TikTok It has become one of the favorite networks of marketers. But with the appearance and consolidation of Instagram Reels, many wonder which of these two platforms is better. TikTok leads the way in vertical short videos, but Reels has the advantage of being part of a well-established social network with many more features.
To help you with this dilemma, we have compiled the most important differences between TikTok and Instagram Reels and what both can bring to your strategy. So if you too have this dilemma, don’t miss this article!
TikTok vs Instagram Reels: users and usage habits
To start with, we are going to look at some key differences between the number and profile of users and usage habits of TikTok and Instagram Reels.
Instagram has more monthly active users than TikTok
According to the latest data, Instagram has 1.478 million monthly active users. In addition, the trend is for growth, although not as fast as a few years ago.
With these figures, Instagram joins the select club of social media platforms that have surpassed 1 billion users, along with Facebook and YouTube.
But it is that TikTok has also jumped on this ship of 1 billion active users per month as seen in the graph of Statesmanwith data from January 2022. Although this figure is lower than that of Instagram, the fact is that it has become one of the giants of social networks, surpassing well-established platforms such as Pinterest, Twitter and Snapchat.
One of the most shocking facts about TikTok is that it has reached this figure in less than 3 years, while it took Instagram 6 and Facebook more than 4.
Globally, Instagram is the fourth most used social network and TikTok is the sixth, surpassing Messenger.
Also note that TikTok’s figures do not include the Chinese version of the app, Douyin, which has 600 million daily active users. This would make it have 1.6 billion active users per month, surpassing Instagram.
TikTok is the app with the most downloads worldwide
A relevant figure to know the impact of a platform is the total number of times it has been downloaded. This also puts us on the track of the trends: For example, users are downloading less Twitter and more Facebook.
As of May 2022, the TikTok app is the most downloaded app globally. Although if we look by device type, Instagram is the most installed on Android and TikTok on iPhones.
In short, both social networks have a great impact. TikTok is the winner in the number of total downloads, but Instagram is the one with the most active users today (for now).
TikTok has a higher percentage of female users
Demographics are an important element when choosing the most suitable social media platforms for your brand, and here are some important differences between TikTok and Instagram.
Instagram has a very balanced profile between genders, with 50.8% women and 49.2% men. However, on TikTok women predominate: In the United States, there are two TikTok users for every user.
TikTok has younger users
Both TikTok and Instagram are more popular with users under the age of 35, but there are some interesting differences.
According to 2019 data, 71% of Instagram’s monthly active users are under 35 years old. The most popular age group is 25 to 34 years old, followed by 18 to 24.
Instead, TikTok is even more focused on the young audience, and many creators target audiences under the age of 18. According to 2020 data, 62% of the TikTok audience is under the age of 30.
Users spend more time on TikTok than on Instagram
The more time users spend on a social network, the more likely they are to be exposed to your content, so this figure is very important to get an idea of the possible impact of your brand.
As of 2020, Instagram users spent an average of 29 minutes on the platform, and the trend appears to be downward. In contrast, the average user spent 52 minutes on TikTok, both watching other users’ videos and uploading their own.
Therefore, although the figures of global Instagram users are higher, TikTok is the clear winner in terms of dwell time.
TikTok vs Instagram Reels: Content and Features
Now, let’s look at some key differences between the types of content and features offered by both networks.
Duration of the videos
TikTok and Instagram Reels focus on short videos, but the maximum length allowed varies between the two networks.
With TikTok, you can record a video of up to 60 seconds directly in the app or upload a pre-made video of up to 10 minutes.
With Instagram Reels, the duration is limited to 60 seconds in both cases, but keep in mind that Instagram offers other video formats.
In both cases, the trend has been to lengthen the maximum duration allowed from the original 15 seconds.
Variety of content
TikTok is in focus only to short videos, although this is changing. This makes it a great option if you are very clear that you want to focus on this format, since its impact on this type of content in particular is very great.
Instead, Instagram Reels is part of Instagram, which has other formats and functionalities. Therefore, if you want to include short videos in your content mix but without giving them all the prominence, Instagram Reels may be your best option.
ecommerce features
Until relatively recently, Instagram had a clear advantage in this regard, as it has many social commerce-specific features such as in-app purchases or Instagram Stories. It also has an advertising platform with many format and targeting options, which it shares with Facebook.
However, TikTok is quickly catching up. Last year it held the first edition of the TikTok World Business Showcase to present its new business tools.
Thanks to its collaboration with Shopify, TikTok allows you to create a “Purchases” tab in TikTok Business accounts, although this functionality is not yet available in all countries. It also has product links in videos, live commerce, and different ad formats and objectives.
photo captions
Captions are an important element in Instagram Reels as they feature prominently within the app and many users take full advantage of them to provide context and additional information.
In TikTok, on the other hand, the caption is smaller and hidden in the bottom left of the screen. Also, it is limited to 150 characters.
sharing options
Both Instagram Reels and TikTok offer a variety of options to share your videos easily, through direct messages, text or on other social networks.
However, there is an important limitation that we have to take into account, and that is that TikTok adds a watermark in videos posted on your app. If you download the video later to share it on another site, it will appear with this watermark. In contrast, Instagram Reels does not include watermarks on your videos.
However, this does not have to be a limiting factor, as there is a fairly simple way to be able to share TikTok videos without a watermark: create the video directly on your phone and share that version instead of downloading it from TikTok.
In conclusion…
Both Instagram Reels and Tiktok are platforms with great reach and a great place to share your videos. We cannot say that one is better than another, so the choice will depend on the specific situation of your brand.
Instagram has a larger and more diverse audience, with a well-established culture of influencer marketing and posts with shoppable links. It can be an ideal platform for sectors such as travel, health and wellness, cosmetics, and fashion.
Instead, TikTok It is the social network that is triumphing among the youngest audience and is in full growth, which is why it offers many interesting possibilities for brands that know how to take advantage of their creative possibilities. Being a relatively new network, it is less saturated with marketing content, which can also be an advantage. Of course, it is possible that your users do not respond well to the typical influencer posts that do work on Instagram.
If you still can’t decide, think about whether you might be interested in experimenting with both for a while, measuring the results and sticking with the one that works best for you. And whichever you choose, remember that the most important thing is to design a plan that is aligned with your digital marketing goals.
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