TikTok vs. Instagram: 6 Major Differences for Your Brand

In the year 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic struck, and as a result, everyone was confined to their homes. When this occurred, a good many of us came across TikTok, an application for sharing videos that currently has more than one billion active users all over the world.

Since that time, TikTok has grown into a formidable competitor in the field of marketing. For access to their respective audiences, brands are willing to pay top influencers millions of dollars. Chipotle received more than one billion views on the platform as a result of a single promotion.

TikTok is one of the most popular social video platforms; yet, it is difficult to compare its user base to that of Instagram, which boasts 1.3 billion monthly active users throughout the world.

Today, Will Varney from Megaphone, a leading digital marketing agency, and C&C will provide you with the answers to your questions. We will discuss the users of each platform, the different kinds of information and formats they offer, as well as the marketing potential available.

To begin, let’s look at…

Audiences

TikTok’s audience

In terms of their respective user bases, TikTok and Instagram share a number of striking similarities:

Both platforms have ready-to-buy audiences that are simple to sell to. Both platforms are primarily used by young people (those under the age of 35). Both platforms have a significant presence in countries all over the world.

Having said that, there are some significant distinctions between the two.

On TikTok, almost everyone has a younger age than 35 years old. The youngest generation, Generation Z, makes up the largest audience, followed by the Millennials, Generation X, and Boomers in that order.

The majority of users are female, which accounts for 57% of all users compared to 43% of male users. It has been estimated that there are 73.58 million users of TikTok in Brazil, 99.07 million in Indonesia, and 135 million in the United States.

Users of TikTok are typically more receptive to various forms of advertising. They are also willing to purchase and download things that are geared toward younger people. Some examples of these products include: video games; inexpensive jewelry, house decor, and makeup; novelty products; budget cosmetics and perfumes; inexpensive ecommerce products.

Users of TikTok have a positive reaction to promoted content and relationships with influencers. They respond less to advertising that is in your face. If you must utilize advertising, make it appear as if it were part of the environment.

Instagram’s audience

Instagram is very popular not only among Millennials but also among Generation Z users. The following categories can be used to describe the audience:

On Instagram, the gender ratio is more balanced, with female users making up 48.4% of the user base and male users making up 51.6. Despite a prohibition, India had the highest number of Instagram users with 230.25 million, followed by the United States with 159.75 million and Brazil with 59.25 million.

Instagram users are responsive to advertisements, albeit to a lesser extent than TikTokers. They have a greater interest in things that are marketed toward millennials who are a little bit older and of both sexes, such as:

• More expensive jewelry

• Info products for professionals and company owners

• Home furnishings and apparel

• Moderately priced artwork and e-commerce products for the home

• E-commerce products with a premium price point, such as cosmetics and health products

The audience on Instagram is receptive to advertisements and relationships with influencers. Your own work has a lower chance of being viewed by other users of the platform, despite the fact that it may still be beneficial.

Content Formats

You may generate material on Instagram in a number of different formats, including: photos; short feed videos; Instagram Reels (which are comparable to TikTok); Instagram Stories; live streaming; and long-form video content on IGTV.

The feed on Instagram is formatted in the same way as that of most other social media networks, with endless scrolling. It is simple to skip from one post to the next without giving any of them your full attention. Reels, which are Instagram’s version of TikTok, and Stories are the types of material that work the best for advertisements.

Users of TikTok have the ability to make and upload vertical videos of any length, up to ten minutes long. That sums it up nicely. To advance to the next video, you swipe up instead of scrolling down the screen. Users are consequently more inclined to pay attention to and watch the entire event as a consequence of this.

Instagram provides you with a wider variety of content formats to choose from. This is wonderful, but on the other hand, it may cause some confusion. Managing advertisements and content across Photos, Reels, and Stories, among other features, is difficult and does not always result in a favorable return on advertising expenditures.

ROAS figures for TikTok are quite enticing… And because there is only one content type, everything is much simpler to comprehend. TikTok marketers will have an easier time optimizing the optimal posting times, content themes, and other aspects of their accounts.

