Today, several social media platforms offer unique opportunities that the other venues do not cater to. And suppose you are a business with a limited budget. In that case, you can probably choose one to include with your Social media marketing strategy.

This article will tackle two of the most social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram. We will help you choose between their promotion systems; Meta Ads vs Instagram Ads can be difficult.

What are Facebook and Meta Ads?

Facebook is one of the world’s social media giants, having more than 2.7 billion users up to date. Its users and reach are actively growing, and various businesses are now using the platform to reach their current and potential customers.

Its online paid advertisement platform, now called Meta Ads, allows businesses to target their users on the social media platform. Companies can promote their businesses, products, or services on social media platforms.

The platform advertising uses the “pay per click (PPC)” model, one of the most extensive systems used in digital advertising. It is easy and straightforward. Meta even lets you create ads using various formats such as video, images, or carousel. In addition, the platform allows you to choose the demographic of your target audience and choose your overall budget, daily budget, and cost per result.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Running Meta Ads on Facebook

Meta ads offer unique benefits to their users. Here are some benefits of paid advertising on Facebook or Meta Ads.

meta ads vs instagram ads

1. Micro-target your audiences and customers

Meta has a wide range of diverse users from different parts of the world. It can be hard to target specific users if you are advertising for all. Worry not, as Meta offers microtargeting options for their ads.

You can narrow down your target by demographics or interest under Gender, Age, Location, Languages, Job Title, Income, Interest, or even major events in life!

2. Instant and fast results

Since Meta Ads are using PPC models, it is ideal for brands looking for instant results with advertising. Once the ad campaigns are set up in the ad manager, Meta will review them and go live. It can immediately reach thousands to millions of people and show your brand to users related to your target keywords. You can start getting sales within just a couple of days or even hours!

3. Highest Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

When investing something in your business, you need to ensure that you get the best out of it. Likewise, it is reported that Facebook provides the highest ROAS from all social media platforms. According to Statista, Facebook provided the highest ROAS in 2019 as claimed by 41% of advertisers on the platform.

Still, it heavily depends on your type of advertising. Just remember to optimize your campaign and monitor its reach. Keep a close eye on your data and get the highest ROAS.

4. Countless Ad Types for your Business

Every element plays a vital role in ad campaigns – whether it’s music, video, images, or captions. The media you are using heavily depends on your branding and style. Likewise, Meta Ads accommodate various ad forms from photos, videos, or shopping carts.

Just choose the type of ads to perfect your social media strategy and connect with your target audience!

5. Affordable and Low cost

Meta accommodates any size of businesses, from small commerce to enterprise-scale companies. You can run ads even with a minimal budget! You can place ads for as little as $1 per day. But this heavily depends on the type of ads, target, and keyword.

Likewise, PPC ads are charged for clicks, so we recommend spending $5 a day to get engagements.

6. Connect with your previous clienteles with retargeting ads

Have you ever encountered an ad appearing to your feed repeatedly, especially when you watched or clicked it before? Yep, that retargeting or remarketing. This type of ad basically targets audiences who previously interacted with your ads or brand. It is usually done through cookie tracking.

Remarketing is available with Meta ads for businesses. It not only increases traffic reach but also conversion rates. You can use retargeting with your company to remind your audiences about your product. Just make sure you promote the suitable ads by analyzing your data using Free PPC Tools.

7. Access to robust data

While Meta Ads provides excellent results, it is still worth improving your campaigns to maximize your investment. And one way to do this is through measuring performance and data generated by ad managers.

Meta ad managers provide basic conversion metrics, revenue, engagements, and more data. You can use this data to see which ads are working well and use this method for your future campaign.

8. Alignment with Both B2C & B2B Businesses

Despite the widespread belief that Meta ads are only for B2C business, the platform is excellent for B2B business. B2B advertising is complicated. However, Facebook can accommodate B2B types of business to raise awareness to users with their brands and products.

What are Instagram Ads?

Although both platforms are owned by one company, Meta, they still have different audiences and aesthetics. And in some businesses, Meta Ads do not resonate well with their branding. Thus, a lot of companies choose Instagram vs Facebook ads

Like Meta Ads, Instagram Ads are the social media platforms way for businesses to promote their brand or products to users. It has over 1 billion monthly active users that can help you influence a broader audience. The platform also provides a different avenue to share your products like feed, explore tab, stories, live video – IGTV, and now reels.

