video
on the right was cross-posted to Sephora's feed - the difference in
engagement is huge.

While Facebook still does not disclose viewership or adoption metrics for
IGTV, they officially allowed brands to monetize and place ads on IGTV
content in May 2020, after two years of tweaking the service.

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 12

New Feature Adoption and Development

Instagram Shops

and Checkout Industry Specific Insight: Ecommerce

Instagram Checkout was first released in July 2019, with a limited rollout to As we saw in our section on engagement, the beauty industry has boasted
certain brands. Now the feature is available to all brands who sell physical the highest average engagement rate on Instagram while E-Commerce takes
goods in the US market.

the crown on Facebook. However, Ecommerce comes in at a close second on

Instagram – in Q4 2020, Ecommerce profiles were responsible for 20.3% of
Instagram Checkout was part of Facebook’s initiative to break into
all Instagram interactions for top branded pages. If the trend

Ecommerce alongside Facebook Shops, with the goal of having the entire continues, Ecommerce could easily usurp Fashion and become the most

buying process contained within each platform, eliminating the need for engaging industry across both platforms.

users to sign up and store payment information with disparate brands.

“The surge in engagement for Ecommerce is due to Facebook’s initiatives

For companies, the value lies in a reduced number of abandoned shopping centered around in-platform shopping, with the eventual goal of allowing
carts, as one of the main points of friction in the selling process for sellers to run their entire marketing funnel through Facebook or Instagram -
Ecommerce has always been entering payment information and personal from product discovery to post-purchase customer support.”

details during checkout.

Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO, Socialbakers

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 13

New Feature Adoption and Development

Algorithm Changes
In addition, over the past 2 years Facebook executives have been pitching
While old news, Facebook made key changes to its News Feed algorithm in
the importance of Instagram Stories to shareholders. Looking at transcripts
2018 with the goal of prioritizing content posted from friends and family and
of quarterly Facebook earnings calls between Q3 2018 and Q1 2020,
reducing the amount of content shown from businesses and brands.
Instagram Stories has been mentioned over 200 times.

Facebook’s official announcement regarding the changes explicitly stated

that this would result in lowered engagement and reach for brands and
advertisers on the platform.

With Facebook owning both social networks, it’s clear that they have been
promoting and encouraging brands to spend more on Instagram.

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 14

Facebook or
Instagram in 2021?

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 15

 Facebook or Instagram in 2020?

Key Audience and

Demographic Figures
Over the years, the active user bases on Facebook and Facebook Instagram

Instagram have become more distinct. Understanding the Monthly Active Users Q4 2020 2.797 B 1 B+
general differences between audiences on Facebook and
Instagram is crucial for marketers so they can make the right
Top Two Age Cohorts and % of
12.7% of 25–34
22.8% of 18–24

decisions when choosing what platform to utilize for specific Total Users (As of Jan. 2021)
18.2% of 35–44 31.1% of 18–24

year olds use year olds use

marketing goals. Although both platforms offer robust targeting Facebook Instagram
for promoted content, it’s still always important to understand
the broader context and “big picture” breakdown of each social
User Location
India: 320 M
U.S.: 140 M

network.

(As of Jan. 2021) U.S: 190 M

India: 140 M

Indonesia: 140 M
Brazil: 99 M

Here are some figures that will allow you to get a general idea
of the “who” when it comes to both Facebook and Instagram
Average Time Spent on Platform 58 min 53 min
Note that the largest age cohort for both platforms is 25-34 years old, however that
cohort only makes up 12.7% of Facebook’s user base, compared to 33.1% of
Instagram’s. In addition, Instagram’s second largest age cohort is the 18-24
demographic, compared to the 35-44 demographic for Facebook. It’s clear that
audiences on Instagram are much younger.

Source: www.facebook.com, 1 - www.statista.com, 2 - www.statista.com, 3 - www.statista.com, 4 - www.statista.com, 5 - www.statista.com Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 16
 Facebook or Instagram in 2020?

Facebook Instagram
Ad Placements

Feeds Your ads appear within users' News Feed.

Your ads appear in-between people's

Your ads appear within users' Feed.

Your ads appear in-between people's

in 2021
Stories
Facebook or Messenger stories. Instagram stories.

