Take the plunge into TikTok and Instagram Reels and discover what your brand needs in order to succeed on both platforms. Good news—it’s simpler than you think.
When Instagram introduced Instagram Reels a few weeks ago, creative professionals instantly compared Instagram Reels to TikTok. And the comparisons are valid.
Both TikTok and Instagram Reels allow their users to record fifteen-second clips set to music. When evaluating the social media platforms that you should focus on, it’s important to know the differences and benefits of each platform feature and how you can maximize its impact on your business.
This article puts Instagram Reels vs. TikTok face-to-face and evaluates what you need to know about both of these features to implement into your creative business.
Instagram Reels vs. TikTok – Why Should You Care?
In a time where there are seemingly endless updates to how brands think about social media platforms, and how consumers use them, it’s important to stay up-to-date with what is important to implement in your business. Knowing the key differences between TikTok and Instagram Reels will allow you to choose what the best platform is for you to dedicate your time to—or how you could potentially repurpose the same content for both platforms.
First, let’s talk about Instagram Reels.
How to Use Instagram Reels
What is Instagram Reels?
Instagram Reels is the latest video feature from Instagram that allows users to create fun, engaging fifteen-second video content with music—all on the Instagram platform. Similarly to TikTok, Instagram users can record and edit video clips set to their favorite music, then share them to their platform. You can share Instagram Reels only to your Stories, or you can also pin Instagram Reels to show up in your feed.
Just like IGTV, Instagram Reels now has its own Explore tab within Instagram. This is similar to TikTok’s “For You” page, which highlights algorithm-favored clips that the platform thinks you’d like.
The cool thing about Instagram Reels is that you can edit directly on Instagram. This is handy for photographers or other creative businesses who don’t have experience editing video. Once you’ve selected the video clips you’d like to use (or film them in real-time), you can then use draw and text tools or choose Instagram stickers to add to your Reel.
Why did Instagram launch Instagram Reels?
It’s not surprising that Instagram launched Instagram Reels so quickly after TikTok surged in popularity. If you’ll remember, this is also what happened when Snapchat launched and Instagram first introduced Instagram Stories.
Instagram Reels seemed to launch as a response to the growth of TikTok. There are now over 800 million active users on TikTok worldwide and it is the most downloaded app on Apple’s app store.
When TikTok first launched, it was noted as a “teenager-centric” app. So, for a while a lot of big brands and adult influencers and bloggers weren’t using the app. That’s all changing, which has forced other social media companies like Instagram to take notice. While the app was once dominated by Generation Z users, Millennials now make up a greater percentage of TikTok’s user base.
How to create Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels is the latest mode within the main Instagram Stories camera menu. To access it, you simply need to open the Instagram stories camera and find the Reels icon. Our talented Shutterstock Tutorials team put together this awesome video and blog post on how creatives and businesses can easily create Instagram Reels.
Why are creative businesses using Instagram Reels?
Instagram has given Instagram Reels the same care and attention as to its launch of IGTV, a feature that allows users to create series-based content that users can release to followers as almost mini-episodes. The new feature fills the gap between Instagram Stories, which fits behind-the-scenes personal content, and professional IGTV series-based content. It’s a powerful way to showcase your personality and brand in an authentic way.
Instagram Reels has the ability to help you build an organic community on Instagram, better connect people to your brand, and expand your reach on Instagram within yet another new update. Brands, businesses, and creative storytellers such as photographers, videographers, or musicians can also use this tool to share engaging fifteen-second video content.
Here are two quick tips on how creative businesses can utilize Instagram Reels in their marketing and content strategy.
Tip #1: Get real with the content you create
Instagram Reels offers yet another opportunity for creative businesses to showcase the human stories behind their brand and a less curated side of what they do. This is the opportunity to showcase your personality as a team or brand and break the barriers between you and your audience.
Instagram Stories was the first iteration of this. However, Instagram Reels allows you to keep that content on your feed forever which is a great reason to dedicate more time to the strategy and content you create.
