A growing number of business owners are now eager to find the right balance between driving customers to their website and bringing people to their Instagram accounts. Both channels can engage users with answers and solutions, but ultimately there are many significant differences.
Which is truly the better option for your business if you were to select just one?
I know a lot of small business owners that would rather forego websites altogether and opt for using their Instagram account solely in its place. And honestly? I can’t blame them.
By understanding the advantages of both websites and social media, you can build a profitable acquisition ecosystem!
Instagram is rapidly becoming the go-to place to sell products online. With more than one billion monthly active users, Instagram has opened up huge opportunities for brands to find new customers and get their products seen.
Of all the most popular social network apps, Instagram is among the easiest ones to get new followers.
It may sound tempting, but don’t bin your website dreams just yet. Websites are great because they’re considered a hub for all that your business covers. Whether you opt for a one-page site or multiple pages, there’s no substitute for a website when it comes to showcasing your credibility to potential clients.
But what are the pros and cons of both? Which should you consider? Let’s break down the Website vs Instagram Account.
Table of Contents
Website Vs Instagram Account: The Pros of a Website
Websites have widened the possibilities and provided millions of opportunities and ideas to individuals. It has changed the lives of people all around the world and helped us know the difference between what can be done and how it can be solved.
Websites can be the work of an individual, a business, or other organization, and are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose.
People are connected and interact with each other from their phones and laptops wherever the person is. The approach and process of business have changed. Anyone can start their own business on whatever investment they have.
The very first website on the internet went live on August 6, 1991. On average, a person spends 12 percent of their entire life on the internet.
1. You control your online identity
If you build your own website, you get to make sure your brand and messaging always shine through. Also, many other businesses looking to use your products or services will still review your website to confirm your presence, your validity as a business, and other general information about your business, team, and offerings.
2. Creating a professional-quality website is the easiest it’s ever been
Years ago, if you didn’t know how to code, you had to have someone else code a website for you. When smartphones first arrived, you had to have two websites: one for desktop computers, and one for mobile. Fast forward to today.
Do-it-yourself website builders like WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace have WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get”) editors that allow you to drag and drop content without requiring you to know an ounce of HTML or JavaScript.
WordPress, which powers over a third of the web, according to W3 Techs. You can buy WordPress themes that look great from the get-go, and the platform has a massive community of developers and designers creating highly capable, beautiful websites.
3. Customers are more likely to trust you
Especially the customers that do their research and have influence in their circles. If you have a website, your business feels more “real,” even if it’s just a simple landing page with a quick summary of what you do and how to pay you for it.
4. You can show up higher on search engines like Google
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the name of the game, and having your own website, with a blog, maybe the best way to do it. A 2020 study shows over 28% of people searching on Google click the very first link, with over half choosing from among the first three. You want to be as high up as possible for searches relevant to your business, whether that’s “Nigeria food” or “facial cream” or “interior design firm.”
5. A website can take advantage of the other hard work you’ve done already
You can use your website to provide social proof to potential customers: proudly announce that you’re rated over 4.5 stars with hundreds of reviews! Or reach out to your best clients for testimonials: knowing another reputable business engaged in your services makes other companies and customers more likely to choose you.
Read More: BREAKDOWN OF WEB DESIGN COST IN NIGERIA IN 2021
Website Vs Instagram Account: The Cons of a Website
1. You have to pay for it
You have to buy a domain, which is a web address like thinkdigiads.com. You have to pay for hosting, which means a place to store your content online. And you may have to pay for the creation of the site if you don’t have the skills to put it together yourself.
2. It’s hard to customize templates
The catch for using a website builder or a WordPress theme is that your customizability is limited. Do you have a specific vision for the appearance of your site, or for features from your favorite website you’d like to emulate? You’ll want to hire a web designer for those, and that can be more expensive (and usually more money upfront) than the fees you’d pay with ongoing maintenance and upkeep – the entire back end of software development and upkeep is on you
3. You have to work for that traffic.
It’s not as simple as putting up a blog post and immediately getting traffic. You’ll have to consider where that traffic will come from, and the best places to share it.
Plus ranking in Google’s search engine does take time, so don’t be discouraged if you’re not immediately #1 for a specific keyword or search term. If people are continuously engaging and reading your content, Google will take notice.
Website Vs Instagram Account: The Pros of an Instagram Account
Having an Instagram account is entirely free to set up, and only really costs you money if you want to run an advert to reach even more people.
These days many social media platforms have boosted functionalities to act as both a content distribution channel and networking platform empowering the practitioners of that platform to diversify offerings to their audience.
