Last Updated on June 29, 2024 by Rovamedia
Well, everyone really loves videos and how amazing they can even be if those videos are funny and short. Hola! That’s what TikTok is all about and it has been existing for a good time right now. According to Oberlo, TikTok has 800 million active users worldwide. The TikTok app has been downloaded over 2 billion times on the App Store and Google Play. TikTok ranked as the topmost downloaded app in Apple’s iOS App Store for Q1 2019, with more than 33 million downloads. 41 percent of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24.
That’s some influence right there and we have come to see hundreds of young influencers dominate TikTok avenue street. It’s really a sight to behold and everyone is glad! Unfortunately, we’ve told our readers and customers that TikTok can’t compete with Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or even Twitter and we opined our thoughts here.
So what is in store for internet marketers and bloggers who use TikTok?
Internet Marketers, Bloggers and TikTok
Tiktok demographics are much younger than Instagram’s. The most liked content on Tiktok would not have the same reactions from the Instagram audience which makes it a little hard for creators from both platforms to transition from that one to another. The explicit culture on Instagram filled with sexually appealing pictures, twerking videos, offensive and bullying content are less popular on Tiktok even though Tiktok has its creators dancing half-clothed to some explicit songs or acting upon some vulgar language recordings. In short, Tiktok has the potential to attract more Instagram popular creators and audiences due to the short nature of Tiktok videos that get more views and potentially more likes than on Instagram.
Instagram has had a six or seven-year head start in the industry—TikTok would have to grow a little more than twice as fast as Instagram to surpass its position in the social media space.
This is unlikely—as it is more likely that TikTok will grow at the same or similar rate, thus always being smaller than Instagram until one or the other ceases to exist.
Instagram is still more refined—plus it can tap into Facebook’s resources for growth. Though, some may argue that Facebook has handicapped the development of Instagram—due to Zuckerberg’s jealousy of the photo-sharing app’s success.
Instagram is a bit more multi-purpose, as in you can use it to chronicle your life in photos, display photography, document travel, cultivate a persona around a topic or idea, catalog memes, etc. There are so many niche options that are unique to photo-sharing.
TikTok has fewer niches—it is much more reliant on background music, good-looking youth, and creative storytelling. Still, these activities focus on a smaller user group—which will entice fewer total users over the years.
Not to say that TikTok can’t expand its feature set to include a larger portion of the population—but right now, it isn’t aimed at nearly as many people as Instagram is.
Thus, internet marketers and bloggers really can’t use TikTok to their advantage of promoting their business or links and this is bad for business, as you quite relate that the demographics of TikTok isn’t for serious business users. In short, no internet marketer or blogger is using TikTok for promotion, they can have a personal account to lip-sync for everyone to see though.
Conclusion
We don’t think we can compare the two platforms, since they are very different in their nature. Instagram is still predominantly used for image sharing, whilst TikTok is focused on video content only. Likewise, there are more advertising opportunities on Instagram, which can be achieved via static images, short videos, Instagram Stories, and IGTV.
TikTok is more limited in that sense since it only focuses on short video content. One more thing to add is that the two platforms have different demographics. Instagram is actively used by adults, whilst TikTok is a huge favorite amongst teenagers and preteens. The teenagers who used Instagram religiously have grown up with the platform, whilst TikTok is a more recent sensation.
However, TikTok has become a very important platform in the world of social media management in its own right.