Influencer Marketing: Youtube vs. Instagram

YouTube vs. Instagram has remained a long-standing battle for well over a decade. Though both channels are old according to social media standards, they are by no means outdated and continue to offer new and innovative techniques that can enhance your influencer marketing strategies. 

Though 89% of marketers believe Instagram is the most important for influencer marketing, we should not dismiss the benefits YouTube has to offer. Both platforms have their own unique strengths that complement each other and can enhance your marketing strategy. Through this blog, we aim to highlight the pros and cons of running influencer marketing on Instagram and YouTube with the hope of helping you find out which platform will benefit you most. 

Influencer Marketing: Youtube vs. Instagram – Marketing Goals

A crucial first step to finding out if you should run your influencer marketing campaign on Instagram or YouTube is to lay out what your goals are. What are you looking to achieve as a result of running this campaign? Each app specialises in achieving different results due to the unique variety of features they offer, so choose wisely! 

Some key contributing factors to help you decide are:

1. Where does your target audience frequent most? Follow your crowd and the engagement will come flooding in.
2. Think about what type of content you’re looking to upload? Short-form videos? Images? Long, informative videos? Each platform thrives off of a different content style. 

Influencer Marketing: YouTube vs. Instagram – Let’s compare

A crucial first step to finding out if you should run your influencer marketing campaign on Instagram or YouTube is to lay out what your goals are. What are you looking to achieve as a result of running this campaign? Each app specialises in achieving different results due to the unique variety of features they offer, so choose wisely! 

Some key contributing factors to help you decide are:

1. Where does your target audience frequent most? Follow your crowd and the engagement will come flooding in.
2. Think about what type of content you’re looking to upload? Short-form videos? Images? Long, informative videos? Each platform thrives off of a different content style. 

Influencer Marketing: YouTube vs. Instagram – Let’s compare

Key statistics

We know numbers aren’t everybody’s forte, but when it comes to discovering which platform to run your influencer marketing campaign on, they are handy to know.

At a glance, you’d think that running your influencer marketing campaign on YouTube would be the way forward due to it being the bigger platform and having the highest engagement rate. However, something to note is that YouTube’s high engagement rate has a lot to do with the fact that it only supports video posts; which is the most engaging form of content. 

As far as video marketing is concerned, YouTube is your winner. 

Content Style

1. Both platforms are visual, however, YouTube favours long-form videos, while Instagram favours images and short-form videos. 
2. When it comes to video formatting, top-performing IG videos use a 9:16 ratio, while popular YouTube videos use a 16:9 ratio. 
3. While IG videos have always been vertical, YouTube has since jumped on the bandwagon and introduced us to YouTube shorts in July 2021, allowing users to upload short, vertical videos. 

While it may not seem like these platforms offer much variety in terms of content options, you must remember that short-form video is the current, dominant content style. For more info on how to incorporate short-form video into your influencer marketing strategy, click here.

Medium for Topics

There is a decent overlap between industries and niches on both Instagram and YouTube and both platforms are an ideal space for professional and homemade content to thrive. These niches include fashion, lifestyle, beauty, food and travel. However, Instagram also favours pet, family and wellness content, while YouTube encourages gaming and B2B tech content.

Audience Demographic

While the two platforms do not drastically differ in terms of age and demographics, there are slight distinguishable contrasts that can greatly affect your influencer marketing strategy being placed in front of the correct people. 

As a general rule, YouTube caters slightly more to older users. Millennials, mostly, tend to prefer the longer, informative style of video the platform caters to. On the other hand, Instagram is popular among teens and young adults. 

The demographics change ever so slightly when considering certain niches. For example, gaming videos on YouTube tend to attract a younger audience than the platform’s average user age. 

Social Commerce Features

Instagram has all the features that leading social commerce platform, Facebook, has, making it the perfect platform for influencer marketers and ecommerce brands. 

YouTube offers the best advertising options to marketers by allowing pre-roll and mid-roll video ads to be distributed before and in between videos. On top of this, the platform has begun experimenting with in-app shopping. 

Influencer Marketing

The comparison everybody’s been waiting for.

What makes Instagram suitable for influencer marketing?

1. It is an ideal place for sponsored ads, as they can be consumed quickly and don’t require you to shell out copious amounts of money. Stories and Instagram lives are the best place to run video ads, as you can still market to those who don’t have time to watch long videos.
2. The platform has over 1 billion monthly active users, meaning you will never be stuck for finding users to actually see your content; provided it is visually appealing, of course. 
3. The launches of highlights and IGTV have further increased the attractiveness of Instagram as an influencer marketing platform. 
4. Instagram is versatile, meaning influencers have multiple ways to post content for brands. 

What makes YouTube suitable for influencer marketing?

1. YouTube can help you reach up to 2 billion users.
2. YouTube videos are great resources for expanding your knowledge on beauty, food, fashion, travel etc.
3. It is a good platform for high-quality content that has a long lifespan, meaning your sponsored videos will not just drop off the face of the earth after 1 month. 
4. Yes, content creation is much more affordable on Instagram stories, however, this option is transient. YouTube ensures your brand’s longevity.

Influencer Marketing: YouTube vs. Instagram – Choose wisely 

If you’re looking for a clear winner in the Influencer Marketing: YouTube vs. Instagram battle, then we’re afraid you’re out of luck. Both platforms do certain things better than the other, however, when it comes to leveraging their features to run an influencer marketing campaign, they both provide marketers with a whole host of benefits. 

As a result of our exploration, there are two things to consider when choosing which of these platforms to run your campaign on:

Your audience and product should dictate the type of content that works best and where you should publish that content. 

If possible, optimise both channels to multiply your results. 

FAQ’s

Which is better? Instagram or YouTube?

Both platforms are winners in their own right. While Instagram is more cost effective, YouTube has a higher engagement rate. You really have to consider what your goals are, where your audience frequents and what content type you wish to post in order to determine which platform to choose. 

What pays more? Instagram or YouTube?

Instagram influencers will typically receive $10 per post per 1000 followers, whereas YouTubers receive $20 per video per 1000 subscribers. 

Our Influencer marketing agency and Social agency are located worldwide, with our agency network based in the USA, UK, UAE and China.

If you want to receive our industry insights, visit our Influencer Marketing & Social Media blog.

@ Socially Powerful

[cta]

Popular Blogs

Most Popular Instagram Hashtags | Tiktok Hashtags | Instagram Monetization | Facebook Banner Size | Snapchat Influencers | Most Subscribed Youtubers | Best Time to Post on Youtube | UK Twitch Streamers | Female Twitch Streamers | Popular Tiktok Songs | Male Tiktok Influencers | Lgbtq Tiktok Influencers | The Rise and Fall of Clubhouse  | Influencer Marketing on Clubhouse | LiketoKnowit | Pretty Little Thing Instagram| Top Social Marketing Agencies