
How Facebook has used Instagram to beat Snapchat - IsaakTech
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/12/how-mark-zuckerberg-has-used-instagram-to-crush-evan-spiegels-snap.html
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thinbeige
Careful.

Yes, Zuck tries to destroy Snapchhat but close to it? No way. Slowing their
growth? Yes and this was expected.

Instagram is winning this space? IDK, I only know that Instagram ads perform
10x worse than FB ads. After many test drives I've never touched them again.
The only ones who are monetizing on Instagram are those shiny influencers.
Paired with the current brand dillution (glossy Instagram vs not so glossy
stories) I am not so sure about Instagram's long-term success.

Snapchat has still a much better feature set plus much higher stickiness with
direct messaging than Instagram plus a consistent DNA. Finally, Instagram has
many, many liking bots (feels like Twitter before the fall).

BTW, stories only work on Instagram while on Meesenger and the FB app they are
not used by anyone (at least in my cricles).

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libertine
Just out of curiosity, can you provide the data on the 10x worst performance
than FB Ads?

Because I think that a claim to broad and generic to be said like that.

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thinbeige
Too lazy to anonymize and upload screenshots of my FB Ad Manager.

But I can tell you that my CTRs were 10x lower compared to FB (0.15%-0.2% vs
1.5% (Unique Link CTR)) on average on categories and visuals matching
Instagram followers/style/DNA. It's funny, some campaigns should have
performed better on Instagram than on FB because the campaigns just matched
the shiny Instagram style and consumer behavior. Nope.

Happy to hear other experiences.

~~~
libertine
It's ok! I think you gave a good insight on what you're saying.

The thing is, we don't use Instagram on every brand we work with - because the
audience isn't there, or it's there but their usage behavior is completely
different on this channel when compared to other more effective media
channels.

Even if you mimic IG style, IG users aren't that prone to leave the app by
clicking on outside links. This may sound cheesy, but on FB people are waiting
for relevant content to come to them, on IG people are looking for
inspiration.

We use it mainly for branding, and it works great for that. So Clicks/CTR to
website isn't the best KPI for this platform imo.

~~~
altern8tif
I'm interested to hear more about why IG isn't a good platform for linking
externally (whether a web browser or a native app).

If people are looking for inspiration on IG, isn't there some kind of follow-
on action that they would like to take after browsing (eg. viewing a product
in an e-commerce store)?

My hypothesis is that IG is somewhat analogous to reading a magazine. I pick
the magazine I like to read (analogous to choosing who to follow on IG), and
when I chance upon something nice, I may have a desire to buy it. It follows
that the same decision-making process could happen on IG.

Does that sound logical? If not, where am I going wrong?

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intoverflow2
If it has beaten Snapchat why is my Twitter feed full of memes about a dancing
hotdog Snapchat filter?

I have this inkling that tech press and lots of the tech community are super
eager for Snapchat to be destroyed because they never understood it in the
first place, dismissed it as stupid and still don't understand it and that
bothers them.

If Zuck manages to destroy it then it'll confirm to them that Snapchat didn't
really have any special sauce and it's fine that they didn't understand it.

~~~
izacus
My Twitter feed has nothing about snap so by extending your logic, Snap is
dead product that noone uses!!

...

Beware of observation bias.

~~~
intoverflow2
That part of my comment was obviously in jest...

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izacus
_sigh_ Sorry, hard to tell sometimes here :/

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AJRF
Snapchat constantly surprises people with its updates. AR filters and the new
map are really nice refinements to its product. Instagram hasn't show ANY
innovation here, and they consistently get accused of copying. I think the net
result of that is Snapchat seems cooler and fresher to the 18-24 segment which
is exactly their metric for success. Instagram won't "lose" but neither will
Snapchat

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erikb
I don't understand why anybody would ignore a >$100mio offer if he's not
already a millionaire. The difference between not being a millionaire and
being one is too huge to ignore, even if the company is undervalued by the
offer.

~~~
ronack
"not already a millionaire"

When your company is where Snapchat was at the time there's a good chance
you've already taken millions off the table as part of a round. Even if not,
when your company has achieved that level of growth, you can feel fairly
confident that you will walk away fairly wealthy in the end, and it's more
interesting to continue running your own company than it is to be rolled into
someone else's.

~~~
erikb
The first reason makes sense to me. Maybe they are already, because there are
other ways to take money (or money like values) out of your company besides
selling it.

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dboreham
Hmm...my kids say otherwise.

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Danihan
What do they say?

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Raphmedia
That Facebook is creepy, filled with adults, filled with ads they can't use
(pretty much all online purchases) and that your messages (and thus
wrongdoings) are permanent.

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Grue3
Sounds exactly like what MySpace users said about Facebook.

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supernumerary
I remember seeing Mark at an F8 conference, an early-ish one with the SNL
impersonator. He joked that Facebook took MySpace out back and shot it in the
head. Seems Snap is next. [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/andy-samberg-
parodies-...](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/andy-samberg-parodies-
mark-zuckerberg-facbeook-f8-conference-239701)

~~~
ballenf
Facebook was 10x better than myspace. (More like 1000x, imo.)

Hard to see that anything fb does can come close to 10x better than Snapchat.
They can (already have?) achieve parity easily by copying, but that will only
gain them a very gradual shift at best — nothing like the radical shift from
myspace to facebook.

Regarding Myspace, I'd even suggest that they shot themselves and Facebook was
well positioned and well designed to take the credit. To put it another way, I
think myspace would have eventually imploded even if facebook hadn't existed.
But that's wild supposition that I wouldn't claim to be able to back up with
any evidence. I just know that I was 100% done with myspace long before I
found fb.

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polote
It is weird to compare Snapchat and Instagram, they have very few in common.

Instagram is for photos you want to have long term, and which are defining
your social level. And it is not for communicating

Snapchat is for communicating.

But Snapchat is just overvalued has everyone wants to have share in the futur
big name of the internet, but they are far from dying ...

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jjuel
You do realize that is the whole point of this article. Showing that Instagram
apart from "keeping photos" as you say also has the communication features.
Heck I would argue posting a photo to any social media is considered
"communicating".

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rickdg
Does Snap have a working android app yet?

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seppin
I use both.

