When it comes to video marketing, which platform is better to use – Instagram Reels, or TikTok?

It’s a question that has currently come into play, ever since America announced its short-term ban on TikTok, and Instagram introduced its solution to the problem: Reels.

The first perceptions of the new micro-video platform were that it was a cheap TikTok knock-off. It didn’t seem as developed, or as creative. And why would people use it anyway if TikTok was still up and running?

Well, a few weeks after its grand debut in the UK, it seems that there are a few benefits to the app which people hadn’t before anticipated.

Whilst the similarities between TikTok and Reels are noticeable, there are some striking differences also. And, these differences have a huge impact on how brands and businesses will be able to use video marketing.

So, which one is better?

It’s not a simple question, but continue reading to see the pros and cons of both so you can make your own decision.

The first major difference between TikTok and Reels is that TikTok videos are longer.

Much longer.

TikTok videos can last up to a whole minute, compared to Reels’ videos capping out at a tiny 15 seconds. It seems that Instagram was really putting the ‘micro’ in ‘micro-videos’.

And whilst some may try and argue the benefits of this – Reels videos are more concise, they appeal to some people’s shorter attention spans – you can’t deny that they are limiting.

It can be difficult to try and sell your product, promote your brand, and do a behind the scenes of your company if you only have 15 seconds to do it. Sure, you can split the content into separate video parts. But will your audience really go out of their way to search for all the videos?

TikTok, on the other hand, allows for longer video time. You don’t have to rush to get all your words out, and you can really go into more depth than with Reels.

Meaning, you have more freedom.

Because of this, it seems that TikTok may take the lead when it comes to flexibility and time.

When it comes to Instagram reels, there are lots more ways to share your content.

TikTok videos can only be viewed either on the ‘For You’ page or on your own profile. Meaning that you only have the option for your videos to be seen if someone actively searches for them, or if they happen upon someone’s ‘For You’ page.

And whilst the latter is possible thanks to TikTok’s algorithm, your ability to share and promote your video on Reels is much better.

Thanks to Instagram’s design, they have created a specific ‘Reels’ section on your page.

Meaning, that even if you don’t post any Reels into your main feed, they’ll still be able to be viewed by potential consumers on your page.

What’s more, Instagram is a much more social platform. Because of this, you have the ability to share your videos on your stories and highlights.

This increases the ways people get to see them, and thus the success of your videos.

Even if you’re wanting to get your videos seen by those who aren’t following you, there’s still a way. Much like TikTok’s algorithm, Instagram’s Explore Page can promote your videos too.

So, it seems the ways you can share your Instagram Reels are endless!

What’s probably one of the most persuasive reasons as to why you should stick to TikTok video marketing is because of their Insights feature.

This feature allows you to gain an understanding of how successful your content is based on who views it, likes it, and shares it.

And, it’s this very feature that is so sorely missing from Instagram Reels.

Unless you were to post your Reel to your page’s story or as a main post, you won’t be able to see the statistics for it. And, even if you did, it would be limited to how many people have seen it.

Not very in-depth.

TikTok, on the other hand, provides you with an overall summary for not just all your videos together, but individual ones too. The app allows you to see who specifically is watching your video and from what region – meaning that you can track how successful your video marketing campaign is globally.

What’s more, they also have a very handy tool that shows you how people found your video.

Do you want to know how it is people stumble across your content? Were they already scrolling through your equal parts exciting and informative page? Or were they recommended your content on their ‘For You’ page, thanks to TikTok’s handly algorithm? You get an insight into this and thus can control how and when you promote your videos.

However, what is probably their most useful feature, is the tool that shows your average watch time.

This feature, in essence, undoes the argument about Reels’ shorter video times. Thanks to this insight, you get to know the optimum length of time your videos should be based on how long people are watching them.

Making for perfectly curated video marketing content.

If you’re a brand or company that heavily relies on the usage of influencer marketing, then Instagram is a treasure trove.

According to a survey carried out by MediaKix, 89% of marketers considered Instagram to be “the most strategically important social channel for influencer marketing.”

But what does this mean?

Essentially, if you’re getting a sponsored post or ad from a celebrity or influencer – it best be on Instagram.

Instagram is the number 1 social platform for social media influencers, as it is often the platform where said influencers have the most followers.

Because of this, Reels becomes the perfect accompaniment.

With Reels, you’re more likely to get an influencer to create a micro-video and share it with their platform than you are for them to download TikTok and share it with their smaller amount of followers.

Need the stats to back this up?

According to The Digital Marketing Institute, some of the most popular social media followers are Huda Kattan, Cameron Dallas, and Nash Grier.

Their respective follower ratio, as of October 2020, is as follows:

Huda Kattan – 47.9m followers on Instagram, 2.5m on TikTok

Cameron Dallas – 21.4m followers on Instagram, 17.9m on TikTok

Nash Grier – 10.6m followers on Instagram, 559k on TikTok

Ultimately, if you’re a brand that’s looking to use an influencer for micro-video marketing – Instagram is the platform to do it on.

