YouTube Influencers vs. Instagram Influencers in 2019

More and more marketing executives and managers are including influencer marketing as part of their overall strategies, because the results yielded by this approach can provide a great return for your company. Especially in situations where a platform is strongly slanted toward visual content, such as Instagram and YouTube, influencer marketing can have a very powerful impact on the user community, and can sway their opinions in the direction of the sponsoring company.Both YouTube and Instagram provide tremendous opportunities for businesses which seek to influence their audiences by using people who have large followings of their own, and can be swayed one way or another. There are a number of ways which both platforms can be used to accomplish this kind of influence, including live videos, messaging, ordinary posts, and even Stories, because all these can do a good job of connecting your brand with your intended audience.

YouTube is now offering Stories just like Instagram is, and both of these have already proven very effective at reaching target audiences. However, if you only have enough market spend to make use of one or the other of these two social media powerhouses, which one will give you the most bang for your buck? It might well be a difficult choice when you have limited budget and limited resources, but there are certain criteria you can use which will help you come up with the most appropriate answer for your business.The story of statisticsFor practical-minded marketing managers, you may want to pay attention to the relevant statistics regarding both platforms, in order to help you make your decision. In terms of active users, Instagram currently has more than 1 billion, whereas YouTube now has an active user count approaching 2 billion, which amounts to nearly twice as large an audience as Instagram.When you look at the number of followers that celebrities have on each of these two platforms, that can also help you make your decision. Instagram influencers have more than 2.5 billion followers spread out over the top 50 celebrities on the platform, which is a considerable number. YouTube on the other hand, has a number of celebrities who get 12 times as many comments and three times as many views as ordinary industry influencers.

On YouTube, at least 74% of all teenage users declare that they are more powerfully swayed by influencers rather than known celebrities. Also on YouTube, 40% of all surveyed millennials have the feeling that influencers have a greater understanding of their wants and needs than do their own friends, which accounts for the considerable devotion millennials have to YouTube influencers.The industry of influencer marketing on Instagram is projected to reach figures approaching $2.3 billion by the year 2020, which is one of the reasons that many brands have great faith in the platform. In fact, nearly 90% of all brands view Instagram as the most important channel to conduct influencer marketing on, and that includes all other social media platforms.Content formats of the two platformsInstagram and YouTube promote similar kinds of content, focused on visual materials which have powerful appeal to users. While YouTube features videos and Stories, Instagram also includes videos and Stories but also offers photos as a primary visual medium which users can engage with. In terms of the respective Stories featured on both platforms, Instagram Stories expire within 24 hours and are available to everyone who makes use of the platform. YouTube on the other hand, has its Stories expiring seven days after launching, and are only available to those channels which have at least 10,000 subscribers. This means that Stories on YouTube can only be used by businesses which already have a huge following.Whereas Instagram video features must be 60 seconds or less in duration, YouTube videos can run as long as 12 hours or be 128 GB in size. This of course, makes YouTube far more desirable when long-form videos are being used, but for business purposes it may be that 60-second videos will work just fine to convey whatever message you have to your target audience.

In terms of link placements, this can be done on YouTube via video descriptions and in Cards, whereas on Instagram link placements are accomplished in Stories, and on profiles. When you consider the most popular niches which each of the social media platforms appeals to, you'll find a slightly different grouping of topics which each is known for. Instagram tends to run a lot of content on fashion, lifestyle, travel, and fitness, which means it can appeal to both genders, and to people of all ages. YouTube by contrast, tends to focus more on gaming, beauty, fitness, technology, and travel, and as you'll notice, two of these areas mirror popular topics on Instagram, whereas the others are special YouTube areas of interest.Which should you choose?Other than the statistical reasons for choosing one of the other platforms, you should probably consider which of the platforms your audience is on for the longest period of time, and where they can most frequently be found. You should also consider your marketing goals, and whether you're simply trying to build awareness and visibility, or to gain increased credibility for your brand, and possibly to add to the number of leads you already have.When you're trying to promote products and services, will photos be adequate to reach your audience, or would it be better to use videos to demonstrate how products should be used? If it happens that your products can be clearly demonstrated with pictures, Instagram may be the better choice, and it will probably be less expensive than producing the videos for YouTube.On the other hand, if you have fairly complicated products which require tutorials in order for users to fully understand them, it might be better to make use of YouTube to fully explain them to your target audience. Both these social media platforms can be a tremendous help to your business, and engaging influencers to help get your point across will undoubtedly provide you with a solid return. Use the information above to help you determine which would be better in your own specific circumstances.