Tik Tok and Reels: Knowing the differences and what will work best for your strategy

As Tik Tok continues to see fantastic success, many companies have been quick to put out their own short-form video versions. Instagram’s Reels sits as one of the main competitors, so knowing what each one offers can be important to deciding which to use.
The main difference is the length of video, with Tik Tok being 60 seconds and Reels having 30. Whilst this may not seem like a big difference, the shorter video length can make it harder to get across your message. It should be noted that as a newer feature, Reels may soon add in a longer video option.
Another major difference is music options for business accounts. Sound has played a big role in Tik Tok’s rise, especially in many of the viral trends and as such, the Sound library gives users a lot of options. Currently on Reels, many businesses profiles are unable to access Instagram’s music feature. If using music is a big factor, then this may be a decider for you.
For analytics, you need a Tik Tok Pro Account to see the statistics, which has options for content analytics, seeing if your video is trending or not and the ability to see the specific traffic sources to your video. Reels currently only provides number of views, likes and comments, though this is most likely a feature to be added with time.