If you’ve tried your hand at a local online marketing campaign before, you’ve probably heard of the many different ways to engage your audience on competing social media platforms. Essentially, each platform provides different features that are advantageous for your unique marketing initiatives, and each application provides new avenues of reaching your intended audience.
In the world of digital marketing, we’re currently experiencing a generational push toward video content. In 2021, Youtube was the second most popular search engine on the internet behind only Google. The iconic tech giant is not the only video platform experiencing tremendous growth, however. In the last few years, TikTok and Instagram Reels have emerged as two arenas proven to increase brand awareness and create legitimate sales.
At beMarketing, we love sharing relevant social media tips and diving deep into the new and exciting technology so that you don’t have to! Read below to find out the key differences between TikTok and Instagram Reels.
Action!
The most clear-cut difference in the battle of Reels vs. TikTok is the length of videos you’re able to post. While both platforms are designed to promote short videos so that users can quickly skip through them, TikTok’s maximum video length is significantly longer than Reels. TikTok users can record up to 3 minutes of video, while IG just recently gave users the ability to post 1-minute videos. To that point, creating extremely long videos can sort of defeat the purpose of these high-speed platforms directed to appease the forever-scrolling, ‘on to the next thing’ generation.
A 3-minute TikTok video might be beneficial for a software company that’s showcasing how to navigate their design step-by-step, where a 60-second Instagram Reel might be the perfect opportunity for a roofing company to provide a before, during, and after timelapse of a new, and exciting project.
Talking Shop
If your local online marketing strategy revolves around products or apparel, you have a choice to make in regards to which platform will direct more users to make purchases. When it comes to marketing your specific products, both platforms provide undeniable exposure that cannot be reached really anywhere else.
Reels offers you the ability to tag your products, describe them, and show them off to the masses. This has proven to be incredibly beneficial, but where TikTok really differentiates itself however is through its simplistic, efficient shopping features. Working in partnership with Shopify, TikTok users can directly shop and purchase in-app. Additionally, Reels (and IG in general) does not provide you with the option to attach links to your product pages.
Data
For most businesses, interpreting data is key. Instagram Reels provides your business page with analytics that is relatively straightforward. You’re able to monitor metrics like comments, shares, amount of people who saved your video, etc. TikTok analytics can dive a bit deeper, giving you data that relates to location, average watch times, where users came from to find your page.
At beMarketing, we take pride in being at the forefront of advancements in social media and understanding the latest trends. We also are thrilled to share our findings with our clients and devise a personalized marketing strategy that will produce the results they’re looking for. Interested in ramping up your social media presence? Let’s talk today about our social media plans!
