25 Jan TikTok vs Instagram Reels [INFOGRAPHIC]
Summary
TikTok vs Instagram Reels: Our Study
Everyone active on social media has heard all the buzz about Instagram Reels and the similarity to TikTok, both on a style and exposure perspective. While it is a great feature, there is still a huge distinctiveness about TikTok that no platform can mimic.
In a current study, our agency The Influencer Marketing Factory analyzed 60 profiles that are active on both TikTok and Instagram Reels and compared their overall performance. These 60 profiles all range anywhere from 20,000 to 50 million followers on their social media.
Our results showed that users are definitely excited and capitalizing on the new Instagram feature due to its large audience reach. The total average views on TikTok equaled to 1.19+ million, while Instagram Reels came out to 1.2+ million. We also saw a huge difference in views per number of followers where the results came out to 144% view rate on number of followers for Instagram Reels and 24% for TikTok.
The reach Instagram Reels is able to provide is astounding but it misses the key component that TikTok capitalizes on… community. TikTok is incredibly inclusive and has an array of young users to grandparents on the app. On the app, it can be very easy to feel as though one personally knows the creator after keeping up with their videos, almost like the feeling one has with a pen-pal – the two hardly ever meet but through describing (or in TikTok’s case, showcasing) their life updates, it feels real. This is partially why TikTok has seen so much success. It is one of the few social platforms society has left where the content is authentic, a creator can turn their following into a “family” and there is a certain level of respect on the app that no other has.
For instance, a majority of users on TikTok have absolutely zero shame calling someone out for copying a trend or video from someone else. There is no doubt that some creators take hours to produce their content – it is an art! Hence, the audience notices and takes it very seriously. Whereas an app like Instagram, similarly has a million different users where ideas or original content can be stolen but the chances of being called out are unlikely, which takes away from the original creator. TikTok chases authenticity and for a user to feel like they are watching entertaining, relatable content while Instagram has been deemed the “highlight reel” of social media.
Tiktok vs Instagram Reels infographic
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TikTok vs Instagram Reels: Insights
What is TikTok
#1 App in 2020 with more than 2.5B downloads all over the world. It’s a short-form video app that allows everyone to create funny, entertaining and informative videos across different categories. It is also possible to duet with other creators and to easily use a trendy song as a soundtrack.
What is Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels is one of the latest features offered by Instagram that has many similarities with TikTok. But, as of now, it offers fewer features and tools to its users compared to TikTok.
Network vs Content
Instagram is network-based while TikTok is content-oriented. This means that Instagram users will mostly see content posted by their family, friends and anyone somehow related to people they know; on the other side, TikTok users will see a lot of content from people they don’t know, but based on their interest and on previous videos that they have engaged with.
Views vs Community
Instagram Reels, based on our study, seems to want to boost views for those users that are using this new feature but the same content has fewer likes and comments compared to the same creators that posted on TikTok too, where it seems, looking at the obtained data, that there’s a stronger community that is more engaging, that comments and shares more. Moreover, Instagram Reels doesn’t show the number of Shares (an important metric for creators and brands), while TikTok shows it as a metric.
Analytics
TikTok gives analytical data to its users for each video posted, on the contrary of Instagram Reels that, for now, doesn’t have any analytics for its Reels. TikTok users, thanks to data and insights, can understand which videos are liked the most and on which creative path to move forward, while Instagram Reels users can’t use insights for their creative and marketing decisions.
Which explains why we saw the tables turn when it came down to likes and comments in our results. For TikTok we saw 231,000+ likes and 2,141 average comments, whereas with Instagram Reels we saw 110,000+ likes and 811 comments. On TikTok users are giving complete strangers genuine compliments and advice unlike other social media platforms. This again ties back to the importance of community on TikTok that users just seem to universally understand and abide by.
Of course, there are a few instances where people will clash and bash one another but the mediators on the app do a good job at serving repercussions if they see any inappropriate behavior. Instagram is known to be a platform to scroll on, keep up with friends, family and creatives they personally enjoy seeing content from, so the number of instances of a user on Instagram interacting with someone they do not know is slim to none.
TikTok vs Instagram Reels: Features and Differences
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- TikTok vs Instagram Reels: Our talent @cringecarter on tiktok
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- TikTok vs Instagram Reels: Our talent @cringecarter on Instagram Reels
TikTok is a powerhouse on its own because of all the features and feedback as a creator one has available to them. A creator can pivot into a better direction after just reviewing their latest statistics on the past few videos they’ve uploaded. With the data they have handed to them through the platform, the user can brainstorm stronger video concepts, know-how to best aesthetically appeal and when and how to execute posting their video for mass results. There is currently no way of tracking progress through Instagram Reels, so this leaves the creator with limited options when it comes to the creative thought process. Typically, it is even normal to see someone re-upload their TikTok content straight onto Instagram since they already know it performs well.
TikTok vs Instagram Reels Analytics – source: paladin software
TikTok is also very catered to the user who is not creating videos but consuming content. A scroller’s ‘for you page’ matches interest, current location or region and similar videos to those they already follow. It is rare the instance that one comes across a completely random video. There is still no evidence that Instagram has a similar algorithm where it can tailor the videos that appear on your discover page the same way TikTok does.
Overall, we concluded that Instagram Reels was a strong effort on the Instagram team’s part to keep up with the latest demand in video content. However, there is still room to perfect the feature for both user and creator.