Full Screen

Differentiating Social Apps

More Free Lessons in

Social Media Marketing View All →

Get cutting-edge digital marketing skills, know-how and strategy

This micro lesson is from one of our globally recognized digital marketing courses.

Start a FREE Course Preview Start a FREE Course Preview
Global Authority

The Global Authority

12 years delivering excellence

Members

245,000+ Members

Join a global community

Certification

Associate Certification

Globally recognised

Membership

Membership Included

Toolkits, content & more

Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

What is Instagram?

Instagram is defined as a visual inspiration platform used by marketers to move and inspire audiences by showcasing their brand and products to dive action through a visual medium.

What is Snapchat?

Snapchat is defined as an image messaging and multimedia mobile application. Snapchat is used by marketers to utilize effective, ephemeral content storytelling and showcase their product through vertical video.

Difference between Instagram and Snapchat

Instagram and Snapchat initial uses differed, as Instagram focused on capture and share the world’s moments, which translated into posting beautiful photos of travel, food, and adventures. Whereas Snapchat’s core differentiator in the marketplace was in its ability for snaps to disappear after 24 hours. This ephemeral content focus defined Snapchat’s initial product offering and tagline of “Snapchat is the fastest way to share a moment.” This meant that curation and beautification of a photo wasn’t its main purpose. It also meant that there were two different audience types. Although today, there is much overlap.

Instagram had a lot of early adapters from photographers, brands, celebrities, influencers, and, of course, millennials. Snapchat did extremely well with millennials in Generation Z, influencers, news organizations, and brands. As stated earlier, Instagram has more daily users. However, Snapchat has the fastest growing user base in the social networking marketplace.

Instagram

In Instagram, there’s better targeting and analytics, and this is because there’s a Facebook integration which gives you way more data and analytics than you would on Snapchat. There’s an ability to go live. So, when you go live on Instagram, you’re showing real time and you’re connecting with your audience. As said earlier, Instagram, especially with their Facebook integration, has way more users than Snapchat. And this gives more with influencer marketing, there are tons of Instagram influencers, as well as with the Facebook integration you have amazing insights using a business account. And this, of course, lends itself to better e-commerce and advertising opportunities.

Snapchat

Snapchat is all about ephemeral content. You’re creating content that can disappear and does a connection to build with your community. There’s also end-to-end storytelling. A lot of times, people will start and finish a Snapchat story because it’s just second nature to do this. You’re hitting up the millennial audience very hard, and there’s a new form of advertising content creation. It goes away from that curated Instagramesque style to create very authentic, organic kind of advertising that is really applicable to the Snapchat platform in itself.

Back to Top
Kate Talbot

Kate Talbot is a Growth Marketing consultant at Vidder Inc., best-selling author of "Oh Snap! You can use Snapchat for Business" and regular contributor to online publications such as Social Media Examiner, Engadget and KISSmetrics. Passionate about building brands through demand generation and strategic partnerships, Kate's expertise in social apps are unrivaled. 

Data protection regulations affect almost all aspects of digital marketing. Therefore, DMI has produced a short course on GDPR for all of our students. If you wish to learn more about GDPR, you can do so here:

DMI Short Course: GDPR

The following pieces of content from the Digital Marketing Institute's Membership Library have been chosen to offer additional material that you might find interesting or insightful.

You can find more information and content like this on the Digital Marketing Institute's Membership Library

You will not be assessed on this content in your final exam.

ABOUT THIS DIGITAL MARKETING MODULE

Instagram and Snapchat
Kate Talbot
Skills Expert

This module dives deep into the leading app-based platforms, Instagram and Snapchat. It begins by outlining the benefits of using social apps in your campaigns. Then, it teaches you how to navigate the key features of Instagram and Snapchat, and how to create fully optimized posts on both platforms. Next, it provides best practices for managing Instagram and Snapchat accounts effectively and covers how to run engaging ad campaigns on each platform. Finally, it provides you with the knowledge to analyze performance on each channel using analytics tools.