Tip #2: Share educational and tip-based content
As a brand on Instagram, posting educational content is almost a requirement for brands who want to provide real valuable information to their followers. Instagram Reels is a great place to dedicate this type of content. Here are a few examples for different kinds of businesses and the type of educational content they can share on Instagram Reels.
- Retail businesses: Share stories about how to wear products together, COVID-19 shopping protocols, or how to use certain products at home.
- Food businesses: Share recipes, how to prepare certain products, plus quick-tip cooking videos.
- Online stores: Show the people behind-the-scenes of your business and website tutorials on how to use/navigate.
- Consulting/ appointment-based: Show how appointments work, show the personality behind the people, or COVID-19 appointment protocols.
How to Use TikTok
Next, let’s talk about the benefits of TikTok and how brands are currently using TikTok to maximize their reach with this new audience.
What is TikTok?
TikTok is a social media video app built for creating and sharing short videos. The majority of TikTok videos consist of comedy, dance, and lip-sync vertical videos. The app allows you to take various clips or images and string them together, essentially making a fully edited video.
The app was founded in 2017, but blew up in popularity just last year and has since experienced exponential growth. Brands now on TikTok have experienced this growth, and are using the app to reach a younger demographic in the process.
Unlike Instagram’s relatively open transparency about how their algorithm works, TikTok is on the other hand quite mysterious about what content performs well on its platform. But, there are a few tricks that brands who want to share content on TikTok can implement to help spur growth on the platform.
Tip #1: Viral content can happen to any posted video
Regardless of how many followers you have, your content can gain exposure and potentially go viral in a single video rather than based on your profile as a whole. This means that if you dedicate a lot of time to one great video, it has the potential to help your overall growth on the platform.
An example is this video by Spikeball. On average most videos on Spikeball’s account receives around 300,000 views, whereas this video spiked (no pun intended) to 10 million views.
Even if you have no followers, TikTok puts your video on a small number of TikTok users popular For You page. That’s why you’ll sometimes come across videos with very little engagement. If that small amount of people like your video and interacts with it, it’ll be exposed to more people, and then more if it performs well with them. This is how individual videos can perform really well on the platform.
Tip #2: Use Trending Hashtags and TikTok Sounds
Popular hashtags and Sounds (music on TikTok) are two of the best things to implement on your videos if you want them to perform well on TikTok. Popular themes and trending hashtags are constantly changing, so it’s best to stay up-to-date with what the top creators are doing on TikTok via your For You page.
That being said, don’t just use any hashtag. Include relevant hashtags that are niche to your content. This helps the platform learn what your content is really about, and showcases it to the right people who will engage with that type of content. This can also be said for Sounds, as there are trending Sounds that happen in the same way on TikTok.
Why are creative businesses using TikTok?
TikTok is the latest platform to reach mass popularity. It’s also one of the best ways to potentially connect with a younger Gen Z audience as well as Millenials. Brands and businesses are starting to think of TikTok content the same way that they once considered Instagram Story content and IGTV content — video content that breaks barriers between your brand and the audience.
Advertising on TikTok
There are a lot of different opportunities that brands and businesses can explore when it comes to advertising on TikTok. These include In-Feed Ads, which have a Sponsored label when they appear in For You page. Influencer marketing is another key area that brands are exploring on TikTok, using TikTok celebrities to support brand campaigns (similar to Instagram influencers).
A great example of this is HP. Although they only have three videos, they did a hashtag challenge at Coachella last year called the #HPCoachellaDreamland challenge and enlisted some big TikTok influencers to spread the word via ads. The largest was TikTok user OurFire, who has over 5 million fans.
