As digital enters our lives more and more, the use of social networks, and apps, increases. The networks connect us to a global network of connections around the world, which is only growing day by day. But alongside the significant increase experienced by social media, something has changed in it in recent years. From the world of text and Facebook posts, the use of videos and photos is gaining momentum. Thus, Instagram and Tiktok are leading a change in the way we use the social network, create content and generally communicate with each other.
The networks have undergone a maturation process. Suddenly it is no longer enough to come up with a beautiful and shabby picture that shows how perfect our lives are. Users want to get authentic and original content, without filters, that will make us identify and not feel bad about ourselves. Suddenly one has to think outside the box: how to convey our message in an entertaining, interesting, inspiring and fast way. How fast? Up to 30 seconds on Instagram Reels and up to a minute on Tiktok. Because today is short and we have a lot more content waiting for us.
Since Instagram launched Instagram Rails in Israel in February 2021, many business owners, businesses, content creators and Instagram users have been wondering where to invest their precious energies and time. Some have created a community on Instagram and believe that this is where the target audience is, on the other hand they look at the dizzying success of viral ticketing videos, and are debating whether they should invest their time in cultivating an active ticketing account or whether it is too young and irrelevant for them.
To put this issue in order, and help users and company and business owners decide where to invest their precious time and where to get better results? I made a comparison between the two most popular business promotion apps today.
Lower average ages and “exploding” trends in ticketing or adult audiences looking for teaching content with value and class
Many people think that Tiktuk is an app that belongs mainly to the younger generation, very young even. But this is not accurate. I recently attended a special conference attended by a senior Tiktok representative and asked him a question that intrigued me and many others: What is really the average age of Tiktok users? The answer also surprised me, according to him: “Only 10% of ticketing users in Israel are under the age of 18.” Perhaps one of the reasons for the feeling that the tiktok belongs mainly to children and youth is that they are the ones who respond and create most of the discourse in the app, the noisy minority if you will, while the older ages are present in larger numbers but less audible.
Despite this unexpected statistic, it should be remembered that the average age in Tiktok is still lower compared to Instagram, where the target audience is older, more mature and so is the discourse. So when choosing where to invest your energy, it is important to consider who your target audience is, their age range, what discourse they are looking for, where they spend most of their “social” hours, and accordingly choose where to invest your efforts.
Tic Tac currently allows you to create videos of up to 3 minutes. These days, it is even considering an option to extend their length to up to 10 minutes. Apparently in an attempt to compete with streaming platforms like YouTube and Netflix. Instagram, on the other hand, which until recently allowed uploads of up to 60 seconds in length, has in recent weeks extended the maximum time of the reels to 90 seconds. Instagram wants to be a ticking that is growing at a high pace and in its own league.
There is a significant difference between the content that succeeds on Tiktok, compared to those that succeed on Instagram. At Tiktok we can see more success with trends and funny content. Conversely, if we upload the same content to Instagram Rails, most of our users will probably not understand the joke or what we want from them. Trends “explode” better on Tiktok than on Instagram Reels, because it’s a different language from what Instagram users are familiar with. And if someone addresses you with a sentence in an unfamiliar language, you probably will not understand what he wants smiling and very quickly scroll to the next content.
Despite the image created for Tiktok as a humor and “pan” app, the educational content uploaded to it works better than Instagram. For example, the ones that are uploaded under the hashtag #learnwithtiktok, where you will receive a lot of useful information, from tips that will help you improve the preparation of pasta to recommendations for a correct and accurate reading of your pay slip. The main advantage of Instagram in this category is mainly when it comes to visuals and aesthetic language, which is very much identified with Instagram.
Popularity and growth rate of users:
According to a State of Mobile 2022 report by research firm Data.ai, if in 2019 the average time spent by ticketing users was 7.6 hours per month, by 2020 those numbers had already risen to 13.3 hours and by 2021 they had jumped to 19.6 Unprecedented rate of increase Instagram, on the other hand, recorded a much more solid growth rate, with its users spending in the app in 2019: 9.4 average hours per month, in 2020: 10.3 hours and in 2021: 11.2 hours.