1. Medium That Is Very Visual
Instagram is all about sharing photos. From sharing your new haircut and dress to some new cuisine or location, there is nothing you can’t share with the world. And a large number of amazing filters makes it an even more beautiful experience. By applying a filter, you can add more charm or glamour to your photos. Although, don’t use them that much, let your photos be true in most cases.
2. Effective Promotion
Originally began (like most social media sites) as a way to connect with others, Instagram today works as an effective marketing strategy. Established brands reserve their Instagram pages for showcasing their products, while new startups find it easier to create an audience via images here. Even individuals like models and artists can showcase their works and create a fan base. Instagram serves as an important platform today for social media marketing.
3. More Appealing Interface
One of the biggest advantages of Instagram is its interface. With so much visual content, you would expect it to be slow and messy. Contrary to that, Instagram is very neat and organized. Unlike Facebook, there is no flood of information that you can barely process. The platform allows you to organize your profile in a very efficient manner, such that it has a nice appeal to it. This appeal is one of the reasons why people rushed toward Instagram despite other photo-sharing platforms.
4. Strict Privacy
Unlike other platforms, Instagram takes privacy very seriously. If you want your photos to remain private between your followers, then private they shall remain. There is no means to bypass privacy settings. Even the profile picture is private. Instagram also doesn’t allow the downloading of photos, though there are other means to do that.
5. Effective Features
Unlike Facebook (which offers a variety of useless features), Instagram is clear about what it should provide its users with. Apart from photo-sharing and filters, there is also a feature to share videos and live streams. You can also share stories, which will disappear after a day. Quite smartly, Instagram provides additional functionalities via other apps, like Boomerang and Photo Grid. While posting to Instagram, you can seamlessly share your photos on Facebook.
6. IGTV And Reels
When Instagram first enabled the users to share videos along with photos, the length of the video was restricted to under 1 minute. But that changed with the introduction of Instagram TV or the IGTV.
On IGTV, you can upload videos of any length you want, which is awesome. Moreover, because of this, the entertainment factor with Instagram just reached another level. Now, users are exposed to a plethora of video content on Instagram, like compilations of funny videos and even movie trailers. Surely with IGTV, Instagram has become so much more than just a platform to share photos.
Instagram Business Profile
If you’re an influencer or a brand, then you must know what I am talking about. The thing is that you can very easily switch from your Instagram personal profile to a Business profile. But what are the benefits? Well, if you are promoting something on Instagram, then you have to make it easy for people to contact you. And in the business account, your profile will show a “Contact” button.
You get to decide what happens when people click on that button. Like you can enable the users to email, view your location, and call you through that button. You can also direct your viewers to your website or a landing page.
Website Vs Instagram Account: The Cons of an Instagram Account
1. You’re on a third-party website, over which you lack complete control.
As Instagram is not your own website, you do not get the chance to set out the policies and will have to run by their rules. Even the content you post and share on your own page is limited to the options Instagram gives you.
2. Overwhelming Advertisements
Of course, we’ve already applauded the fact that Instagram is one of the best social media platforms to promote yourself or your brand. Instagram has become a place where you are bombarded with too many advertisements or sponsored posts.
Apparently, from companies to individuals, everyone can promote themselves on Instagram by taking some bucks out of their pocket. But that shouldn’t be a bad thing, right? Well, it is seen as a bad thing when you see an advertisement after every 4-to 5 of your friends’ posts.
3. Fewer Features On the Web
If you have ever used the web version of Instagram, then you might have realized that it lacks many features. Instagram is keeping its users close to the app and not providing much access to the web version. However, Instagram is slowly rolling out the same features of the app on its official websites, like stories and others. But we cannot expect all the features on the web soon.
The Verdict
The right answer to ‘Website Vs Instagram Account: Which should I use?’ is BOTH and the reason for that is because crossposting increases traffic at both ends. Publish an article on your website and simultaneously post it on your Instagram page to drive traffic to your website. Vice versa, include your social media handles on your website in order to drive people to your Instagram account.
You can also use Facebook Pixel to track traffic to your website and then remarket to that audience on Facebook through advertising. Facebook Pixel is a snippet of code that is placed in the header code of your website and pulls website traffic information through to Facebook’s advertising tools.
The aim of having a website and an Instagram account is to make you and your business as discoverable as possible to your audience. Your goal is to make it easy for potential customers to find you, and subsequently, buy from you. How you do that is by making yourself available across as many online platforms as possible, not only your website and Instagram account but also any new online platforms that will assist to build your personal brand.
