Is Instagram or TikTok Better for My Business?

Instagram and TikTok are two extremely popular social media platforms used by businesses of all sizes worldwide. But which platform is best for your business? 

Here are 4 key questions you should think about when deciding between Instagram or TikTok for your business:

1. What type of content are you publishing?
2. Who are your target audience?
3. What are your advertising goals?
4. Where would you like your ad placed?

1. What Type of Content Are You Publishing?

One of the most important things you should consider when choosing which social platform to use for your business is the type of content you’ll be producing.

While both Instagram & Tiktok offer many of the same content formats, such as carousels and single media posts, there are some differences you should be aware of.

Instagram gives you many more formats to work with . In fact, you have the choice of publishing content across: photos, short feed videos, reels, stories, live streaming & long videos on IGTV.

While this array of options might sound exciting, it can also make things pretty confusing especially if you’re running ads across more than 2 formats.

In terms of actual content, Instagram ads generally sees more edited, polished content with various filters and effects applied to enhance their aesthetic appearance. In comparison, TikTok content tends to be much more raw and authentic, and although TikTok has various filter features, people will generally film a quick video and upload it straight away. 

TikTok is also heavily focused on the subject matter of videos, for example, many creators like to film themselves and friends performing TikTok trends such as dances, lip syncing and fun challenges.

With this in mind, TikTok might be a better choice if you’re interested in influencer partnership content, user generated content, or native-looking ads. Whereas Instagram might be a better choice if you’ll be publishing carefully designed, more aesthetically pleasing ads.

2.Who Are Your Target Audience?

Another super important thing you want to consider is who your target audience is. Generally speaking, the demographic of TikTok and Instagram is pretty similar. This is because both platforms are mainly used by people 35 and under, and both have a strong global presence.

The TikTok Target Audience

That being said, there are also some significant differences that you should bear in mind. Firstly, TikTok’s biggest audience is Gen Z, followed by Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers in that order.

The Instagram Target Audience

While Instagram is also heavily populated with Gen Z’ers (31%), the majority of users are millennials (49%). So, if your business is predominantly looking to target a younger audience, TikTok would seem like the more viable option. 

In terms of gender, over half of TikTok’s users are female - 57% of users to be exact, whereas Instagram sees a more even gender split, with 48.4% of users identifying as female and 51.6% identifying as male.

Due to their nature, TikTok users tend to be more responsive to advertising and are generally more eager to buy products or download services aimed at the younger demographic, such as:

• Apps/games
• Budget jewellery, makeup or perfumes
• Budget ecommerce products

That’s not to say that Instagram users aren’t responsive to advertising, because they are. Just a little less so than TikTokers. Instagram users are typically more interested in products and services aimed at both genders of slightly older millennials, such as:

• Higher priced jewellery
• Furniture, mid-range artwork & house decor
• Premium ecommerce products, e.g. health products and make-up

3. What Are Your Advertising Goals?

When determining which platform is better for your business, you must also establish your advertising goals, whether it be to increase engagement, boost sales or simply drive traffic to your site. Both TikTok and Instagram provide a wide range of advertising goals to align with different business objectives.

TikTok will help you maximise the reach of your ad campaign, aiming to deliver your ad to as many unique users as possible within your target audience. This goal is super effective if you’re looking to increase brand awareness and reach a wide audience.

Instagram’s ‘Instagram Shopping’ feature can be great for eCommerce businesses looking to boost sales and conversions.

4. How Would You Like Your Ad Formatted?

Both Instagram and TikTok allow businesses to advertise on their platforms. Brands on TikTok typically run ‘in-feed’ ads, which are full screen ads that run for up to 60 seconds and can include video, image, or carousel formats.

They can be seen by TikTok users in between scrolling through normal videos, and look almost identical to these organic TikTok posts. Instagram allows brands to run both photo and video ads, which can be seen in the newsfeed, stories, IGTV, and live streams. 

Interestingly, in recent studies comparing TikTok and Instagram reel ads, reels outperformed TikTok ads due to the reach being higher, cost per click lower and cost per mille lower. That being said, both Instagram and TikTok work well compared to advertising on other social media platforms.

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We are Aura Ads, an ecommerce ad service designed for D2C eCommerce brands. We help clients sell more online and grow at scale with our bespoke video and static creative delivered on a monthly basis.

Find out more about our services on our website or, for more tips and tricks from our experts, head over to our blog page.

Written by Kate Jones for Aura Ads.