Content Types

The majority of the content that is uploaded to Instagram has been heavily modified using a variety of different filters and effects in order to make it appear more appealing.

There are a lot of people who manage their accounts in such a way that all of their pictures have the same kind of look and feel. When you visit their profile page, it is easy to get a feel of both their sense of style and who they are as a person in a short amount of time.

The majority of the videos that are uploaded to TikTok are low-quality, raw, and unaltered in any way. There are filters that can be used, but most of the time people will just quickly record a video and submit it without doing so. It is more difficult to gain a sense of the person’s overall aesthetic when you look at their profile page.

Both Instagram and TikTok allow users to publish material, but the types of videos that are shared on each platform can vary. When using Instagram, the focus typically shifts away from the actual topic matter to instead center on the aesthetic quality of the content that is being shared.

TikTok places a significant amount of emphasis on the content of the videos that users upload. The creators video themselves participating in various challenges, such as lip syncing, dancing, and other types of performances. The appearance and atmosphere of the videos are important, but not nearly as important as the content that is being shown.

Because of the aforementioned, Instagram is an excellent platform for ads that require careful design. They are designed to blend seamlessly with the natural content of Instagram.

TikTok is the superior option when it comes to influencer collaborations, ads that seem natural, and your own original content.

Advertising

Instagram and TikTok are two platforms that welcome brand advertising on their own sites. Advertisements can be placed on Instagram in the form of photos and videos. The audience that you are trying to reach can see them on the newsfeed, the articles, IGTV, and other places.

TikTok enables marketers to place video advertisements that are up to one minute long. They appear almost exactly the same as genuine TikTok posts and can be seen by the target audience in the spaces between other videos on the platform.

It’s interesting to note that when ads for TikTok and Instagram Reels were pitted against one another, results showed that Reels ads performed significantly better. It had a substantially greater reach, the cost per click was lower, and the cost per thousand impressions was cheaper.

I believe that a portion of this disparity can be attributed to the fact that people do not know how to use TikTok as well as they do Instagram. Both platforms are effective, however Instagram’s Story and Reel advertising perform significantly better than those on the other site. Experiment to determine the best way to utilize both IG and TT to achieve your goals.

Contains Organic Material

TikTok is a more effective platform for reaching a younger audience when it comes to the generation of organic content. Users under the age of 24 make up more than half of all users, and this demographic absolutely adores organic material.

TikTok’s algorithm is designed to recognize and reward individuals who provide a substantial volume of content. Services such as TrendFM can assist you in producing additional material for the platform even if you find it difficult to do so on your own.

The Instagram algorithm encourages users who post fewer pieces of content overall but ensure that each one is of the highest possible quality. On Instagram, a piece of content receives a greater amount of exposure proportional to the amount of engagement it receives.

Instagram is a good choice for you if you want to concentrate more on the quality of your posts rather than the quantity of them. Because of this, it is an excellent option for B2B firms, busy marketers, and other similar businesses.

Partnerships with Influencers

If you want to work with influencers, you should be familiar with the distinctions between influencer marketing on Instagram and influencer marketing on TikTok.

As was mentioned previously, the content seen on Instagram is typically of a higher quality than that found on TikTok. If the style of your brand is extremely refined, Instagram is perhaps the social media platform that will work best for you.

Consider using TikTok if you are interested in sponsored content that is more unfiltered and may be more genuine.

TikTok is an excellent platform for developing brand issues, in particular. You will be able to connect with a large audience if you are able to build a creative and engaging challenge for consumers that is centered on your brand.

A Few Parting Thoughts

Instagram and TikTok each provide businesses with their own one-of-a-kind set of marketing chances. It is essential to have a solid understanding of the distinctions between the two platforms in order to make an educated choice regarding which one would best serve your needs.

• TikTok is better for content that is raw and authentic, whereas Instagram is best for content that has been refined.

• Think about using TikTok if you want to appeal to a younger demographic of viewers.

• Both platforms have the potential to be useful for partnering with influencers, but Instagram may provide you with more refined options to choose from.

Last but not least, don’t forget to test out each platform on your own to determine which one is the most effective for your company. There is no silver bullet answer to the question of which platform is superior.