Again, what is probably one of the biggest hang-ups about Reels is that, unlike TikTok, you don’t have a wide range of music.

That’s right. Given that Instagram is owned by Facebook, and Facebook currently has a different music license to TikTok, the music is different.

Sure, much of the same music that’s available on your Instagram story will be available on Reels. But when we compare that to the millions of sounds on TikTok – it falls short.

As well as this, TikTok is the only platform that allows you to use other people’s sounds and share by sounds.

Are you looking for a specific video, and you know what sound it uses? Just click the bottom right-hand corner and scroll through the videos using this sound. It’s a handy feature that doesn’t appear on Instagram (yet.)

But how does this relate to video marketing?

Well, say that your video marketing campaign sees you wanting to create your own sound to use. You’ll make a sound for all of your videos, a distinct type of music that will become characteristic of your brand. This way, if someone wants to find your videos, they can do so through the individual sound you used.

Sadly, however, this is only a feature available on TikTok.

Instagram doesn’t allow you to recreate the sounds you have created. Meaning, that your desire for all videos in your marketing campaign to remain cohesive will be a little more difficult to achieve.

Everyone uses Instagram. That’s not an exaggeration. It has a monthly user base of 1 billion. So, chances are that your content is going to get seen if you’re posting here.

But what about TikTok? Well, according to Forbes, it’s not got such a diverse audience.

Forbes claims that the Instagram follower breakdown by age is as follows:

13-17: 72%

18-29: 67%

30-49: 47%

TikTok, on the other hand, is predominantly used by people aged 16-24, who make up 42% of the app’s users.

Whilst this may work for your brand if this is your niche, otherwise, it can be somewhat restricting.

A social media platform like Instagram will mean that your video marketing content will be able to be viewed by a wider range of people. For the average brand or company, this is a factor that cannot be overlooked.

It’s clear from this article that there are pros and cons to both TikTok and Reels when it comes to video marketing.

And, whilst Reels certainly does have some benefits, it seems that TikTok is taking the lead… for now.

From it’s rapidly growing userbase, to its more creative feature, TikTok seems to be the better app to launch your video marketing campaigns.

However, that does not mean that Reels won’t surpass it.

We have to remember that Reels is only in its infancy, and, given time, may very easily surpass TikTok and become the next platform on which video marketing thrives.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you’ve probably seen the latest Instagram update: Instagram Shop.

It’s the most recent attempt for Instagram to transition towards eCommerce. 

Following the launching of their product tag feature – which would let brands and businesses tag their products in their posts, and in turn, take the consumer to the company’s website – Instagram has now streamlined their eCommerce features.

But, how do you use it? And is it any good?

If you’re looking to find out more about the new shopping service, keep on reading.

Instagram Shop is the recent update to the Instagram app, which sees users being able to purchase products in-app.

In fact, the shop tab is accessible from the very front page of the explore menu.

The new feature allows users to browse shops based on the accounts they follow and get recommended shops to check out based on their user history.

As well as this users can check out the Editors’ Picks section, where they can see several of the same products all under one category; check out the wish lists and recommended products from influencers and highly followed accounts, and even shop based on sponsored collections.

There’s a lot going on.

As well as this, Instagram has also amped up their tagging and sharing capabilities for the shop.

From your Instagram stories, you’ll be able to tag the products you’re promoting so that they show up at the bottom of your stories.

This way, your viewers can easily click on the products and learn more about them.

But what’s most important about this is how all of these purchases are carried out within the app itself.

Meaning, that Instagram isn’t merely supporting purchasing features.

They’re effectively transitioning themselves into a shopping app.

According to the Instagram and Facebook press release, Instagram is recognising the gaps in the market and is seeking to fulfill it.

As a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic and everyone being stuck in their homes, we’re frequenting physical stores less and less.

And, for Instagram, they wanted to help out with that.

In their press release announcing both the new Instagram and Facebook shopping features, they state that:

“Right now many small businesses are struggling, and with stores closing, more are looking to bring their business online. Our goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a global brand to use our apps to connect with customers.”

In fact, the press release cites their own small business report to further prove their motivations.

Within the report, co-led by Small Business Roundtable, they found that a third of small businesses have closed during the pandemic.

What’s more, this number rose to 50% of businesses if they were self-owned or financed by a personal income.

So, by their own logic, Instagram has very noble intentions when it comes to launching their new shopping feature.

But, how true is this?

Whilst their claims to be championing small businesses during difficult times is certainly admirable, we would be naïve not to consider how Instagram is making money from this.

Thanks to Covid-19 and lockdown, and people being unable to go to their favourite shops as much as they would like, we are all turning to online shopping.

In fact, thanks to panic buying essential goods as well as boredom-induced purchases, the amount of online shopping has increased.

Actually, by a whopping 129%.

So, it makes a lot of sense why Instagram would branch out more concretely into this area of business.

But how exactly are they doing this?

