"Should we be posting on Instagram or Facebook?" is one of the questions we hear most often from small business owners — and the honest answer is: it depends on who you're trying to reach, not on which platform feels trendier.
Here's how to think about it.
Who is your actual customer?
Instagram skews younger and more visual — it's a strong fit for fashion, food, beauty, fitness, home décor, and anything that photographs well. Facebook still has a broad, often slightly older audience and remains genuinely useful for local service businesses, community-based audiences, and anyone relying on Facebook Groups or Marketplace.
What are you actually selling?
Products with strong visual appeal — jewellery, clothing, food, interiors — tend to perform better on Instagram, where the entire experience is built around imagery. Services that need more explanation, or businesses that rely on local trust and word-of-mouth, often find Facebook's longer-form posts and community features more useful.
Where does your competition already have traction?
If your competitors are getting real engagement on one platform and nothing on the other, that's a signal worth taking seriously — it usually means that's where your shared audience actually spends their time.
Do you have the capacity to do both well?
A well-run single channel beats two neglected ones every time. If you can only commit to consistent, quality posting on one platform right now, pick the one where your customers are, and do it properly — then expand once that's working.
Our general take: most small businesses in visual, consumer-facing categories should lead with Instagram and treat Facebook as a secondary presence (especially useful for local discovery and reviews). Service businesses and anything community-driven often see the reverse. Either way, it's worth testing with real content and real data for a month or two before deciding — not just going with a guess.
If you're not sure which way your audience leans, that's exactly the kind of thing a quick look at your existing page insights can answer.
