Instagram Reels vs TikTok: Which Is Better For Your Brand?

One of the most popular social media channels among marketers is TikTok. Many people, meanwhile, are unsure of which site is preferable between TikTok and Instagram Reels. When it comes to short, vertical videos, TikTok is unrivalled, but Reels has the upper hand thanks to its affiliation with a large, established social network that offers far more functionality.

This article compares and contrasts TikTok and Instagram Reels, two popular video-sharing apps.
First, we’ll compare TikTok with Instagram Reels in terms of user base size and common activity.

Users of Instagram and TikTok Each Month

Instagram now has 1.4 million monthly active users, as on the most recent data collection. Along with Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, it is one of the few social media sites that have 1 billion members. TikTok’s meteoric rise to 1 billion subscribers in just 3 years stands in stark contrast to the longer periods of time it took Instagram and Facebook to attain the same. As far as user numbers go, TikTok has already beaten out Pinterest, Twitter, and Snapchat.

Instagram is the fourth most popular social media network throughout the world, while TikTok comes in at number six.

The Chinese version of the app, Douyin, has 600 million DAUs but is not included in these numbers.

The most downloaded app in the world is TikTok

TikTok has become the most popular app in the world as of May 2022. When broken down by platform, however, Instagram dominates Android while TikTok dominates iOS.

In sum, the effects of both social networks are substantial. While TikTok has more subscribers overall, Instagram has the most active users right now.

Females outnumber males on TikTok

When deciding which social media sites are best for your company, demographics should be taken into account. The following are some of the key distinctions between TikTok and Instagram.

The gender ratio on Instagram is rather even, with women making up 50.8% of the user base to men’s 49.2%. However, females make up a larger percentage of TikTok’s user base. TikTok has twice as many female users as male users in the United States.

Younger People Prefer TikTok

There are some striking parallels between TikTok and Instagram, two platforms that are more popular with users under the age of 35. 71% of Instagram’s monthly active users were under the age of 35 in 2019, per the platform’s own statistics. People aged 25 to 34 make up the largest demographic, followed by those aged 18 to 24.

TikTok, on the other hand, caters specifically to a younger demographic, with many artists aiming their content at those under the age of 18. 62% of TikTok users were under the age of 30 in 2020.

TikTok Has Longer Average User Session Durations Than Instagram

This number is crucial for gauging the reach of your brand on social media since it indicates how often consumers will be exposed to your material.

In 2020, the average time spent on Instagram by users was 29 minutes. TikTok users, on the other hand, spend an average of 52 minutes each day on the platform.

TikTok has more daily active users than Instagram does, but Instagram has more total users.

Content and Functions in TikTok and Instagram Reels

Time of Video

Short videos are the centre of both TikTok and Instagram Reels, however the duration restriction varies between the two platforms. TikTok allows users to either make a 60-second movie within the app or upload an already recorded 10-minute film. In all circumstances, the maximum length of an Instagram Reel is 60 seconds; however, Instagram can provide alternative video formats.

Diverse Topics

TikTok now only supports short videos, however this may soon change. The reach and influence of this sort of information is enormous. However, Instagram Reels is contained within the larger Instagram framework, which itself supports a variety of formats and features. Instagram Reels might be the perfect solution if you want to incorporate short films into your content mix without giving them a starring role.

Capabilities for Online Shopping

Instagram was previously far ahead in this respect due to its numerous specialised social commerce features like in-app purchases and Instagram Stories. It also shares Facebook’s advertising infrastructure, which features several ad style and audience targeting choices.

TikTok, though, is rapidly closing the gap. TikTok introduced its new business features at last year’s first-ever TikTok World Business Showcase.

While not yet accessible in all regions, TikTok’s “Shopping” page for TikTok Business accounts is made possible by the company’s cooperation with Shopify. It also includes live shopping, video ads, and a variety of ad types and demographics.

Captions Instagram Reels rely heavily on captions. Many users make extensive use of them to enrich their content with relevant background information.

However, subtitles on TikTok are smaller and located in the bottom left corner of the video window. They can only be up to 150 characters long as well.

Conclusion

You may reach a wide audience with your movies on either Instagram Reels or Tiktok. We can’t declare that one is superior to the other because it all relies on the unique needs of your brand.

Instagram’s larger and more varied user base is complemented by the platform’s well-established culture of influencer marketing and posts with clickable links to products. Industries like tourism, medicine, cosmetics, and clothing would all benefit greatly from using this system.

TikTok, on the other hand, is the most popular among young people and is expanding quickly, giving companies plenty of room for original thought. Due to its youth, the network has fewer promotional material than older alternatives. But the standard Instagram postings from influencers don’t fare well with its fans.