Which Meta Channel's Best for Social Media Marketing? 1000 Pros Compare Facebook, Instagram & Threads

Meta houses three huge social media platforms, each offering their own benefits and drawbacks.

When we surveyed marketers in 2025, we wanted to find out which one is best for social metrics – like audience growth and site traffic – and where they're re-investing.

We’ll dive into that along with key differences among various segments, like B2B vs. B2C brands, company sizes, and industry.

Facebook, Instagram, or Threads: Where Marketers Spend Their Time in 2025

I won’t bury the lede – Instagram is by far the most popular and highest performing Meta platform among marketers we surveyed. In fact, it's a top one across the board. 

Facebook isn’t far behind performance wise, though. Threads is, however, a different story.

Before we look at segmented data points, here are key data points on the ROI marketers report on Meta platforms, and the investments they’re making.

Firstly, the 2025 State of AI report found that marketers are investing most in video-first platforms – 76% of respondents say their company uses Instagram.

Facebook comes in right behind at 61% as the third most used app.

Thread hasn’t picked up steam, as the least used app at 9%, behind Tumblr, Discord and Pinterest.

Performance-wise, marketers rank Instagram as the top performing platform for site traffic, engagement, audience growth, and influencer marketing.

And this isn’t just among Meta platforms, Instagram is the top performer across all social media platforms we surveyed marketers on.

Facebook lags behind by an average of 12%.

This sets the stage for where marketers are investing in 2025.

Instagram is among the top 3 platforms marketers are investing in this year.

Twenty three (23) percent of marketers plan to cut off their investment in Facebook this year, compared to only 9% for Instagram. In addition, six percent more marketers plan to invest in Instagram than Facebook.

Now that we’ve looked at each platform across the board, let’s dig into some insights within key segments.

The State of Social Media in 2025

Explore the top trends in social media for brands to know and optimize your social strategy.

• AI Content Creation
• Community Building
• Social Media Shopping
• Social Vs. Search Engine

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B2B vs. B2C

When looking at how marketers reported ROI on Instagram and Facebook, there wasn’t more than a 5% difference between B2B and B2C businesses.

In terms of 2025 investments, B2B and B2C were in lockstep in their approach to Threads, with 27% increasing their investment, 25% maintaining the same investment amount, and 26% decreasing or cutting it entirely.

We saw some variance in 4 areas:

• Facebook investment – Forty six percent (46) of B2B businesses plan to decrease or cut their Facebook investment in 2025 compared to 35% of B2C businesses.
• Instagram investment – Our report shows a 7% higher investment from B2C brands.
• Brand safety – Twenty one (21) percent of B2B businesses are uncomfortable about their brand’s safety on Threads compared to only 10% of B2C. Marketers are showing a similar trend on Instagram, 11% of B2B are uncomfortable on it compared to only 3% of B2C.
• Influencer marketing – B2C brands are 9% more likely than B2B to work with influencers most on Instagram. That said, B2C and B2C businesses report similar ROI on the platform.

Company Size

Midsize (201-2,000 employees) and large (2,000+ employees) companies are more likely than small (1-200) companies to build community on Facebook.

In addition, midsize companies also report better community building efforts on Instagram, compared to small and large companies.

We also saw some interesting variance as it pertains to their approach to Threads and the ROI they report.

Threads is more popular among marketers working at midsize companies, with 13% reporting that they leverage it, compared to only 4% at small companies and 7% at large ones.

However, the data suggests smaller companies have a harder time finding success on Threads.

• Companies with 1-200 employees were more likely to see low ROI from using Threads.
• 31% of respondents from small companies reported low ROI from Threads, compared to only 18% from midsize ones and 16% from large ones.

This trend was also apparent for Instagram – 20% of respondents from small businesses reported low ROI from the platform, 11% more than for midsize companies and 12% for large companies.

Industry

Generally, marketers at nonprofit/government orgs report lower performance results compared to B2B and B2C brands.

Marketers at B2B and B2C companies are more likely to report high ROI on the Meta platforms than nonprofit and gov. orgs.

In addition, 40 to 48% of marketers for B2B and B2C brands report high ROI on Instagram, compared to only 20% for non-profit/government orgs.

That said, Meta platforms are not leveraged as much from nonprofit and government orgs. Only 56% of nonprofit and government orgs leverage Instagram, 14% less than B2B businesses and 21% less than B2C ones.

Social Pros Compare Benefits of Each Meta Platform

Brand Safety

Marketers feel most comfortable on established platforms for brand safety.

81% of marketers surveyed reported they feel comfortable posting and advertising on Facebook. Seventy-five percent of marketers reported the same on Instagram.

As the newest platform from Meta, only 41% of marketers reported feeling comfortable on Threads.

Source

Community Building

We also see a similar trend for community building.

Established platforms, like Instagram and Facebook, are where social media marketers build community on the most.

Forty percent of marketers say Instagram is most effective for building an active community on social media, earning the top spot across all platforms.

Facebook ranked third at 33%.

Influencer Marketing

Unsurprisingly, marketers report that Instagram provides the highest ROI of all three platforms.

Across all platforms, Instagram and Facebook are among the top 5 for ROI, with 45% reporting high ROI for Instagram and 38% for Facebook.

Twenty six (26) percent of marketers report wanting to work with influencers on Instagram the most, compared to 14% for Facebook.

Key Takeaways

Marketers are clear on one thing: Instagram is the clear winner among Meta platforms. It’s the platform that they see the best results from and plan to invest the most in.

Facebook, as the most established platform, is a close second – even when we expand beyond Meta.

Without short-form video features or a proven history of ROI, Threads lags way behind.

The State of Social Media in 2025

Explore the top trends in social media for brands to know and optimize your social strategy.

• AI Content Creation
• Community Building
• Social Media Shopping
• Social Vs. Search Engine

Get Your Free Report Learn more Get Your Free Report

Download Free

All fields are required.

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Download Now