Why You Should Forget about TikTok
In August 2016, Instagram launched a new service that seemed completely unnecessary: stories. That’s what Snapchat was for. Instagram was for more permanent content that would exist in your feed while Snapchat housed temporary 24-hour only stories. You could have the best of both worlds with both feeds!
Instagram instead said, “Hey, let’s make this one platform completely unnecessary by taking the best (really, only) part of their platform and moving it to ours.” I had the same feeling most people did. I’m not going to use Instagram stories when I already had a Snapchat profile.
A funny thing happened though.
For active users in their late 20’s and 30’s, Instagram became the hub for permanent posts as well stories. Therefore, we deleted the superfluous and unnecessary Snapchat app from our phones.
Now, TikTok is the cool new thing. And, like Snapchat, it has found its niche with younger high school/early 20’s demographics. So what is Instagram going to do? They’re going to repeat history - because history was very successful in the past. With the launch of their new service, Reels, Instagram is again taking the best of TikTok and folding it into its platform. Even Entrepreneur magazine agrees, Reels is where you want to focus your attention.
Is Instagram growing faster than any other platform? No, that would be LinkedIn. Do they have the most active users to date? Nope, that still belongs to Facebook. Is Instagram the biggest copycat of all the social media channels? Maybe. But here is where Instagram is winning: professional millennials who want to keep their pulse on the “cool” trends in social sharing without having to reinvent their contact list every single time.
Prior to this launch, I would not recommend my clients use TikTok. It’s too new. There isn’t enough data to support the reach and how your contacts would interact with the interface. Plus, you'll need to take time to learn a new platform. However, now, if my clients are already on Instagram and they are comfortable with the platform, I’m going to encourage them to try Reels. They’ll be able to post automatically to their existing contacts and get a true sense of how their audience reacts to this new content.
With all that to say, you might be thinking: Cool. So is Instagram a monopoly, now? And, by extension, Facebook, since they own Instagram’s platform? I’m going to semi-confidently say no. For now, Instagram has still not gotten a hold of younger demographics. Kids don’t want to be where their parents are. That’s why Facebook’s most active users range in age from 35-55. This platform used to be ONLY for college-aged students. Now, it’s where Mom groups and grandchildren photos reign.
With every new, cool thing in social sharing, Instagram is finding ways to connect that to not only the more mature audiences of the internet but - more importantly - to the audiences with purchasing power.
As a strategic marketer, I’ll fall on that sword every time.