Which is Better—Facebook or Instagram?

 

Choosing What’s Best for Your Practice

Which social media platform is the best for your practice’s marketing strategy—Facebook or Instagram? Here are the stats. Facebook was first on the scene and has been the top social network since its debut in 2004, currently boasting 2.38 billion users. Instagram, a bit later to the party in 2010, is globally one of the fastest growing social media platforms with 1 billion monthly active users to date. Let’s consider the differences of each and where your practice should devote its time and attention.

 

Demographics: Who are you trying to reach?

Start by identifying your people. Who is your audience? Social media data show that the majority of Instagram users are under 30, many in their teens. Clearly, you may be much more successful with Facebook as your primary social media strategy if the bulk of your clients fall in the older audience category. But before jumping ship, what else should you keep in mind?

 

Engagement: What’s the best way to connect with your patients?

Across the board, Instagram seems to rack up 3 times the number of likes and comments as Facebook. So, throw Facebook out the window? Not so fast. Remember that images perform better on Instagram while Facebook is more often used for text. Consider the content type that would appeal most to your audience—the patients in your community.

 

Functionality: Which will be most useful to your audience?

Ask yourself why your patients get on social media. Is it to find out information about your practice? Hours? Address? Services? (Facebook is the more detail-driven social media platform.) Or do they log on because they want to connect with you? (Instagram is all about engagement.) Facebook offers many more text-related options, while Instagram focuses on visual-based content.

 

Your brand: Which platform is more useful for the content you want to post?

One key, but often overlooked, difference between the two social media platforms is that while Facebook is more often curated content, Instagram posts are, for the most part, original photos and videos. Also, when posting about your practice, whether it’s news or events, remember that Facebook is mostly text-based so that’s where it’s more likely that your post will be read in its entirety. But if it’s an image contest that you’d like to promote, that’s what Instagram is all about—engagement and visual-based posts.

 

Instagram and Facebook

Maybe it’s not an either/or. In fact, could we be comparing apples and oranges when the healthiest, most beneficial option would be using both, appropriately and productively? Rather than asking yourself which is best, perhaps the better question is: how is your practice using each to effectively reach the most patients. That’s where our PBHS social media specialists come in…

 

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