Facebook has been a massive influence in the social media world for the past decade. It became even stronger with the growth of Instagram, one of the platforms under the company, that has led the development of content and social media marketing in the past years.

Undoubtedly, brands and marketers have made it essential to market their products in the two platforms. However, Facebook and Instagram both have unique characteristics and different trends that appear in the year of 2020. Here are some of those trends that you should adopt as your social media practices.

Focus on The Audience Shifts From Facebook to Instagram

Facebook and Instagram have different and unique characteristics, which caused most brands to use both of the platforms to optimize their reach and audience engagement. However, within the past year, the number of Instagram engagement and Facebook engagement differ significantly. 

This shift is first seen in the last quarter of 2019, where the top 50 brands on Instagram were recorded to have a bigger audience size than Facebook’s for the first time. As we entered the 2020 social media scheme, the difference grew larger as the audience size on Instagram reached a 28% higher number in comparison to Facebook. Consequently, the same shift is seen on Instagram engagement as the number of interactions on Instagram remains high, whilst interactions in Facebook tend to shrink.

This calls for a shifted focus for marketers and brands, to amplify their content strategy on Instagram more than before. This means that brands should invest more on Instagram content than Facebook’s, which includes making engaging image content, Instagram story content, Instagram Reels, and other Instagram style content.

Building A Social Commerce Ecosystem

Social commerce is a term to describe the practice of using social media as a platform to make sales, typically without leaving the application or moving to a different site. Since last year, Facebook has made it easier to target users with ads that are equipped with tools to do in-app purchases. This makes a shorter, and easier, shopping journey for users and a higher chance of conversion for brands that are launching ads or marketing a product.

Acknowledging the high engagement rate on Instagram, the company also developed a similar feature known as Instagram checkout. In this social commerce feature, users can see a shopping tag on items they can buy and checkout directly on the app instead of clicking the link to the brand’s site.

Advertising buyable products are now an increasingly popular practice on Facebook and Instagram, prompting brands to upgrade their features and invest more in product marketing.

Social Conscious Content is More Important than Ads on Instagram and Facebook

As 2020 has seen many significant social issues, it is inevitable for brands and even Instagram influencers to start engaging in social topics more than before. This is not only limited to content but also the overall strategies on Instagram and Facebook. One of the most palpable forms of this trending practice is how brands were collectively halting Instagram and Facebook Ads during #blackouttuesday. This practice should be taken note of as this reflects how audiences see brands during important times. As a marketer, being informed and expressing your engagement to social happenings on social media is a key practice in 2020, especially with the younger demographic.

Conclusion

Social media has been dynamic throughout the past years and even more so this year. The changes of circumstances and demography will affect your performance whether it is on Facebook or Instagram. It is more important than ever to keep up with trends, evaluate, and upgrade your strategies. You can further boost your understanding of your industry by using tools such as Instagram analytics to receive insights about your performance and industry trends.