Well, according to their Business Centre, Instagram is taking a chunk out of their featured shops’ profits.

They claim to be taking 5% of the profits per shipment for orders carried out in their store. Or, 40 cents for any shipment that is 8 USD or less.

And, given that Instagram generated 20 billion USD in 2019 from advertising revenue alone, you can certainly understand their motivations for the Shop.

Instagram Shop has the potential to make the company billions in revenue. And, if the trend in online shopping maintains, let alone increases, then their profits could be incredible.

One of the most interesting features within the Instagram Shop is their recommended products for each user.

It works in the same way as the explore page does. Collecting data from your likes, comments, and follows, the algorithm determines what you’d like to see and what you’d like to buy.

Meaning, that each individual user will have a different Instagram Shop to their friends.

And, users don’t have to worry about being recommended products that have nothing to do with them.

By doing this, Instagram is able to remove the friction within the purchasing process.

Instead of having to plow throw hundreds of different products on different websites, these products come to you. Recommendations make it easier for consumers to find the things they love.

In fact, they don’t have to find them at all.

They’re already there!

It’s the latest move in digital marketing which includes artificial intelligence. Using AI services to determine what users want to see before they even know themselves means that users remain constantly entertained, and are more likely to return.

If you’d like to know more about how artificial intelligence in marketing, check out our article here.

So, Instagram is using AI to recommend its users products.

For the majority of users, this won’t be a problem. But some people are very conservative about their privacy. For some, they don’t want apps to be gathering any more of their data than they already do.

So, how is Instagram Shop collecting our data? And, what are they doing with it?

The first thing to know is what Instagram is doing with our payment details.

If you’re shopping in the Instagram Shop, you have the option to pay with either PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover.

So far there is no option to pay with Apple or Google pay, although who knows for the future.

But if we’re paying with our bank cards, is Instagram holding this information?

You’ll be intrigued to know that Instagram doesn’t provide the shops we buy from with our payment information.

They’ll only know the necessary information pertaining to our purchases: that being our address to ship it, and our contact information.

Meaning, that our data is pretty protected. We don’t have to worry about it being given out to every shop we frequent.

What’s more, there’s also an option to protect your privacy when it comes to marketing.

According to Tech Crunch, users will have the option to share their contact information with the stores for marketing purposes.

So if you don’t want to receive any cumbersome emails, no worries!

Now we know how Instagram Shop works, and why it’s been introduced, how great is it actually to use?

On the consumer end, as mentioned earlier, it streamlines their purchasing process.

They can be more easily recommended products, and by keeping it all in-app, they don’t have to go through any unnecessary steps to buy what they want.

As well as this, Instagram Shop also has a lot of benefits for the stores it features too.

Firstly, plenty of the stores that have been featured in the Shop have recorded an increase in revenue.

Speaking to Oberlo, one children’s apparel owner Shari Lott, describes how she’s seen her revenue increase now that she’s selling through Instagram.

She claims that: “When we launched the feature [Instagram Shop], we experienced a 25 percent increase in traffic and an 8 percent increase in revenue attributable to shopping on Instagram.”

What’s more, Instagram also makes the shopping experience more user friendly. Which, in turn, means stores are experiencing higher sales.

Rather than a store posting a picture with a product, and using a call to action which directed users to one singular link in the bio which would direct them to the store, Instagram Shop has it all in one place.

Consequently, stores are experiencing higher conversion rates and lower bounce rates.

After all, people don’t want a complicated shopping experience, do they?

So far, Instagram Shop seems pretty great.

But, not all Instagram users are happy about the changes.

Since the introduction of Instagram Shop, the company has decided to change the layout of the app.

Rather than having the ‘post’ and ‘likes’ buttons in the explore menu, they’ve been moved to the corner along with the ‘messages’ feature.

In place, ‘reels’ and ‘shop’ are now center stage.

It’s a move that has received a lot of backlash.

Many Instagram influencers and creators are voicing their frustrations, claiming that the store is making it more difficult for them to promote their content.

These complaints come amidst years of frustration about the Instagram algorithm already, which has been claimed to suppress content.

What’s more, many average users have also voiced their anger. They feel that the store is prioritising the wrong features of the app.

And, many users are predicting that Instagram will see a dip in users as they move away from what used to be their primary purpose – pictures from their friends and people they follow.

Yet, despite some of the negative reception, there’s no doubt that Instagram is changing the eCommerce game.

There’s no denying that it seems that they’ve monopolised on the long since recognised truth that social media is the perfect partner for marketing.

And, they’ve now decided to take this to the next step and convert their social media platform into an eCommerce store.

It’s interesting to wonder whether or not any of the other major social media apps – Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat – will follow suit.

As many of them did when it came to user’s stories.

The impacts of the Instagram Shop could have the potential for changing the way we shop online.

No longer will brands need to compete for their consumer’s attention with social media.

Now, they can have users shop while being on the app at the same time.

In any way, no matter what the future of eCommerce holds, Instagram has certainly changed the social media game as of now.