TikTok Vs Instagram for Business: How to Choose the Right Platform for Marketing?

In social media marketing, choosing the best platform for your business can make a big difference in how successful you are. TikTok and Instagram are two popular apps for businesses to reach their customers. They both have different features that can help businesses connect with their audience.

TikTok has more than 1.6 billion people using it every month, and Instagram has 2 billion people using it every month. TikTok users watch a lot of videos, about 197.8 million hours every day. On Instagram, users watch about 17.6 million hours of videos daily.

Choosing the correct platform can greatly affect how successful your marketing is. In this post, we will look at the features of TikTok vs Instagram for businesses. This will help you decide which platform is best for your social media marketing.

How TikTok vs Instagram Differ From Each Other?

TikTok launched in 2016 and is the fifth most popular social media platform. It’s all about short videos. On TikTok, people can make and post videos that range from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. The platform has music, filters, and editing tools to make cool videos.

TikTok uses a computer program to show users videos that match their interests and what they’ve watched before. On the other hand, Instagram has become more than just a place to share photos. It now has lots of different types of media. Right now, it’s the fourth most popular social media platform.

Instagram gives creators a complete set of tools for making short and long videos and photos. The platform shows a specialized feed, so users can follow certain accounts and find content they like. Let’s see what both these social media platforms can do for your business.

Also Read: 9 Effective Social Media Analytics Tools For Data-Driven Marketing Success

1. Platform Reach and Demographics

It’s important to know who uses each platform so you can reach and connect with more people. Here is some information about the people who use TikTok and Instagram:

Age: Most of the people on TikTok are between 18 and 24 years old. They make up more than half of the users on the app. People between the ages of 25 and 34 are also active on the platform. Instagram is used by a lot of people of different ages, with 61.8% of users being between 18 and 34 years old. However, there are also many older people using the platform.

Geography: TikTok is popular all over the world, especially in Asia, North America, Africa, and Europe. Instagram also has many users from all over the world. The number of people using each platform varies in different places, depending on how easy it is to access the internet and how much it costs.

User Interests: Short videos are popular, especially challenges, dances, skits, and storytelling. Being funny and creative works well on the platform. People on Instagram like to see and learn about new things like travel, lifestyle tips, and what famous people are doing. Content that gives information, shows how a product works, and looks good is popular.

Knowing who the people are that use each platform can help you understand:

• Focus on finding the people who are most likely to be interested in what your business offers
• Adapt your content to match what the platform is good at, like making short and interesting videos with popular music on TikTok
• Think about how different areas may have different preferences, and consider what your target audience likes

2. User Engagement and Platform Algorithms

An algorithm is a set of steps that decides what shows up on your timeline. Both TikTok and Instagram use advanced algorithms to choose what to show each person. The TikTok algorithm pays more attention to how users behave.

It looks at how much time people spend watching, if they finish the video, how many times it’s shared, saved, favorited, and liked to figure out what shows up on each person’s page.

Videos that get a lot of likes, shares, and comments at the beginning are seen by more people.

In addition to how users act, the algorithm also looks at hashtags, captions, sounds, and video effects. By using popular elements and making your content easy to find, you can make more people see your TikTok videos.

For instance, if you make an interesting video with a popular song, more people will probably see it. The language you use on TikTok can affect the videos that are recommended to you, but it’s not as important as other factors.

TikTok’s algorithm puts the most importance on fun and interesting videos that make people want to keep watching. It’s not surprising that the typical TikTok user spends more time on the app every day than on any other platform.

Social Media Platforms	Average Time Spent Each Day (in Minutes)
Snapchat	21
X (Twitter)	29
Facebook	49
Instagram	51
YouTube	74
TikTok	95

This is a good opportunity for people who are creators. Even if you just started, you can get a lot of attention if you make really good videos that people like. Use professional video tools like WeVideo to make your videos better.

Instagram looks at things like likes, comments, saves, and previous interactions to decide what to show in people’s feeds. It also looks at how well your post is reaching people and how much they are interacting with it.

Users like photos and videos that look good and captions are engaging. They also want to be able to interact with the content. Newer posts have a better chance of showing up on people’s feeds than old ones. That’s why a lot of content marketers recommend posting once a day on Instagram.

Instagram shows things that it thinks users will like based on what they have looked at and interacted with before on the Explore page. It can be harder for new people to get noticed on Instagram than on TikTok. However, using photo editing and collage apps can make your content look better and reach more people.

3. Content Formats

Short, interesting videos that could become very popular are successful on TikTok. But, if you want to use brand stories, show products, and build a loyal community in your marketing, Instagram has more tools to help. The kinds of videos people like on TikTok and Instagram are very different, as you can see in the table.

