TikTok vs Instagram: Which is Better For Your Small Business?

TikTok vs Instagram – which is better?

Which one should you be using for your business?

We’re going to compare these two platforms – TikTok vs Instagram in this post, so stick around to find out.

Let’s get started!

Defining The Two Platforms – TikTok vs Instagram

TikTok vs Instagram, how do these social media platforms differ?

“Instagram is a free photo and video sharing app available on iPhone and Android. 

People can upload photos or videos to our service and share them with their followers or with a select group of friends. 

They can also view, comment, and like posts shared by their friends on Instagram.”

Now to give a fair comparison, let’s also look at what Instagram Reels are. 

“Reels are short, entertaining videos on Instagram where you can express your creativity and bring your brand to life. 

People come to Reels to participate in cultural trends, collaborate with the community and discover new ideas.”

On the other hand, “TikTok is a popular social media app that allows users to create, watch, and share 15-second videos shot on cell phones. 

With its personalized feeds of quirky short videos set to music and sound effects…

…the app is notable for its addictive quality and high levels of engagement. 

Amateur and professional creators alike can add effects like filters, background music, and stickers to their videos…

…and can collaborate on content and create split-screen duet videos even if they’re in different locations.”

So with all of those definitions, we can see how similar Instagram and TikTok are in nature. 

Specifically, Instagram Reels vs TikToks.

They’re both short-form videos with almost all of the exact same editing features and capabilities.

And people and brands alike use both platforms the same way.

So we’re going to compare these two platforms in 5 different categories to determine which is better for your business.

TikTok vs Instagram: 5 Different Categories To Determine Which Is Better For Your Business

1. Size and exposure
2. Platform demographics
3. User usage
4. Followers
5. Sales funnel

Category #1: Size and exposure

At the time that we’re writing this, it turns out that Instagram and TikTok both have a little more than 1 billion monthly active users.

Now Instagram has been around a lot longer than TikTok…

…so for them to have the same amount of users shows the pure speed at which TikTok is growing.

And we think a lot of business owners are also witnessing that speed and quick growth firsthand in their TikTok views. 

So when talking about platform size, we think it’s also worth talking about platform exposure as well. 

A lot of people are posting the same videos on TikTok as they are on Instagram Reels.

But, they are seeing way more views and organic exposure from TikTok. 

Now as we said, this is the case for a lot of people, but we have seen a couple of different scenarios play out with TikTok.

We, for example, actually see more views on our Instagram Reels than we do on the same video posted on TikTok.

And granted, we have been on Instagram a lot longer than we have on TikTok.

Thus, have a much larger follower base on Instagram than we do on TikTok.

But even so, there are other creators and brands who have tons of followers on Instagram, and zero on TikTok and still get more views on TikTok.

So when it comes to TikTok vs Instagram, it can be a little hard to compare the platforms as apples to apples with your own content.

But we would at the very least try posting the same videos to both platforms to test and see which platform carries your content further.

You could measure this test in video views and engagement. 

Just be sure the video you post on Instagram does not have a TikTok watermark.

And that the video you post on TikTok does not have an Instagram watermark; this will allow for an equal test.

We actually have a tutorial here on how to edit social media videos on Canva, so be sure to read this post next.

Now we do want to point out really quickly that we are about to start testing out a new organic TikTok marketing strategy with our content.

So, our results could change! 

We might start seeing better views on TikTok than Instagram once we start implementing these changes, so we’ll keep y’all posted on how that goes.

Now we think another factor that plays into how well your content performs on either platform…

…is who your target audience is, which brings us to the next category.

Category #2: Platform demographics

The next category we’ll compare TikTok vs Instagram is demographics.

Now if your demographic tends to be a little bit older, you might have a little more success with Instagram as we have.

At the time that we’re writing this, the majority of Instagram users are Gen Z or Millennials. 

70.1% are between the ages of 13 to 34 years old, leaving the remaining 29.9% of users to be 35 years old and above. 

Similarly, about 75% of TikTok’s users are between the ages of 18 and 34 years old.

So the older crowd seems to be a little more active on Instagram.

Now gender seems to be pretty evenly split in both with 57% of TikTok users being female and 43% being male.

On Instagram, 49.3% are female and 50.7% are male.

So we don’t think it makes a huge difference which platform you use in that aspect.

But the last demographic info we want to look at is where your audience is. 

Instagram is available in 170 countries while TikTok is available in 154.

So depending on where your target audience lives, Instagram might be a better choice.

Category #3: User usage

90% of TikTok users visit the app more than once per day and spend an average of 52 minutes on the app per day.

Whereas only 62% of users log into Instagram at least once per day and spend an average of 28 minutes a day on it.

So when comparing TikTok vs Instagram, people are spending way more time a day on TikTok on average than on Instagram.

This makes sense as to why so many business owners are seeing a lot more organic exposure on TikTok than on Instagram.

That’s because you have more time or chances to reach your audience.

Category #4: Followers

The home button on TikTok is the For You page. This feed does not include content from people you follow. 

You have to tap into the Following feed in order to see content from the people you’re following. 

This is different from Instagram where the Home feed is mostly content from people you follow with a little suggested content as well. 

So because of the nature of TikTok, it sort of begs the question as to whether followers are worth anything on TikTok?

You might get a TikTok to go viral, so you get a lot of views and exposure from that which is great, but are people clicking Follow from it?

And even if people do click Follow from that TikTok…

…they might not see your content moving forward as much as they would on Instagram.

That’s because they’re just scrolling through their For You feed.

We specifically ran a TikTok ad campaign to get more followers, got almost 1,000, and did not see any change in our content views as a result of it.

So that test for us told us that getting more followers on TikTok…

…doesn’t necessarily equate to getting more engaged followers who then turn into qualified leads.

And if you’re only starting out in TikTok, read our TikTok ads for beginners post next.

Category #5: Sales funnel

Moving on to the last category of our TikTok vs Instagram comparison, we’ll discuss your sales funnel.

The whole point of having any social media presence for business owners is to ultimately generate leads and sales, right?

We know we measure social media success by some of the top-of-funnel goals like followers, engagement, and views.

But you’re not putting in all of this hard work just to get a viral TikTok or just to get a viral Instagram Reel and end it there, right?. 

You want the followers and engagement that you get from your social media content to funnel into website traffic, leads, and sales.

While both Instagram and TikTok give you one place for a link in your bio…

…Instagram seems to be a little more conducive to moving your followers into your sales funnel. 

Instagram allows everyone to put a clickable link on their IG Stories.

You don’t need to have 10,000 followers anymore in case you missed that update. Anyone can do it!

And in addition to the one bio link, Instagram gives you different CTA buttons you can choose from like Message and Contact.

This is so you can start moving people from Instagram into your pipeline.

Now at the time that we’re writing this, we’ve seen some news that TikTok might start testing out some new CTA button options with select influencers? 

But regardless, it’s not near as many options as what Instagram already gives us.

So while TikTok may give you more explosive reach and views, you need to be able to harness that growth…

…and direct it where you want it if it’s going to hold any value beyond just vanity numbers.

Wrapping Up

So those are our 5 main comparisons when it comes to TikTok vs Instagram.

Given all of that information, which way are you leaning?

Which platform do you think will be more beneficial for your business, Instagram or TikTok?

Sometimes it’s really hard to know for sure without just getting in there and testing things out for yourself! 

And it’s free to post on either platform, so why not!

All it costs is time.

Now whether you want to promote TikTok or Instagram to promote your brand, our social media marketing services can help you with that.

Get in touch with us today to schedule a free meeting!

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