Mon, Nov 23, 2020
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The TikTok vs Instagram Reels buzz has taken the social media world by storm. Tik-Tok, which was dominating the Gen Z and Millennials’ social media sphere for a while now, was recently challenged by Instagram with the introduction of Reels. Both Reels and TikTok feature short-form video content that has swept all across the internet. Creators and brands are now comparing the utility of these platforms to best fit their interests.
TikTok or Instagram Reels
This article evaluates TikTok and Instagram Reels in-depth to help users understand the difference and make well-informed decisions about their social media strategies.
TikTok is an app that lets users create and share short videos of maximum one-minute time length. It comes with dedicated tools to edit, incorporate music, and apply filters to videos. It offers features like Duet, where users can create a video featuring another video alongside it. Its React feature allows users to create reaction videos with self-recording. Through these features, the app creates a low barrier entry point for creators, making it a popular video platform. Moreover, it allows audiences to watch videos without installing the app. Hence, encouraging user interactions.
Instagram Reels are simple video creation options that allow users to create short videos of 30 seconds. Reels offers a variety of tools, filters, and licensed music to users to create and edit videos. Unlike stories on Instagram, Reels stay forever. Users can find reels on the explore tab of their accounts. It shows them the reels of the accounts they follow and other trending or featured reels which are selected by the Instagram algorithm to help users get personalized content.
TikTok is a dedicated app for short-form video content. TikTok videos are less filtered showcasing real people, real scenarios. It’s less polished content and authenticity makes it a popular app among young audiences. The interesting thing about TikTok is that its algorithm surfaces strangers’ content first to users’ feed. It does not require any signup or information about users’ interests. It just shows them popular content and lets AI generate a personalized feed for users by observing their interests. There is constant stimulation for users. An enormous pool of content is directed at them from all the directions at all times to keep them engaged.
On the other hand, Reels are an additional feature on Instagram along with other visual content formats. They serve as a bridge between Instagram’s Stories and IGTV formats. Stories are behind-the-scenes personal content while IGTV is professional series-based video content. Reels fill the gap between the personal and professional by embedding the personality as well as the brand within the short 30-seconds video clips. Thus, offering a better way to connect with audiences. Though Reels algorithm is not as wild as TikTok, it focuses on enhancing engagement through its trending, popular, and featured sections to hook up the audience. Since brands are already present on Instagram, it is an added advantage for Reels to gain users and popularity.
TikTok, with its easy interface and addictive algorithm, popularized short-form video content globally. The app gained 800 million active users and became the most downloaded app on Apple’s app store. It mostly features comedy, dance, lip-syncs, and other educational and entertainment content. The best part about TikTok is that any video can go viral on it. Unlike Instagram, one’s follower base and profile strength have little role to play in the virality of a video on TikTok. Its target audience is the next-gen, which favours original and less curated content. The trending hashtags, challenges, and easy formats of TikTok provide extensive reasons for users to create videos.
Moreover, the platform has its dedicated creator marketplace that connects brands with creators for influencer marketing campaigns. It acts as an agent for creatives, assisting, and managing campaigns with real performance data evaluation. TikTok also has in-feed ads and offers various other options to brands to maximize their reach among the young audience.
Instagram is an established platform with a notable userbase. Many brands are already using Stories and IGTV to connect with their target audience. And Reels are an added feature to enhance engagements. With its broader demographic userbase, Instagram is good for brands to target a larger audience. Moreover, Instagram has dedicated spaces for all of its different content formats. With features like Shopping and Product tagging, Instagram is turning itself into a giant eCommerce engine. Thus, helping brands promote all their products and services under one roof.
The recent ban on TikTok in India, the US, and some other countries due to security and miscellaneous reasons further made Instagram Reels a good alternative. Following this, a lot of other platforms like Clash, Mitron, Roposo, Dubsmash, etc. are playing along the same lines with the short-form video content. However, there is still a long way to go for them to gain the substantial popularity that TikTok and Instagram has.
Long story short, both TikTok and Instagram Reels offer the same service but works differently. While TikTok is good for engaging a younger audience, Instagram Reels are better for enhancing brand awareness and trust. To get the maximum benefits, one should do both. Content on both these platforms is somewhat similar. The difference lies in audience demographics. By being active on both these platforms, creators and brands can gain much better results.
Social media is a fickle world. So, putting all your eggs in one basket is not a good idea. No matter how popular an app or a platform is, it is always prone to risks that can result in damage to your online presence, as happened in the case of TikTok. To avoid this, one should build a comprehensive social media strategy that encompasses different social media platforms. It will help target a wide audience and generate maximum return on investment.
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