TikTok	Instagram
Using popular sounds, challenges, and dances helps people find and interact with your content more.	Using really nice pictures and videos that look good is really important in getting people’s attention.
Users want to be quickly entertained, informed, or inspired.	You can use captions and techniques to tell a story and connect with people who are watching.
Authenticity, humor, and being creative in a natural way often connect well with people on TikTok.	Using really nice videos and photos with filters and hashtags is really important for growing your followers.
The content is mostly short videos that are 15 seconds to 10 minutes long, including TikTok Live, Stories, and pictures.	Content is a mix of pictures, videos, Instagram Reels, carousels, temporary Stories, featured Stories, and IG Live.

The best way to present your information depends on what you want to achieve. You need to change the way you create content for each website so that more people see it and interact with it.

You can use apps like Videoleap to change your TikTok videos for Instagram and your Instagram videos for TikTok. This will help you make content that matches the style and audience of each platform.

4. Marketing Features for Content Creators

Both TikTok and Instagram have strong tools to help advertisers and people who make videos. TikTok features to help you get more popular include:

• A big collection of sound clips, songs, and effects that you can use in your videos to be more creative and follow popular trends
• Duet and stitch features let you work with other creators. You can split the screen to make a duet with someone or put someone else’s video into your own by stitching
• The For You page algorithm shows content that each user likes, helping it get more views and shares
• A self-service advertising platform that has different types of ads like in-feed ads, branded filters, and hashtag challenges. It helps businesses connect with their desired customers and get them interested in their products or services
• Encourage people to make and share posts about your products or brand using sponsored hashtag challenges

Features on Instagram for people who sell things and make content include:

• Instagram allows you to post temporary content like pictures, videos, text, polls, and quizzes on your Stories
• Instagram Reels are like TikTok, where you can make short videos with music
• You can pay for Instagram Ads to show photos, videos, and multiple images to specific groups of people. This can help you reach your marketing goals

Both platforms have tools to analyze data. Instagram gives detailed information about your followers like their age, gender, and location, as well as how many people saw your posts and engaged with them. TikTok analytics concentrate more on how many people watched and liked your videos, shared them, and how many new followers you gained.

5. Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing on TikTok is when brands work with popular creators on the app, who have lots of followers, to promote their products. These popular people make interesting short videos that their fans can relate to, and they also include ads in their videos. 

• Companies work with popular users on TikTok to advertise their products in a way that fits in with the app’s style
• Influencers use their creativity and influence to promote a brand’s products to their followers through sponsored challenges, product reviews, and working together on projects. This helps the brand to get more attention and interaction from people
• Influencers put brand ads in their videos in a way that feels real and genuine
• Influencers use their ideas and popularity to make their followers aware of and interested in the brand’s products

Influencer marketing on Instagram happens when brands team up with influencers who have lots of followers. These popular people make videos and posts that match their own style and what their followers like, and they also include products from other companies. 

• Influencers use sponsored posts, stories, IGTV videos, and other types of content to show their followers the brand’s products in a genuine and interesting way
• Instagram’s pictures help people show off products in everyday life, which helps share the brand’s message with their followers
• Influencers make ads that promote brands’ products and connect with their followers
• Influencers use their connection with people to make more people aware and interested in a brand’s products
• Companies keep an eye on how well their advertising is doing by looking at things like how many people are interacting with it, how many people are seeing it, and how many people are buying their product

Influencer marketing works well on both platforms. On TikTok, influencer partnerships are more natural and focused on challenges. On Instagram, users often create sponsored content with a label showing it’s a paid partnership. You can team up with influencers on TikTok and Instagram to help sell your products to fans and grow your following on these platforms.

6. Social Commerce Features

Social commerce is getting bigger and is expected to make $200 billion a year in the US in 2024. Both TikTok and Instagram have special features to help people buy things and have a good time shopping.

Creators on TikTok and Instagram can put links in their profile that lead people to online stores where they can buy things. They also give:

Branded hashtag challenges: You can use your products and encourage customers to share pictures and videos of them using the products. This helps to make more people aware of your brand.

Influencer marketing: It means working with popular people on social media to make videos that promote and talk about your products in a natural way.

Live shopping: It means you can show products in a live video, answer questions from customers right away, and encourage people to buy things quickly.

Right now, Instagram is really good at making posts and stories that you can shop from. You can add products to your posts and Stories so that people can easily buy them while using the app.

TikTok also has a place called TikTok Shop where you can buy things. You can make a special online store on your profile. You can display all your products with descriptions and ways to buy them.

Instagram’s features might be better for social commerce. The platform has better features that can help make people buy things right away and within the app. However, TikTok is really good at starting popular trends and getting people excited, and this can help more people know about a brand and eventually buy their products.

