Instagram Stories vs Snapchat Stories: A Brand Perspective
That shockwave you may have felt in the social media world yesterday was the announcement of Instagram Stories, a frontal assault by Facebook, Inc. on Snapchat’s camera platform.
In essence the entirety of Instagram Stories borrows unashamedly from Snapchat Stories: a way to quickly share a series of auto-advancing and auto-expiring bite-sized videos and photos enhanced by filters and doodles.
But while social stalwarts may initially recoil at what rightfully comes off as a copycat gesture, the addition of the Stories feature to the established Instagram platform may well be a savvy move to shift an already thriving app into an even higher gear, maintain its dominance in social engagement, and cement its place as a frontrunner destination for brand content, all while diverting its user base away from adopting or spending more time on Snapchat.
Why Do We Care?
A New Breath of Brand
Instagram Stories enables brands to pivot to an entirely new, more casual personality channel — within the same Instagram platform where they already likely enjoy their highest engagement rates. Their same users get to experience a whole new stream of content in a quickly and easily digestible format right alongside the curated stream they already expect.
This flexibility between casual and curated content could be Instagram’s holy grail. And while Instagram and Snapchat will each remain distinctly relevant for their own key strengths, borrowing the core Stories concept should serve Instagram quite well.
What’s the Difference?
Curated vs. Casual
The follow-worthy brand content we’re used to seeing on Instagram is generally well-shot, well produced, and very intentional, with a less-is-more approach to posting frequency. People clearly enjoy it but such creative limitations reflect only so much of a brand’s personality and could over time engender less frequent app visits and engagements.
In stark contrast, user content on the smashingly popular Snapchat app has an entirely spontaneous feel, a completely casual, almost “who cares?” approach, sharing whatever’s going on at that random time of the day when something’s worth sharing.
Why Does This Work?
Freedom of Expression
Snapchat Stories are wholly entertaining, even when they’re total throwaways.
Why? Because they allow for more human expression: real emotions, silliness, random thoughts, etc.
And what elicits that? In part because the content is ephemeral — it only lasts 24 hours.
Funny things happen — literally — when there’s no pressure of permanence. And no worries about traditional social interactions like public comments and like counts.
Pair that with a simplistic, gestural interface that includes a primitive pen tool in an engrossing, single-focus medium and it all equals natural expression that could be authored and viewed as easily after several drinks at a bar as while at work.
These core success elements have been transported directly into Instagram Stories.
Reality Check
Snapchat Still Rules
To be sure, Snapchat has many more notably significant features that can’t be understated, including:
- highly entertaining, augmented–reality-based lenses
- geofilters
- stickers (that can be motion-enabled as well)
- geostickers
- a popular chat engine
as well as many other refinements afforded by its several years’ head start that give it a distinguished advantage in this space.
Snapchat is easily still the experience leader, excelling in delivering surprise and delight in a way I can’t see Instagram replicating any time soon, but could readily lose its surge in popularity to its new, good-enough-for-civilians competitor.
But Instagram Rates
No slouch itself, Instagram carries its own advantages:
- Brands and other users are easy to discover on Instagram — a glaring deficiency on Snapchat.
- Brands have their built-in user base, in deeper numbers and broader demographics, who are already on Instagram to consume and create photographic content but now have an alternate but integrated avenue to do that, and now less incentive to go to Snapchat for its kind of content.
- Similar to the way Periscope entered with a more refined experience than Meerkat, Instagram Stories already has some better elements in its user interface than Snapchat, as well as feature improvements like pen adjustments and prev/next/pause controls within a story.
Outlook for Brands
Organic Content Lives
Instagram Stories offers you a fresh way to show an entirely new facet of your brand persona to your Instagram followers. Use this opportunity to create fun, authentic, organic content that fulfills the promise of this channel while remaining faithful to your brand overall.
Only If It’s Great
Note, too, that brand Stories intermingle in the same top bar with users’ Stories, so visibility is high, which is great, but since there’s no way to select who appears there, your content has got to work or users will quickly unfollow you from Instagram altogether just to get you out of that bar.
Honor the Follow
If you also use Snapchat, define the ways each channel will differ and give your followers a reason to stay. Authoring in one and copying to the other because the Stories concept is similar isn’t just lame, it’s a guaranteed way to lose followers on at least one of the two platforms.
#TeamSnap or #TeamInsta?
Room for Both
The good news is using Snapchat and Instagram is not an either/or proposition. Each has its own strengths, audience, and therefore purpose. As it stands now, Instagram will be a more broad solution while Snapchat will be more pointedly effective.
Still, sometimes budget, attention or other factors force you to focus on one platform. I’d love to hear in comments which you’d pick, and why.
One Week Later
The Pain Paradox of Instagram Stories
Check out my follow-up post where my initial optimism for the promise of Instagram Stories fades to an uneasy uncertainty about what it means for the Instagram experience.
I’m a freelance social media strategist who’s worked with some of the biggest brands to create interesting ways to reach audiences and grow relationships. I’m always interested in talking social, whether over coffee, in a project, or on a podium, so get in touch if you’re interested in how I can help your brand or people be better on social media.
