Did you know that 84% of people use social media before purchasing? Social media platforms can help you enhance brand awareness, engage with your audience, and acquire critical consumer and competitive information. And, with so many social media platforms available today, it’s critical to select the ones that will lead to your social media marketing success.
Facebook and YouTube are popular social media platforms with millions of active users. They allow businesses to communicate with their market and target audience to market their products or services. The choice between YouTube and Facebook as a platform depends on your target audience, content type, goals, and overall strategy. Each platform has its strengths and characteristics:
The platform you use can be influenced by factors such as your industry, audience, and brand. This article will discuss which social media marketing platform is better for your startup business: FB or YouTube.
Let's look at some social media marketing statistics:
- Every day, the average US adult spends 2.25 hours on social media.
- Every month, Facebook users click on 12 Facebook ads on average.
- When they receive a response to their tweet, nearly 80% of Twitter users feel more positive about the company.
- 81% of people use Instagram to research products and services.
- Four out of every five LinkedIn users influence company choices.
- 46% of TikTok users use the app without other distractions.
- Over 70% of people with a positive experience with a business on social media will promote that firm to their networks.
What Is the Most Popular Social Media Platform?
With 2.9 billion monthly active users (MAUs), Facebook is the world’s most popular social media network.
Following Facebook, the most popular social sites are YouTube, WhatsApp*, and Instagram.
Facebook:
Facebook has over 2.7 billion monthly active users, making it the world’s most popular social media platform. It allows businesses to build a page to post updates, engage with consumers, and market their products or services. It only takes a few minutes to set up, and once you’ve uploaded some photographs, you can start soliciting followers from Facebook users.
Facebook also has an effective advertising platform that allows businesses to target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
As a result, if they have an Internet connection, you can find just about everyone on Facebook. That means that almost everyone in your consumer base has a Facebook account, which is why Facebook is the most popular social networking platform for businesses.
Because of Facebook’s massive reach, you can turn your customer base into a community.
Contests, quizzes, videos, photos, and other short posts work well on Facebook. Text updates can also keep your fans informed, but they will not perform as well as photographs or videos. You can also use Facebook to promote new content you’ve developed to drive traffic to your site.
Facebook is an excellent social media marketing platform for:
- Announce changes in hours, events, and milestones.
- Hold debates and live-streaming
- Building relationships with current customers
- Market to Baby Boomers
Facebook Statistics:
Facebook is still a massive advertising powerhouse. Whether or not brands should focus on Facebook is a difficult question that truly depends on your particular Facebook metrics. The following Facebook statistics will help you learn more.
- Facebook is the most used platform for marketers worldwide (90%). Instagram is in second place (79%).
- With around 2.96 billion monthly active users as of Q4 2022, Facebook is the world’s largest online social network.
- 70% of American adults use Facebook.
- The average American spends 33 minutes per day on Facebook.
- According to available gender data, 56.6% of Facebook users are men and 43.4% are women.
- Almost one-quarter of Facebook users in the United States are between 25 and 34.
Facebook is still a favorite among marketers. That’s not surprising, given the platform’s tremendous reach. Furthermore, the increasing average age suggests that more users are in high-level career decision-making positions.
YouTube:
YouTube has over 2 billion monthly active users and is the second most popular social media platform. Unlike Facebook, YouTube is a video-sharing network that allows businesses to submit films, tutorials, and other content to engage with their audience. YouTube is also owned by Google, which means that videos uploaded to the platform can appear in Google results, making it a powerful tool for SEO.
YouTube is famous for comedy and music, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it for business.
Instructional videos, product reviews, and similar content types perform incredibly well on YouTube, especially when educating a specific segment of your target market. In addition, after you create a video, it will appear in Google and YouTube search results, and you may promote it on your other social sites. When teaching your clients, you just cannot beat YouTube.
It is best for:
- Tutorials, how-tos, and explanation videos
- Shoppable YouTube live-streaming
- Advertising (on-platform video and display adverts)
- SEO (video dominates the “how to” SERP!)
YouTube statistics:
The world’s second-largest search engine is making significant changes to compete with upstart platforms like TikTok. Here are the top YouTube statistics to be aware of.
- YouTube has over 2.5 billion users worldwide as of January 2023. However, the platform’s active users have dropped by 48 million last year.
- YouTube Shorts get 30 billion views every day from users all over the world.
- According to available gender data, 12% of YouTube users are guys aged 25-34, while 9% are ladies of the same age.
- People spend an average of 19 minutes every day watching videos on YouTube.
- Nearly 90% of all YouTube visitors are made from a mobile device.
Despite a minor decline in growth this year, YouTube is still the most popular video-sharing network among users. Marketers would profit from providing more short-form, vertical content (i.e., Shorts) on the platform as more consumers visit the app on mobile.
Which social media marketing platform is better for your startup business, FB or YouTube?
Both Facebook and YouTube have massive audiences, but their demographics differ. Facebook’s audience is slightly older, with a higher percentage of users aged 30-49. This makes it an excellent platform for firms targeting an older clientele. On the other hand, YouTube has a younger audience, with a higher percentage of users aged 18-24. As a result, it is an excellent platform for businesses targeting a younger demographic.
Let's take a close look at some of the key factors:
Content-Type: Facebook is a platform that allows businesses to post several content kinds, including text, photos, and videos. While videos can be posted, they are not often the platform’s primary focus.
On the other hand, YouTube is a video-sharing site, and businesses must focus on making high-quality videos to succeed. YouTube is an ideal platform for businesses that provide visual content such as tutorials or product demos.
Engagement: Both platforms enable businesses to engage with their target audiences, but the type of engagement varies. Engagement on Facebook is frequently expressed through comments and likes on posts. Engagement on YouTube is frequently in the form of video views, comments, and likes. Because of the nature of the platform, businesses that prioritize engagement can find that YouTube has a more engaged audience.
Advertising: Both YouTube and Facebook have powerful advertising platforms that allow businesses to target specific audiences based on interests, behaviors, and demographics. They differ, however, in the types of advertisements they provide. Facebook has a range of ad styles, including video ads, carousel ads, and image advertisements. YouTube, on the other hand, provides both video commercials and display adverts. YouTube is the clear choice for firms focusing on video ads.
SEO: When it comes to SEO, YouTube has a huge advantage. Videos posted to the site might be displayed in Google search results, allowing businesses to reach a larger audience. Facebook provides a different benefit, making it a less suitable platform for businesses prioritizing SEO.
Finally, the ideal social media platform depends on your content and target audience. If your content is compatible with short-form videos, live streaming, and community involvement, Facebook could be a fantastic fit. YouTube may be a better fit if you primarily create video content and want to take advantage of YouTube’s searchability and revenue potential.
Whether you can use both platforms simultaneously, tailoring your content to each audience’s behaviors and performance is worth considering.