The battle of the socials has been going since as early as 1997, and being on social media platforms as a business seems to be an absolute must nowadays. Marketing efforts now swing greatly towards online tools, with almost 75% of businesses allocating most of their marketing budgets to online media. But with so many platforms to choose between, it can be tricky to decide which is best for your business. Let’s look at two of the most current platforms; Instagram vs TikTok. Since you can now actually link these two platforms together, what’s the difference between them? And how can each one be used for marketing your business effectively?

Video Marketing

It’s no secret that video marketing is on the rise. Once TikTok launched in 2016, it seemed every platform was racing to catch up. Videos now take priority in SEO searches on social media and marketplaces such as Amazon, so getting on board with video marketing is essential to building your online presence. They can be used to show your product in traditional advertising styles, to show some behind-the-scenes content (which customers love to see), and more importantly, videos give you a chance to show your personality. Customers love seeing the faces behind a brand so they know you are indeed human.

Instagram vs TikTok

1. Video length

TikTok is entirely video-based content. Sometimes users upload images but essentially they’re still used in a format that creates a video. Video length can be between 3 seconds and 30 minutes long. Whilst the length of your video should make sense with your message, generally speaking, short and sweet videos are usually more successful. Why? User attention spans are fleeting! They can quickly swipe away if your video doesn’t grab their attention in the first 5 seconds, so the less they have to watch the more likely you’ll get your whole message across. In-feed video ads can be between 5-60 seconds, but TikTok recommends 21-34 seconds for advertising on their platform.

@jackanapes.shop

THANK YOU cheeseandchillifestival !!!! We’ve had the best weekend 🧀🌶️. Our feet hurt and mouths are on fire 🔥 but we had a blast. Our first food fest as the Jackanapes gang 🤘 #foodfestivals2024 #foodielovers #chillichallenge #chillilovers #cheeseandchilli

♬ Me myself and I sped up - Stan 🙂

15% of all posts on Instagram are now videos and 79% of video marketers include Instagram in their video marketing strategy. Instagram stories launched in 2016, directly competing with TikTok, but as TikTok flew into the stratosphere, Instagram created Reels a few years later in 2020. As they have a few different types of videos you can post, video length is slightly more complicated. Overall, they can be up to 60 minutes long (live videos excluded), but here’s the breakdown.

Video posts: Up to 60 minutes

Stories: Up to 60 seconds

Reels: Up to 90 seconds

Important tip: Although these are the maximum lengths, this doesn’t mean they are the recommended ones. Users can view a 60-second preview in their feed, so generally, videos shorter than that are more successful.

2. Live videos

Both TikTok and Instagram allow live videos. It’s a great chance to connect with your followers in real-time. You might use it to show a particular process, product or event, a bit like old-school shopping channels, or you might use live videos to run a competition, host a QnA, or conduct an interview.

TikTok Live videos can be up to 60 minutes long, though TikTok recommends 30 minutes would be a better time due to viewer attention spans. Instagram Live videos on the other hand can be up to 4 hours! A little extensive in our opinion…but if you were hosting a live auction, for example, this could work.

3. Target markets

The target markets of Instagram and TikTok are ever so slightly different. They have very similar ages of users, with the majority between 18-34, but TikTok tends to attract a younger age group. 25% of US TikTok users are aged between 10 and 19 and 1 in 4 TikTok users are under 20. If you’re aiming for a younger target market, TikTok may be the better choice for your business.

4. Photos

Although you can post photos on TikTok, even those have to be formatted in a video style, as that is TikTok’s USP. Instagram allows you to post images on their own which can be hugely beneficial for advertising your business or products. Instagram began as an image-based platform, so that is what users come to expect. Images can also often be quicker to compile or create than a video, especially as many businesses tend to have images already on file.

Top tip: High-quality images are recommended as they look more professional and are more visually appealing on your social media profile pages.

5. Profile pages

At first glance, Instagram and TikTok profile pages are very similar. The top of the page has a main image that could be your logo or product, your social handle and the option for an external link, along with a screenshot preview of all your posts.

Whilst both are seemingly similar, where Instagram also allows you to post images, this means you can make your profile grid more cohesive and pleasing to the eye. You can get creative with how you post, following a particular aesthetic or perhaps posting 6 images as independent posts to make one large one on your profile feed, like below.

This control over the visual aspect of the feed gives you a little more to play with in terms of brand identity.

6. External links

As mentioned above, both Instagram and TikTok allow you to add an external link to your business profile pages. Definitely take advantage of this. Should a viewer end up on your profile page, it needs to be as easy as possible for them to get through to your website to potentially make a sale.

7. TikTok Shop

TikTok Shop launched in 2022, and has really started coming into its own recently. Online marketplaces are stiff competition and they didn’t want to get left behind. If you can sell your product through TikTok shop and it’s the right target market for you, it’s a great way to make some quick sales. Customers want as little faff as possible, so the easier you can make their shopping journey, the better.

One thing to note – since TikTok Shop started taking off, the algorithms have started discouraging links to making sales through other sites such as Amazon and Shopify. Every man for himself I guess! Another reason to give it a go.

Currently, Instagram doesn’t have a specific marketplace for brands to use. They are apparently testing at the moment, though nothing has been implemented as of yet.

8. Insights

Of course, there’s no point in posting all these things if you can’t see the impact they have. Luckily, both platforms have an Insights tab.

On Instagram, you can see how each post has performed over a selected period, allowing you to compare insights with ease. It can give you a basic overview or a breakdown of each post you’ve done, including reach, engagement and activity on your profile. It’s pretty basic and easy to use, and quite frankly we don’t think you’d need more than that.

TikTok insights are slightly harder to find. They seem to have buried them in ‘Settings and Privacy’, labelling them as analytics. Once you do get into them, it has very similar offerings to Instagram, showing you top-performing posts, view counts and follower details.

Any insights can be handy in helping you plan your marketing strategy. It’s just important to remember that social media is very unpredictable, and what worked one day may not work on another.

9. Following trends

As Instagram and TikTok are such popular social media platforms, using them can help you keep on top of any trends. This allows you to stay current and tailor your marketing to what’s trending. This will boost your chance of visibility on your posts and shows that you are engaging with your community.

10. Advertising

A huge benefit of both platforms is the advertising opportunities. Ads on Instagram reach 96.6% of users. This is the only element of the platforms that you would be investing some budget in, but if you want to ensure your content is seen by the right people, Instagram and TikTok advertising can be very useful.

The best part is the precise targeting and actionable insights that you can gain from advertising on either platform. You can tailor your ads to certain age groups, demographics and interests, allowing you to hit specific target markets. This could help with brand visibility, building a community or making sales. It all depends on your advertising goal. You can either create a specific ad or easily boost a single post that you’ve already created, which can often be more financially viable, certainly for those with smaller budgets. Each platform also has an Ads Manager for you to track, create and adjust your campaigns.

Costs of advertising depend on your budget, duration and objectives of your campaign. You can set a daily or lifetime budget, with a maximum bid set for each day. You can set this yourself or let the social platforms optimise it for you. How well it performs can depend on the audience you’re targeting, the competitiveness of your industry and the time of year.

It can take a bit of trial and error before you find what works for you, so we’d recommend starting with a lower maximum bid if you’re just starting out.

Instagram vs TikTok – which should you use?

So which one is better to use? Well, there is no clear winner really. Each one has its own benefits, so it’s time for you to weigh up how each one marries with your business goals. Let the battle commence!