PR AGENCY DIARIES: REELS VS TIKTOK
Instagram is the Frankenstein’s monster of the tech world. Once the pop-y adopted sister of Facebook (filled with overly filtered 1:1 retro snaps), with the help of Mark Zuckerberg pinching successful features from other apps, she’s blossomed into a beautiful beast.
Having successfully rendered Snapchat obsolete with the introduction of Stories (plus an assist from a well-timed Kylie Jenner Tweet), Instagram turned its eye to TikTok for its latest feature. However, this time it didn’t just take the concept and dress it up in Instagram branding. Reels is designed to be its own product and has some important differences.
So, who wins out – is it relative newbie Reels, or is it the Gen Z-beloved monster that is TikTok?
1. All your content in one place
Instagram wins this one. If you’re a content creator who has put effort into building an audience, you won’t need to start fresh on a new app – all your Reels will be right there alongside your #OOTDs and #collabs and delivered to your followers without having to ask them to switch apps.
2. Now, let the music play!
The music crown goes to TikTok. If there’s one thing TikTok gets, it’s the importance of music (the fact that it used to be called Musical.ly is a clue here). TikTok has contracts with music labels securing the rights to use the hottest tracks. That’s why listening to Top 40 radio these days is a bit like scrolling TikTok.
Instagram does have its own contracts and a catalogue of music, however, the music feature isn’t accessible to a lot of business accounts. If you want to use music in your Reel, you’ll have to create your own audio or film and edit outside of the app – and who has time for that?
3. Features, filters and fun – oh, my!
It’s a tie, the winner depends on what you want to do. The editing interfaces for both apps look quite similar so if you’ve got familiar with one, you’ll find it easy to switch over to the other.
TikTok has a wonderful library of filters and effects, with blobby-faced filters and wobbly-voice effects being the secret sauce for some of the funniest viral TikToks to date. Instagram is a little more limited – it still delivers all the classics like greenscreen and disco lights, but lacks the voice effects that take a vid from “sharp-breath-out-of-nostrils” to genuine LOL.
If clever transitions are more your thing, Instagram wins hands down. The secret weapon is the Align feature – this magic trick superimposes the last frame from the last clip onto the screen when you start filming your next clip, allowing you to perfectly line up the next shot from the exact same angle/spot as the last one.
4. Content vs creator
This is a tricky one, but the winner has to be Insta. Instagram is geared towards networking and building relationships with your audience – TikTok is more interested in showing you content you might enjoy, regardless of who posted it. The TikTok ‘For You Page’ is flooded with content hand-picked by an algorithm built by your interests, while the Instagram home page is content from people you already follow.
This means that a content creator might post a video that gets a million views from the #FYP but their next post only gets a thousand views, making it harder to bet on the reach you’ll deliver in influencer campaigns. Since reach is more consistent from post to post on Instagram, it’s easier to track and predict trends.
5. Analytics (the boring yet important stuff)
Hands down, TikTok comes out on top. Instagram currently doesn’t give you in-depth analytics on Reels beyond likes, comments and views. TikTok gives you a full breakdown. And Insights are crucial in vetting your next campaign!
While similar, the two are different products and Reels wasn’t designed to be a direct clone. They also have different audiences with the Zoomer crowd spending every waking minute on TikTok, leaving Instagram to the millennials and their avocado on toast.
Whichever you prefer, there are downsides and upsides to both and the answer, as with most social media platforms, comes down to what your goals are.
If you’re a TikTok or Reels creator, get in touch today – we’re always keen to grow our network. And if you’re a brand, you’ve also come to the right place for trusted, accountable campaigns.
