Instagram vs. Snapchat Stories

Published on October 20th, 2017 | Last updated on May 25th, 2021 by Spicy B

I’m sure all of us are familiar with Snapchat and Instagram stories. Take a photo, caption it, and it’s available to view for 24 hours only. But which one is better?

Before the launch of Instagram stories there wasn’t much competition between the two platforms because their concepts were completely different. Instagram was all about sharing moments you want to remember and Snapchat was still about sharing moments but only for a little while – sharing them to forget and simply living in the moment. That is until Instagram launched their own stories and the competition started to heat up. Instagram stories have only been around for about a year but it’s already more popular than Snapchat! Theres an estimated 200 million people using Instagram stories daily while there are only 160 million daily users on Snapchat.

Instagram is constantly updating and adding different features that Snapchat hadn’t even touched on – so what makes Instagram kill the game?

Easier to find users on Instagram

One of the biggest problems Snapchat has is that it can be difficult to find users unless they post their Snapchat username all over their other social accounts. Snapchats search function requires you to know the exact username of the person you want to follow before you can find their account, whereas Instagram’s search function is much easier to use. Instagram’s discover feature also gives you suggestions on accounts you may like based on who you already follow. This is why many influencers have made the switch from Snapchat to Instagram stories – it’s almost guaranteed they will have a much larger audience on Instagram.

Instagram lets you tag and link in stories

Probably the biggest game changer that came with Instagram stories was the ability to mention other people and put links in stories. For influencers, Youtubers and businesses, being able to directly link a website, channel or blog onto an Instagram story is a MUST! There are so many times someone would for example, promote their new book in an Instagram story and just having the ability to say “swipe up to preorder my book” makes it 100 times easier for the viewer as it will take them directly to the website.

Better quality content on Instagram stories

On Snapchat, snaps must have been taken immediately prior to being posted. This means phone quality content, but with Instagram stories any content that was added to your camera roll in the last 24 hours can be posted to your story. No more shaky, out of focus Snapchat stories, this feature 0n Instagram means you can post stories that weren’t even taken on your phone resulting in much higher quality content. Obviously you wouldn’t do this every time you post a story but it’s a good option for influencers to have if they’re launching new products and need a bit of a cheeky Insta story self promo.

Different types of stories and other features on Instagram

Now theres the obvious types of stories – photos and videos, which is all that Snapchat offers. But on Instagram they’ve thought out of the box and you have the option of posting boomerangs, rewinds, hands-free and even live stories. Beloved stickers, filters and geotags have also made their way from Snapchat to Instagram stories, but everything is much more customisable on Instagram. The most recent feature we’ve seen pop into Instagram stories is the poll, a super quick and easy way to get a public vote on anything!

Instagram seems to be doing all the right things with their stories it’s no wonder they’ve skyrocketed with popularity in just a year!

Confused on which social platforms are the best to promote your brand?

Speak soon,

The Broccoli Army