Advantages of Running Ads on Instagram

Since the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook or Meta, the platform has added tons of benefits for its advertising options. You can now control, manage, and set up campaigns using Meta Ads Managers, together with your campaigns on Facebook.

Aside from that, here are some other effects of Instagram ads and why should you start it:

1. Improved Targeting and Audience

Improved targeting options are now available for Instagram Ads. You currently can control your reach with your ads based on their demographics or interest. Moreover, the platform now allows advertisers to control the frequency of their ads. No need to worry that your ads will be oversaturated or annoying.

Aside from that, Instagram also lets you choose between various targeting options. You can show your ads in creative outlets such as posts, stories, reels, IGTV, and more!

2. Track Campaign Success with Reporting and Analytics

There will be a time when you choose between platforms like Meta Ads vs Instagram Ads. With that, it’s important to have the correct data to weigh their success, and you can choose accordingly.

Like Meta Ads, Instagram also provides reporting and analytics. You will get informed of which campaign gets the best engagement and how many are converted to sales and leads.

Not only that, but you can also even track your campaign in real-time. No need to wait for the drive to finish to get insightful data.

3. Cost-effective Way of Advertising

Like Meta Ads, Instagram uses the PPC model for their advertising. PPC is one of the cost-effective ways of advertising. You will only be charged once users click or engage with your advertising. Thus, you don’t need to drop thousands of dollars upfront to start your ads. So you can pay less and still reach a wider audience

But it’s essential to manage your expectation. The lower your budget, the lower your audience reach. Still, it’s an effective way to begin your advertising online.

4. Continuously Improving Social Media Platform

Instagram was only launched in 2010, and the platform has more years ahead of it. With Meta’s acquisition of Instagram, users can expect many more features to be added to its advertising. Its algorithm is constantly changing, giving everyone a chance to increase their engagement rate.

5. Build Potential Clienteles with the Younger Generation

According to Statista, the primary audience of Instagram is 18 to 34, unlike Facebook, which is 25 to 34. If your product is predominantly for younger people, Instagram is the perfect platform for you.

6. Build a Creative Branding

To this date, Instagram remains the most popular visual-based social media platform among others. Content is focused on visuals such as images, videos, and stories, and the platform is filled with creative users.

However, that does not mean you should just post photos or videos of your products. With Instagram Ads, you can create engaging content that can capture shoppers’ attention when they scroll to it. It can also help your brand be memorable, and when the need for your products comes, users will remember your company.

7. Enhance your purchasing power

With Instagram slowly introducing its store features, using the platform will provide businesses more purchasing power than ever. According to Lyfe Marketing, one-third of Instagram users are more likely to purchase online products seen on their media.

Should You Be Running Both Meta Ads and Instagram Ads?

Now that we discoursed the advantages of using Meta Ads vs Instagram ads, you can surely pick between these two platforms. Running ads on both platforms can provide you with the traffic and objectives you aim for. Instagram and Facebook help your business uniquely than other advertising platforms do not.

1. Cost-Effectiveness

When picking amongst Instagram vs Facebook Ads, the cost of running ads heavily affects the deciding factors for many businesses. Since both platforms use the PPC model, their ads generally cost lower than average.

In fact, on Facebook, the total average cost per click across all industries is $1.72, according to Wordstream data. On the other hand, companies pay an average of $.0.50 to $1 per click on Instagram. Still, it is better to try it yourself and run several ads on these platforms to compare which one gives the better ROI.

2. Audience reach

When it comes to audience reach with Meta ads vs Instagram ads, Meta wins. Facebook has almost 3 billion active users compared to Instagram, with only 1 billion users. In addition, Facebook offers more diverse audiences compared to Instagram, with mostly influencers or artisans.

Still, if you really want to maximize these benefits, you do not need to choose between Instagram and Facebook. You can instead run ads on both social media platforms. Facebook has a broad audience, while Instagram provides better engagement with an audience with high purchase intent.

Aside from that, you can connect your Instagram account to your Facebook profile or page. As such, you can do all your budgeting, scheduling, and ad setting up on Facebook Business Manager.

Ready to Start Your Ads?

And that’s it. Both social media offers unique benefits that will surely help your business. You can choose to run both Meta ads vs Instagram ads. If you need help with your Ad Campaign, contact Flexisource IT! Start your Social Media Ad Campaign with us today!

Pamela Chelsea Ortiz - Content Wizard

Pamela is a full-time content writer and a lifelong Philomath. Her previous experience as a research analyst made her passionate about traveling the world and understanding how it works. During her day off, you can often find her indoors, writing stories or oil painting.

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