Video editing features:
In the context of editing the videos and the tools with which you can edit videos – Tik Tuk surpasses Instagram Rails. Interest is quite understandable given the fact that the Rails interface is still relatively new. However, it can be seen that Instagram is trying to close the gap, among other things, by “importing” successful features from Tiktok, such as the Sound Sync option, which automatically adjusts the music for Tiktok users throughout the video, which has also entered Instagram in recent weeks. Only for a limited number of users. In addition, Tiktok has many more tools and options for video editing, as it is an app that is based entirely on video editing, unlike Instagram which does both and both.
Data and data analysis:
Tiktok Analytics provides a built-in tool for tracking the performance of each video, engagement and popularity for the creator / business. Instagram today provides businesses and creators with very basic data, however on Tiktok it is possible to get much more advanced data, such as average video viewing time, which can give an indication of when users have left and moved on to the next video. While there are ways and tools today that allow for a more in-depth analysis of the reels data, it would definitely be nice if Instagram would provide us with more metrics, to understand what works and what less and know how to improve our content accordingly.
So what is the sentence? Instagram Rails or Tiktok?
The two platforms grow in all metrics: number of users, usage time and also in the volume of activity of users. This seems to be a trend that will continue in the foreseeable future. On the one hand, ticking is more optimal for some businesses as it is a “blue ocean”, meaning that very few businesses are present in it and there is still almost no competition in it. Most business owners still quarrel over the attention of Instagram users, leaving very high exposure to businesses in Tiktok. Another advantage that Tiktok has is its algorithm, which allows videos to get significant exposure, regardless of the number of your followers. You also have no followers at all and your video can reach tens or hundreds of thousands of views.
On the other hand, Tiktok still does not have enough sales tools compared to Instagram, which provides much better tools for businesses, from the history and the link that can be attached to the stores. In addition, Instagram gives users the option to expose the reel videos to Facebook users as well and increase their exposure. When today’s videos get organic exposure that is 20% higher compared to a “regular” post on Instagram. However, the ticking feed gives businesses the ability to add commercials between the various videos, an option that is really in its infancy on Instagram.
Despite the growth and many benefits of tiktok, Instagram is not a platform that can be given up, because it has a larger and more mature target audience. What can be done is to take advantage of the lack of competition in Tiktok, enjoy the high exposure and even increase your followers on Instagram and thus you can earn twice as much.
There is no doubt that both platforms have tremendous economic potential and excellent opportunities for small, medium and large business owners.
When businesses approach choosing between Instagram and Tiktok, first and foremost they need to consider which platform gives a better response to your target audience. You need to understand him, build his persona and characteristics, understand where he is and spend most of his free time and choose accordingly.
Also, ask yourself if Instagram has proven itself in the past and brought you new leads? If the answer to this question is no, there are 2 options: either you miss something and do something wrong in terms of managing the content you upload. Or maybe your field is so competitive and flooded with Instagram, that perhaps just beyond ticking can provide you with a noticeable and significant competitive advantage in a relatively new app, that many business owners are still sitting on the fence about and do not enter the arena.
I would also take into account the amount of time you have to spend on social platforms, is it right for you to jump into the next trend and open a new user in Tiktok? Do you have time to be present there. Because it’s not enough to upload a “once in a while” video and expect success. Need consistency and gain a following audience.
An unequivocal and uniform answer for everyone, can not be given, because it very much depends on you and your business, what you can do is with the help of quite a few professionals, who are in the market today, who have accumulated skills and experience in social networking, and who monitor and analyze the data That they can provide you with a professional perspective that you never thought possible.
Dana Gilboa is a lecturer and facilitator of workshops in the worlds of social and organic promotion for organizations, companies and businesses.