As a social media marketing coach, I often get asked “which social media platform is best to find new customers on?” And it’s never a straightforward answer because every business is incredibly different when it comes to marketing. Some have big budgets and outsource this workload, while others have no budget for it and take the challenge on themselves. No matter where you fall in this spectrum, one thing is certain: social media is a great way to find new clients when used correctly.

Facebook and Instagram are the two leading social media giants and they have become powerful tools for not only connecting with friends and family but also for finding new clients. These two brands –once competitors– are now owned by Facebook, and as a result, a whole new world of integration techniques like cross-posting and account linking was born –making it easier than ever to reach two different audiences at once (sometimes that’s good, other times it’s not!).

That being said, there are many benefits and weaknesses to each individual platform and they are best used in conjunction with one another. Alas, not everyone has the luxury of managing two platforms, so in this article, we’re going to explore those aspects and talk about which one is potentially best to focus on for your business.

Facebook should be your main focus if you:

• Have mainly older customers – Chances are your grandma has made a Facebook account –but she’s a little more hesitant to jump on the Instagram train. Facebook remains the leading choice for older demographics, so if you’re selling things to older people, then Facebook should be your main focus!
• Have mainly male customers – According to recent statistics, Facebook’s overall audience is 56% male, whereas Instagram’s is 43% male.
• Use links – Anyone who uses Instagram knows that adding links to a post is pretty much useless, so if you’re often sending customers to another site via links, Facebook will be a better choice.
• Want to keep it businessy – If you need customers to review your services, recommend you, or just want to keep your business very professional-based, Facebook’s business pages offer these aspects that you just can’t replicate on IG.

Instagram should be your main focus if you:

• Have great visuals – No surprise here, but if you rely heavily on great visuals to pull your clients in then Instagram is a great choice –especially with the addition of hashtags.
• Need good engagement – Engagement is important to build trust with your community. Instagram users are 58% more likely to engage with your business as compared to Facebook.
• Value built-in messaging – Remember the days when Facebook didn’t require an entirely different app to send messages? I think I speak for most when I say it’s an aspect we miss about the old Facebook. Thankfully, Instagram still uses in-app messaging so you can easily keep track of your conversations in one area –and it’s easier to reach out to potential clients through an Instagram page as opposed to a Facebook page.
• Want to have a personal touch – You can use your page to interact with other pages and people for a very personal “here’s the wizard behind the curtain” touch.

It’s important to note that while there are some key differences between Instagram and Facebook, they also have much in common. Consistent posting and staying on topic are two key components to successful marketing –though doing so will look different on each. There’s an article about that here.