How TikTok Is Impacting Your Social Media
A Look at the changing landscape on other competitive platforms
and what you should be doing about it
Written By: Abbey Higgins | Supported By: CJ Walstrom
TikTok has overtaken Facebook as the most downloaded social media app in the world and other social platforms are creating strategies to respond to the extreme popularity of this new kid on the block. While we can’t explore all platforms in one post, we’re putting Instagram head to head with TikTok to explore how the platform is changing to meet the demand. Read on to see the three ways Instagram is changing its algorithm and platform in response to TikTok, plus our three recommendations on how to utilize these changes to better your business presence on social media.
The 3 Ways Instagram is Responding to TikTok
1. Prioritizing Video Content
Instagram head, Adam Mosseri, admits that TikTok is one of Instagram's biggest competitors. When the leaders of a platform admit they have someone hot on their tail, you know changes are coming! TikTok is known for its short, viral videos so one way Instagram is trying to keep up is by introducing more ways for video to be shared, and by prioritizing those video shares in the algorithm. Video content on Instagram can be shared in several formats: posts, Stories, IGTV, and Reels. While some of these placements are not new, the way they’re being prioritized is! Stories score the top placement at the top portion of your newsfeed while Reels tend to get higher placement in the Explore page, as well as in your followers’ newsfeeds. Double bonus. Many say that Reels are the direct response to TikTok’s video streaming as it’s an endless, inactive viewership of content from one Reel to the next.
Image credit: nytimes.com
2. Prioritizing Entertainment
As shared with Dexerto.com, Mosseri said that “The number one reason people say that they use Instagram in research is to be entertained.” This entertainment factor is a priority of all product development which includes experimenting with more “full-screen, immersive, entertaining, mobile-first” video content. To prioritize entertainment, there needs to be a sense of curated discovery as well as reward to the content creators. The curated discovery comes by way of content positioned for YOU to show you the most relevant content to your behaviors in-app. You’ll experience this with the For You suggestions in the Explore page, the endless scroll of Reels of similarly-themed content, and suggested posts in your newsfeed. In theory, the more someone is entertained, the longer they’ll spend on the platform, the more room for serving ads and monetizing off of the experience.
Image credit: mediakix.com
3. Prioritizing The Creator
To meet the popularity of a new platform, you need loyal contributors to provide their content which makes the platform entertaining. According to imore.com, the "rise of the creator" has pushed all social platforms to shift development priorities. The reward to content creators is yet to be fully come to fruition on Instagram but they’re looking to make up for lost time, and quick! Mosseri tweeted this summer that Creators is one of the 4 key focus areas of the platform, as well as video, shopping, and messaging. If a creator can get algorithm preference with their content, they get more eyes on their post/video/Reel/Story, and potentially more followers. More followers typically means more brand partnership opportunities which leads to getting paid to make content to live on social. If creators are rewarded in the platform, the brands wanting access to their followers are the ones footing the bill. All Instagram has to do is make sure that creators have a well-supported place to share that is more enticing than sharing on TikTok alone. Early signs of creator rewards are Reel algorithm preference, For You discovery, and enhanced shopping features for those referral payouts.
Image credit: nytimes.com
Our three recommendations
how to utilize these changes to better your business presence on social media
While the major social media platform players are shaking in their boots with the arrival of the new(er) kid, TikTok, we aren’t. The platforms have to try to combat the new player by way of prioritizing video, entertainment, and the creators, to encourage their users to still spend enough time on their platform to justify the expense and eyeballs to advertisers. But that’s not our problem, it’s our opportunity!
The 2 reasons you should care about how Instagram is responding to TikTok are to be able to leverage the new bells and whistles for algorithm favoritism and in evaluating if you need to include TikTok into your social line-up.
How to start with the new features? Test them out! Try a Reel and compare how many eyes you get compared to a regular video (our prediction: at least 3x the impressions). Put up a Story to tease what’s new in your business and look at the analytics Story interactions versus standard post engagement. Your brand will need to test these new features, just like everyone else! Here are a few of our favorite Reel pro-tips, courtesy of socialmediaexaminer.com.
How to decide if your brand should be on TikTok? When working with our clients, we continue to evaluate new platforms and all other existing social platforms the same way we always have by answering these simple questions:
Are your customers and primary audiences on and actively using this platform?
Can you effectively sell or influence the customer journey by participating and engaging with your customers on this channel?
Do you have the resources to continuously support this medium?
If you can answer “yes” to all of the above - you need to be there! Regardless of what Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, or any of the platforms come up with to challenge the interest of the new platform, you need to stay true to your core marketing principles to put efforts into places and platforms that reach your audience in a way that’s authentic to your brand.
If we can help you decide where to be or how to present your brand on those channels, Instagram or TikTok, contact us here.