Your ads appear in a column

Ad placements on Facebook and Instagram are
Right-hand Column / Your ads appear in the browsing experience
on the right-hand side to users accessing
Explore when someone clicks on a photo or video. constantly evolving, and will continue to do so as
Facebook on their computers.
Facebook and Instagram evolve as products and
Groups Your ads appear in Facebook groups. launch new features. For example, in 2020 we saw the
introduction of in-stream IGTV ads, and Facebook’s

Your ads appear within Facebook Instant

Instant Articles renewed focus on developing and promoting Facebook
Articles in the mobile app and Messenger

Your ads appear in the Marketplace

Groups has made the Group ad placement much

Facebook Marketplace home page or when someone browses more compelling than before.

Marketplace in the Facebook app.

Your ads appear within videos on Facebook When it comes to ad formats, it's important to know the
In-stream Video that are watched both on desktop and on different ad formats that are available on each platform
mobile.
and their strengths and weaknesses. Certain ad
Your ads appear in the Home tab of
Messenger Inbox formats are better tailored to different campaign goals -
Messenger.
awareness, driving sales, etc.

Your ads appear next to relevant Facebook

Facebook Search Results

and Marketplace search results.
Your ads appear in-stream as users watch
IGTV
IGTV content

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 17

Facebook or Instagram in 2020?

Ad Formats in 2021

Facebook I nstagram a o use it for:

Wh t t

An ad utilizing a single image with multiple An ad using 1 photo, appearing
 Drawing attention to your business or specific products through eye-catching
Single image
placements available on Instagram’s main feed. photographs.

An ad using 1 video that appears on

An ad using 1 video that's up to 60 seconds
Facebook’s main feed, or in-stream alongside Complementing your TV advertising campaigns.

Single video long. Can be displayed on Instagram’s main

Facebook’s video feed. Videos can be long Telling more complex business stories.
feed or in-between Instagram Stories.
form - up to 240 minutes long.

Directing users to specific places on your website.

Showcasing multiple products or services .

Carousel An ad using 2 - 10 scrollable images. An ad using 2 - 10 scrollable images.

Explaining how your business or product works.

Telling a compelling story - one image at a time.

G rabbing users' attention and encouraging them to interact with your ad

An interactive ad allowing you to tell a story

Canvas Acquiring new customers.

using a mix of photos and videos.

Raising brand awareness.

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 18

 Facebook or Instagram in 2020?

Distribution of Campaigns by Objectives

Mean Account Objectives Distribution on Facebook & Instagram

Breakdown of Ad and Post Engagement

Link Clicks
23.8%
22.0%

Campaign Objectives on Reach

Conversions
16.4%
10.3%

Facebook and Instagram 9.6%

Video Views
Brand Awareness 5.7%
Page Likes 3.8%
Lead Generation 2.7%
The following is a breakdown of roughly 9,000 ad accounts on Facebook Prod. Catalog Sales 1.8%
Others 4.0%
and Instagram, segmented by campaign/ad objective.

It points to further differences in how marketers set their objectives for the Link Clicks 31.3%

two platforms. For instance, on Facebook, marketers are mostly paying for Reach 20.4%
Post Engagement 17.3%
engagement, which we know has declined over past years, while on
Conversions 9.5%
Instagram, where engagement is still free, marketers are paying for user Video Views 8.8%
action further down the funnel. These differences again show that both Brand Awareness 6.3%
platforms require a tailored advertising strategy. Prod. Catalog Sales 2.3%
Lead Generation 1.7%
Messages 1.0%
Others 1.4%

Chart Time Range: January 01, 2020 - March 31, 2020; Sample: 4,676 Facebook Advertising Accounts; Source: Socialbakers data Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 19
The Takeaway

The Takeaway
When we look at this data in the context of the trends uncovered in the first section of
this report, we can come to the conclusion that in general, Facebook is great for driving
sales and conversions while Instagram is better for brand marketing and awareness.

Strictly in terms of Ecommerce or direct-to-consumer sales, Instagram is catching up

with its focus on Instagram Shops. However, Facebook remains the go-to channel to
drive conversions and clicks; it’s still less costly and offers additional targeting.

While they share many similarities and are managed from one platform, Facebook and
Instagram must be viewed as distinct channels requiring their own unique strategies.

The space of digital marketing is in constant flux as technology, consumer behavior,

and marketing strategy intersect and evolve alongside and in response to one
another.

As two of the world’s largest social networks that also reside at the forefront of
technology and innovation, Facebook and Instagram will continue to evolve in response
to changing consumer desires and sentiments. It’s key for marketers to maintain a
comprehensive and current understanding of these platforms in order to stay effective.

Facebook vs. Instagram in 2021 20

Methodology and Glossary

Have a question regarding any

of the data in the report?

Contact us at ask@socialbakers.com

socialbakers.com

Trends Report | Q4 2019 54