7. Challenges

TikTok and Instagram are great places for people and companies to promote their stuff. They also have different challenges that need to be handled well to get the best results from each platform. Some of those issues are:

• Nowadays, it’s hard to make your content really popular because so many people are sharing their own content every day
• TikTok has rules about what content people can post, so creators have to change how they make their videos
• Instagram looks at how people are using the app to decide what to show them, so it’s hard for new accounts with only a few followers to get noticed
• Staying up to date with Instagram’s always changing rules is hard and needs us to keep making changes to the content we post
• Both platforms have rules about how long a video can be, and creators have to make sure their message fits within those rules
• Both focus on entertainment, which may limit some brands and creators if the idea of fun doesn’t match their brand

Even though there are some restrictions, both platforms allow you to make money by offering ways such as:

Partnering with brands: You can work together with companies to create content or feature their products in exchange for payment.

Affiliate marketing: It is when you can advertise products from other companies and make money when people buy them using your affiliate link.

Sell services or products: Send people to your website to buy things or promote your services with interesting posts and live videos.

Think about how much time and effort you can put into making content, the type of message you want to convey, and the people you want to reach. Then choose the platform that will help you the most.

Also Read: How To Spy on Competitors And Improve Your Social Media Strategy

Factors to Check While Choosing One for Your Business

After looking at what TikTok and Instagram can do and what they’re good and not-so-good at, you need to think about which one fits best with what you want to do. When choosing the right platform for your business goals, think about these factors to make sure they match up with what you want to achieve.

Brand Awareness: Find out which platform helps more people see and recognize the brand. TikTok’s system for finding popular videos can quickly make a brand more well-known by sharing viral content.

Creativity: Decide which platform is best for your brand’s content and creative goals. Use the various tools provided by both these platforms and find out which gives the results you had originally imagined in your mind.

Building a Community: Find out which platform helps people interact more with the people you want to reach. You can use Instagram’s comments, direct messages, and tagging to connect with your followers in a better way. TikTok’s duets, challenges, and trends make users want to join in and connect with others, creating a community around your brand.

Conversions: Measure which platform helps to sell more of your products or services. Instagram has tools like product tags and a “Shop” tab to help people find and buy things on the app. TikTok also lets you create a store to sell your products. However, because TikTok is banned in places like India, if your main audience is there, TikTok Shop might not be right for your brand.

Brand Authenticity: Think about which platform can show the real identity of your brand. Instagram focuses on carefully selected content and visually pleasing images, which may be good for brands that want to look more professional. On the other hand, TikTok focuses on everyday experiences, which can help you relate to people on a deeper level.

Analysis: Look at each platform’s ability to track and measure how well your marketing is working. Both Instagram and TikTok provide information about how many people see and interact with posts, as well as the characteristics of the audience. Determine which platform gives you the information you need to make your marketing plans better.

Competition: Look at the competition on every platform in your industry. Check how many other companies are doing the same thing, how much people are talking about it, and how much people are interested in it. This will help you see how much the platform can help you reach your goals.

Resources: Think about what you have available to make content, manage it, and advertise on each platform. Assess how much time, money, and people are needed to keep showing up regularly and get the results you want.

Be willing to try new things and make changes based on how well they work and what the audience thinks. Try out different ways of sharing content, like the types of content and where you share it, to make your approach better over time and keep up with changing trends and what people like.

Many popular brands use both TikTok and Instagram for advertising on social media. You can use TikTok to create excitement and use Instagram to build stronger relationships with your audience and sell products. You can also use TikTok for sharing user-generated content and reviews of products, and Instagram to display products and promotions.

TikTok Vs Instagram: Which Platform Should You Choose?

On TikTok, you can try popular trends and be creative with short videos. On Instagram, you can tell stories with pictures and see lots of different types of content. Both websites let you share photos and videos to connect with your audience, make people aware of your brand, and get good outcomes.

Choose the platform that fits your goals, who you want to reach, and the kind of content you like. Maybe you will do well on one platform, or using both might be good for your brand.

If you are going to use both, learn the strengths of each platform and leverage them accordingly.

Wrapping Up

Both TikTok and Instagram are good for businesses wanting to improve their social media presence and connect with their desired audience. When you decide which platform is best for your business, think about who your customers are, what type of content you use, your marketing goals, and the image of your brand.

By knowing what each platform is good at and how it can help your business, you can make a wise decision that matches your goals and makes your social media marketing better. It’s important to choose the platform that fits your goals.

Deciding which social media platform to use, like TikTok or Instagram, can affect how successful you are at marketing. If you want your posts to go viral, TikTok might be better. But if you want to tell stories with pictures, Instagram could be the right choice.

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