Instagram Reels vs TikTok: Surprising Insights Revealed by Our Data

It’s no secret that TikTok has disrupted the social media and brand performance landscape, completely changing the tactics of marketers and PR professionals.

And yet, Instagram remains strategy-crucial thanks to its huge user base, consumer influencer potential, and rate of building brand equity.?

For fashion, luxury and beauty (FLB) brands, knowing how to navigate and leverage these social platforms can be tricky.?

Enter our latest report, Beyond Followers: Exploring Instagram’s Influence on Brand Performance. This content goes deep into Instagram’s global potential, looking at data and case studies on how the platform is driving Media Impact Value? (MIV?) for FLB brands.

Some of the insights will surprise you.?

Read it today: Access the full report here for free .

But, below, we give you a taste of some of the report’s findings around brand performance on TikTok vs Instagram Reels.

Is TikTok Killing Reels?

Reels were launched in 2020 as a competitive response to the disruptor, TikTok. TikTok’s unprecedented growth remarkably shifted the paradigms of content creation and consumption, compelling Instagram to innovate. Both platforms allow users to create engaging and dynamic short-form videos.?

While the buzz around TikTok – and the visibility of Gen Z’s filming dance content across the globe – makes it seem like the place for brands to be right now, our data reveals otherwise.

If we look at the Media Impact Value? (MIV?) generated by each platform, Instagram took home the lion’s share for the first half of this year. Our data from over 3,500 FLB brands shows they accumulated a total of $16.9B in MIV? through Instagram alone.

In comparison, TikTok generated less than $2B in MIV?.?

TikTok may be the great disruptor, and a crucial space for reaching Gen Z, but Instagram is still the top-reigning platform for brand amplification in the FLB space.

Using a Tailored Approach

What this data tells us is not that brands should ignore TikTok or doubt its potential, but rather that their success hinges on their ability to tailor their content strategy to each platform.

Take Voice mix, for example. Our data reveals that Influencers generate a much higher percentage of the Voice mix on TikTok compared with Reels (75% vs 44%).?

While the Influencer Voice is still undeniably strong on Instagram, a growth in Owned Media has changed the dynamics. By investing more in their own content, brands are able to build direct consumer connections and grow entire communities around their brand, leveraging the ability to take complete control over their messaging.?

Maximizing value from each platform also comes down to understanding regional markets. Our data shows that, despite Instagram’s global presence (and factoring in China’s access limitations), potential value varies heavily across regions and segments.?

For example, the Americas generated almost double the MIV? of the APAC region for Instagram overall, but EMEA beat out the Americas for the top place in the Luxury segment. On top of that, the ideal Voice mix differs by region - for example, Celebrities drive the highest value in the APAC region.?

All of these nuances drive home the importance of taking a data-driven approach to your social media strategy.

TikTok vs Reels: Who Are You Reaching?

How you approach content creation on Reels vs TikTok ultimately comes down to deeply understanding each user base. To capture its younger audience, TikTok demands content that’s more Influencer-centric and delivered in a constant flow rather than a careful curation.

To get maximum value from Reels, brands can win by growing their Owned channel, prioritizing aspirational and lifestyle content, and taking region and segment into account (amongst other things detailed further in our report).

You can see how this plays out in the real world by looking at the case studies in our report. We dig into how brands like Charlotte Tilbury and Boohoo have used Reels vs TikTok to generate massive MIV? in recent campaigns.

For those, plus dozens more unmissable insights into Instagram marketing, download the full report here .

P.s. If you found these insights helpful, don’t forget to like and share this post.