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In recent years, Snapchat has emerged as a favorite social platform among consumers, especially young consumers. But earlier this month, Instagram released a new feature that offers a very similar experience to that of Snapchat. And according to expert sources like AdAge, Instagram Stories could appeal even more to businesses and marketers thanks to the larger and more established user base. So how many consumers have used Snapchat and/or Instagram Stories? And which platform is best for brands and marketers? We asked 1,000 respondents on August 28-29 about their thoughts on these growing social platforms.
Snapchat Users
In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 18% of respondents said that they currently have a Snapchat account, and 82% do not. Of those who use Snapchat, 22% said that they follow or interact against many different brands on the platform. And another 22% said they follow one or two brands on Snapchat. Nike was the most popular brand mentioned by Snapchat users. But Amazon, Apple, Buzzfeed, Luckyday and Cricket were also poular.
Instagram Stories
Alternatively, 32% of respondents said that they currently have an Instagram account. 26% of those Instagram users said that they follow many different brands on the platform. And another 26% said they follow one or two brands on Instagram. Nike and Apple were also top brands mentioned by Instagram users. But there was also a bigger variety of other Instagram brands mentioned, including Walmart, Swagbucks, Gucci, Forever 21, Coca-Cola and Calvin Klein. However, even though Instagram as a whole has a significantly larger user base than Snapchat at this point, that doesn’t necessarily mean that more people watch Instagram Stories than Snapchat Stories. Overall, just 14% of Instagram users said that they often watch Instagram Stories. 25% watch them sometimes. 26% rarely ever watch Instagram Stories. And 35% of Instagram users said they’ve never watched or viewed any Instagram Stories.
Social Impact
Social media in general can be a powerful tool for businesses to reach out to consumers. However, only 4% of respondents said that they regularly make purchases based on things they see on social media. 8% said they’ve made purchases based on social media posts multiple times in the past. 21% have done so at least once. 56% said they’ve never made purchases based on social media posts. And 11% don’t use social media at all. Of those who have made purchases based on social media, 80% have made purchases because of Facebook posts. 50% have purchased because of YouTube videos. 37% have made purchases based on Pinterest. 33% have made purchases based on Twitter. 31% have purchased based on Instagram posts. 21% have purchased items because of Google+ posts. 12% have made purchases because of Snapchat. And 10% have purchased because of LinkedIn posts.
Key Takeaways
It’s clear that Instagram does have a larger user base than Snapchat. And consumers are also more likely to follow brands on Instagram than they are on Snapchat. However, Instagram Stories is just one feature of the platform. And not a very high percentage of users actually interact with those stories on a regular basis. It could also be worth noting that the landscape of brands using Instagram seems more crowded than that of Snapchat. So brands that know their audience is using Snapchat could take the opportunity to establish a presence on that platform and potentially really stand out in an area that not a lot of other brands are thriving. But for businesses that want to use social media as a way of increasing sales, Instagram does have Snapchat beat by a fairly wide margin at this point. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Snapchat by Maurizio Pesce under CC BY 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.
Results were collected on August 28-29 via AYTM’s online survey panel.
