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It came out of nowhere. So-called Messenger Day feature has shown in my Facebook Messenger. Now we know, that Facebook started to test out this new feature of its popular app in some countries. Australia recently joined Poland and Slovakia as the country to be “the chosen one” for early testing. Feels good to experience Messenger Day among first. Will it be a proper rival of Snapchat or will it cannibalize Instagram stories?
The battle of four apps
Who’s at war? After the great success of Snapchat Stories, it was just a matter of time when other big players will join the rumble. Snapchat users are a very specific young audience. But why don’t we let other people capture their eating-breakfast-like moments? Simply said, capturing and sharing everyday shit is becoming popular across all age groups and brands should be aware of it.
So who is the copy-cat?
The first app to follow this trend was Instagram with its Stories. Messenger Day is on the way. And the latest challenger in the battle is probably coming soon. The beta version of Facebook’s WhatsApp is already testing a story-like feature called Status. Which one of these 4 will take the biggest piece of a pie? We will have to wait. However, Facebook with its own Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram apps will make it hard for Snapchat to survive this battle.
What can we expect from new competitors?
The basic idea is the same. Sharing a photo or a video within friends/fans community for 24 hours although we can find some UI/UX differences between Instagram and Snapchat stories.
Messenger Day will probably adjust functionality during the testing but currently, it behaves like both of stories mentioned. We can see time and thumbnails like Snapchat and see the stories in a horizontal row above the original content of the app like Instagram (they both don’t have specific “stories window” or “tab”).
Seems like a fine mixture, but is it really a good move? When I open Snapchat or Instagram it’s because I want to see what’s going on with my friends and brands I like and I have some free time to do so. On the other side when I open Messenger it’s because I need to send a message and usually, I don’t have spare time to watch all the stored stories. You be the judge.
Which one is better for your business?
People love brands who share “behind the scenes” insights. Let’s see how these apps can help your business.
Simply said if we might use the math you would choose Instagram because it has two times more daily active users than Snapchat has.
Instagram strengths
- you can see story while visiting a profile or browsing your Search & Explore tab – no need to follow
- searching via hashtags, people or places work with Instagram stories
- stories are ordered by an algorithm which puts accounts that users interact with the most closer to the beginning of the list
- Instagram’s audience targeting options and call-to-action buttons
- option to hide story for someone or “hold screen to pause story” function
- most recent Mentions (type “@” followed by a username, tapping redirects to the profile) and “See More” links (lets verified accounts add links so it’s easy to learn more, coming soon)
- more mature audience
Snapchat strengths
- geo-filter used by brands to promote their business based on location
- global brands are able to promote on the top bar (only for brands with big budgets)
Messenger Day currently doesn’t work for business profiles. It’s just a matter of time when it will because the marketing potential is huge when we consider they can take all Instagram’s superlatives combined with the number of people using Messenger. Messenger is sitting on the throne alongside with WhatsApp as it’s the most popular social networking app with over 1 billion active users.
Comparing all these aspects Instagram stories are the most business-friendly app out there. But you cannot forget where your customers are. Snapchat is great for young audiences. Instagram is somewhere between and Messenger Day might be hitting the oldest audience using social media.
Know your audience and choose the right “story” app for your business.
Let us know in comments below what “story” app you like the most and why 🙂
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