TikTok’s Creator Marketplace
One key area that TikTok does well in compared to Instagram is TikTok’s Creator Marketplace. The Marketplace connects brands to content creator partners with real performance data. TikTok also acts as an agent for its creatives, facilitating introductions, and even assisting in managing campaigns. While influencer marketing is new to TikTok, the brand has taken significant steps to provide in-company assistance to brands wanting authentic data insights, conversion statistics, and monitoring of campaign success—something that Instagram currently does not offer broadly.
Instagram Reels vs. TikTok Compared
So, we’ve learned a little bit about why people are on Instagram Reels and TikTok, and what kind of content creative businesses are putting on each platform. Let’s compare them, and discover what the right channel is for you to focus on with the content that you create or purchase on Shutterstock.
What are the benefits of using Instagram Reels?
The primary benefit of Instagram Reels is that it’s a feature on a platform that most brands and creative businesses already use. Their audience is already there, the reach is already noted. This is simply another way for a brand or business to engage with its audience on the platform.
Brands have already created Instagram strategies on how they use the platform. So, it’s easy to integrate Instagram Reels into that strategy. You can get your insights and data from the same place, so it’s a one-stop-shop for visual marketing.
The demographics of the user base on Instagram are currently a lot broader than TikTok. You have the ability to reach users in the 30-50-year-old demographic, which are not TikTok’s primary audience. This is something brands should take note of depending on what users they are trying to attract to their content.
What are the benefits of using TikTok?’
The primary benefit of using TikTok is the ability to create engaging content that targets the next generation of social media users. As users on Facebook and Instagram continue to grow and adapt out of their old social media habits, platforms like TikTok are engaging with the next generation of social media users. This new generation is more interested in showcasing behind-the-scenes, less-curated, more authentic content.
Even if your brand is not currently targeting Generation Z users, those users will grow with TikTok on the brand. Similarly, as TikTok grows in popularity, older demographics and social media users are starting to go on the platform and consume these quick videos. A perfect example of this is trending food on TikTok, with news outlets like Vice depicting it as “the food platform for the people” versus apps like YouTube that are saturated with brand-focused content.
So, Instagram Reels vs. TikTok – What wins?
So for brands and creatives interested in comparing Instagram Reels vs. TikTok, the short answer is that both platforms are essentially currently offering the same service. The main difference is the platform. TikTok is a relatively new platform that will allow you to engage with an entirely new audience. This can be a great opportunity to maximize a brand’s reach digitally. Meanwhile the Instagram user has been around for much longer.
Our suggestion is to do both. The content that you create for Instagram Reels and TikTok is essentially the same type of content, marketed to different demographics. You already know what your demographics on Instagram are, but TikTok is going to take a bit more trial and error. Watch what content goes viral, what the trending hashtags are, and what individual videos make it onto more people’s For You page. Even if it means putting the same content on both platforms for now, find out what works for each, what music fits your brand, and how people engage with that content.
Don’t put your eggs in one basket
When Vine launched, a lot of creatives put their content only on Vine and gained massive popularity on the app. When the app lost popularity, a lot of those creatives had nowhere else that they had built an audience. The same thing has the potential to happen to any brand or creative business on Instagram or TikTok using these features. The best thing you can do for your business is to build a comprehensive strategy that encompasses both platforms. If capacity and time is an issue, post less content but better content.
Building an engaging audience on any social media platform is never a bad idea. Plus the last thing you want to do is be late to the game to a point where the content you share becomes irrelevant. And the most important thing? Have fun with it. Social media is constantly changing, so be ready to adapt to the times and figure out what works best for you and your business. And if you’re looking for some Instagram Reels inspiration, check out this video that I made for my first Instagram Reel.
Cover image by GaudiLab.
Looking for more social media content? Check out these articles:
- How to Make Swipe-Up Instagram Stories
- How to Make Zoom Backgrounds for Video Chatters Everywhere
- 7 Creative TikTok Trends for Photographers to Try
- 8 Tips on How to Make Money on Instagram in 2020
- A Beginner’s Guide to Promoting Your Illustrations on Instagram in 2020