The Best Platforms For Your Brand to Leverage Short-Form Video
Whatever your feelings about video content, we’re in the era of short-form video. So buckle up, and let’s explore the leading platforms – Magic School Bus style. Ride along and learn the key features, audiences, and where to put your focus when it comes to the platforms taking center stage in short-form video content.
Brands looking to leverage the most engaging form of social media turn to short-form videos. From the ahead-of-its-time Vine, to YouTube Shorts attempt to jump on the short-form video train as it leaves the station, it’s TikTok and Instagram Reels that lead the pack for short-form video engagement. As consumer attention spans shrink for divided attention tasks (like scrolling social media during all-hands meetings) the pressure on brands to provide high quality and valuable experiences increases.
Each platform is a powerful tool for reaching a larger audience through the use of trending audio, but key features like user demographics, targeting capabilities, and editing tools differ.
Where should your brand’s attention be with short-form video platforms? Is TikTok better than Instagram Reels? Can you post the same thing on both and call it a day? Let’s: Take chances! Make mistakes! Get messy! with TikTok and Instagram Reels.
About TikTok
In September 2018, Musical.ly, an app popular with tweens lip syncing, rebranded to TikTok. Attention to the rebrand and overall app popularity didn’t pick up until early 2020 when all of us were stuck at home with little to do. From there, TikTok exploded into what we know and love today..
TikTok allows users to create short videos that capture moments, talents, and creativity in a maximum of 10 minutes. In 2020, the app became an outlet, a distraction from reality, and a way to connect with other people from a distance. Businesses and organizations of all sizes made use of the platform to engage with customers when they couldn’t do so in person including Chipotle, MicDonalds, the NFL, and our personal favorite: libraries.
Today, many brands slide into your For You Page – an eerily well curated and never ending supply of content the TikTok algorithm selects based on your interactions with the platform’s content. For brands, the platform provides an opportunity to connect with existing audiences and expand to new ones since the algorithm often recommends content based on real social connections of viewers.
You may not even notice the seamless integration of individual content creators and major brands…as long as they’re delivering on the expectations of consumers by providing value and successfully hopping on current trends or creating new ones. now it has become a tool to tap into an already existing or new audience.
About Instagram Reels
Released in August of 2020, Instagram launched a copycat to TikTok: Instagram Reels. Previously, Instagram offered static content in various ways, such as feed posts or 24 hour Stories – even minimal video content through the Stories feature. Reels introduced the Instagram audience to a new format.
An Instagram Reel is a vertical video anywhere between 15-90 seconds long. Similar to TikTok, users have the ability to edit with special effects and add music and filters to enhance content. Reels get pushed out to individuals outside of your existing following to widen audience reach and go viral similar to TikTok videos. This new feature offers users the opportunity to be discovered in Stories, newsfeeds, and the Explore tab, and it gives brands the opportunity to leverage the new format for audiences they’ve already created on Instagram. A great example is Sephora. Their Reels strategy leverages the format to connect with existing and new audiences looking for makeup tutorials, demos, and fun challenges.
Which Platform Should You Be Utilizing?
TikTok and Instagram have a lot in common. But the differences will help you determine which platform works best for your brand and guide your platform-specific strategy.
Audience demographics and preferences are by far the biggest differences between the two platforms. Instagram Reels’ mostly millennial audience cherishes a polished content experience and craves aesthetically pleasing content. They want to see what they aspire to be.'
TikTok thrives among the chaotic energy of younger millennials and Gen Z. They’re trendsetters who crave instant entertainment and the opportunity to show off their inner creativity. TikTok’s audience wants relatable, messy content that makes them feel seen and understood.
Another major difference is how content is shared on each platform. TikTok is focused solely on short-form video content, but Instagram integrates Reels into the existing Instagram dynamics. Reels can be sprinkled in as part of an overall strategy including static content. TikTok requires users to build a community completely based on video content – a heavier lift even when the videos aren’t perfectly polished.
What Content Should You Post?
TikTok content feels more relaxed with less aesthetic appeal. The videos tend to be lo-fi ranging from funny nonsense trends and dances to educational and how-to content. This platform allows the “unhinged brand” trend to exist in all its glory.
Where TikTok videos lean into the leggings and messy hair aesthetic, well-performing Instagram Reels bring a polished look and feel. It’s popular with influencers and lifestyle content creators and also finds audiences looking for educational videos and a broad range of information and inspiration. The top TikTok trends eventually end up on Instagram. This often takes time… and by the time it hits Instagram, a trend may have passed. Utilize this platform to show off your brand, values, and events that you attend. Keep content well organized and consider themes your brand can leverage for a cohesive look and feel.
Both platforms are great ways to show off your brand. Leverage them in different ways and for different audiences to make the most of your short-form video content. Try out both and have fun! People like seeing authenticity no matter which platform it’s on.
This post was written by Green Loop’s Intern, Sarah Oliver. Sarah is a bright, young marketing student at the IUPUI Kelley School of Business. Through her experience with MORE Magazine and MySherri, she developed advanced skills in social media management, web design, and sales. Sarah also holds a Marketing Management role for IUPUI’s Women in Business club. When Sarah isn’t spending her time working, she enjoys dancing Salsa and Bachata at Latin Expressions in downtown Indy.
