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YouTube vs Insta: Faceless Page Battle

YouTube vs Insta: Faceless Page Battle

Don't launch a faceless page until you read this...

Chris Laub
August 19, 2024

_{1,098 Words | 4 Min 37 Sec Read}

Today we’ll be discussing whether you should build a Faceless Page on YouTube vs Instagram.

While the two have some things in common, they're actually more different than they are similar. In addition, each has its own set of Pros and Cons you'll want to consider before launching.

Let’s dive in.

Speaking of Faceless Page, I just uploaded a video on a Faceless IG Page that generates $10,000 per month with just 4,000 followers.

If you think you need hundreds of thousands or millions of subscribers to succeed with faceless pages, you will definitely want to check this out.

Click here to watch the video now.

To begin our comparison, there are a few main factors YouTube and Instagram have in common:

You don't have to show your face
The day to day operations can be outsourced
You'll need to create video content

But for the most part, that's where their similarities end.

From monetization to growth strategies, YouTube and Instagram are two very different beasts.

To highlight the differences, below you'll find a head-to-head comparison of the most important aspects of each business.

Monetization

Monetization is arguably the biggest differentiator between YT and IG.

See, YouTube - which is owned by Google - rewards video creators by paying them a share of the advertising revenue their videos generate.

And because of that, you can monetize without doing sponsorships, affiliate marketing, paid posts, etc.

Instagram, however, does not.

Meaning, it doesn't matter if you have 100 million IG followers who engage with every post. Unless you promote your own offer - or get an outside company to pay you for putting them in front of your followes - that audience is worthless.

In addition, while you will likely get inbound leads once your Page reaches a certain follower size, in the early days you might have to do outbound marketing (cold outreach) to attract sponsors.

Winner: YouTube

Video Length

This is another huge differentiator.

Long story short, Instagram is a short-form video platform (with Reels accounting for the majority of video traffic).

Meaning, the content you / your team produce will consist of 15-60 second Reels. And you'll need to launch 3-5 per day.

On the flip side, YouTube is a long-form platform.

While it's possible to monetize with Shorts, very few people have had success with this model. And because of that, if you want to play on YouTube, you should expect to create 15-30+ minute videos.

Which, as you might expect, can require dramatically more work relative to the 15-60 second ones you'd be creating for Instagram.

Winner: Instagram

Growth Strategies

The good news about both YouTube and Instagram is that most cheap traffic hacks have died off.

From mass commenting to Follow For Follow trades, that stuff just doesn't work anymore. Instead, what works is producing high quality content that grabs people's attention and gets them to watch until the end.

Sadly, when it comes to Instagram, even the most viral videos will stop showing after a couple months of popping up in the feed.

On the flip side, an evergreen, keyword optimized video on YouTube is an asset that can continue producing revenue for years on end. And because of that, even though creating long-form YT videos requires more work, the potential payoff is much higher relative to IG.

Last, while you can optimize for hashtags on Instagram, most of the effect is passive (algorithm tries to show videos it thinks you will like in the feed).

On YouTube, however, you can optimize and rank for specific keywords.

Which, in turn, can help you drive targeted evergreen traffic (resulting in more video views and ad revenue payouts).

Winner: YouTube

Workload

If you've ever attended one of our webinars, you know faceless IG pages require minimal video editing.

To the point my students go from having never launched a video to publishing 3-5 Reels per day with ease.

On the flip side, earlier today I heard a YouTube creator mention it takes his team 2-3 weeks to edit one video.

See, what you have to understand about YouTube is that it's more similar to television than it is a social media app.

First, most smart TVs have YT built in. Meaning many people quite literally watch YouTube on their televisions.

Second, unlike Instagram, you have both TV channels and movie studios publishing their shows, series, episodes and cinematic films on YouTube.

Third, because of how similar it is to the TV / movie viewing experience, people associate long-form video with quality.

Add these three factors together and the bar for creating YouTube content is much higher compared to Instagram.

Doesn't mean you have to have a masters from the USC School of Film.

But generally speaking, the workload required to run a faceless page on Instagram (whether you're doing it yourself or outsourcing) is much lower.

Winner: Instagram

In conclusion, both YouTube and Instagram have pros and cons when it comes to launching and scaling a faceless page.

While YouTube offers easier monetization options, the workload required to publish long-form videos is also much higher.

At the same time, YouTube videos are assets that can drive revenue for years, while 90% (or more) of the content you publish to Insta will disappear into the void within a matter of hours.

So, while we're huge fans of faceless pages in general, make sure you understand the nuances of the platform you're publishing to before you invest serious resources into launching and scaling your business.

💡 Takeaway: Faceless Pages are a viable business model on both YouTube and Instagram, with their own set of Pros and Cons. So if you want to go the faceless page route, analyze your strengths, weaknesses and preferences before you pull the trigger.

🎁 Resources: