Instagram and TikTok are both platforms where fast-paced and engaging content is key to success. Let's look at how you can break through on these Gen-Z and millennial-occupied social networks and tap into their gigantic pools of active users.
Is your target audience here?
While you can get a lot of views and engagement on these platforms, you have to ask yourself whether it's where your target audience is. If you're targeting younger millennials and Gen-Z then sure, but keep in mind they go here to get quickly entertained, and the substance doesn’t always count. This doesn't mean you should banish these social networks altogether - just don't have them as your priorities and rather spend time on the socials that are more aligned with your work.
Instagram is among the most challenging social networks for building an audience nowadays. Many users find the distribution of regular posts to non-followers almost non-existent. If you're new, you should consider doing a lot of Reels, which allow you to reach a sizable audience without having many followers.
If you started using Instagram from the beginning, you may remember that the more hashtags you used in your posts, the more traffic you got. This doesn't work anymore - post hashtags are dead. Most creators don't even bother using them - it just makes the description look worse without providing any value.
Instagram Story Highlights
One of the most useful Instagram features for you as a creator will be Story Highlights. They are regular Stories that you can pin to the upper part of your profile, and people can access them even after the 24-hour publishing period. The profile description field is very short, so Highlights can be your extended "About me" section, where you can subtly introduce yourself and describe what you do and offer. Mind the word subtly - you still want to provide value to the viewers, so don't forget to mix in some of your expertise.
TikTok
TikTok is much more generous to new creators and allows accounts with basically no following to have their content blow up and get tons of views. Organic content distribution works great, rewards good stuff, and motivates people to keep creating content. There are many theories about how the algorithm works, but one of the widely agreed-upon concepts that is also used on other social media platforms but probably most heavily on TikTok is that it shows your new content to a number of people, tracks their engagement, and uses this data to evaluate how interesting it is. This usually decides the video's fate.
TikTok's algorithm is considered the best out there in recognizing good short-form content and showing it to the right people. In the end, TikTok itself didn't blow up by accident. But, there is a but. There is a very specific type of content that works on TikTok.It's mostly consumed by Gen-Z and younger millennials, which you may have problems reaching if you do more serious content or don't belong to either of these generations.
Fast-engaging content
Your content has to engage from the second someone looks at it. You don't have two or three seconds. You literally have less than a second. People scrolling don't want to and aren't able to judge your content as a whole. It doesn't matter what the whole is about when it doesn't catch attention right from the beginning. Your content has to engage fast and engage all the way. That's why some creators have all silent bits from their talking videos cut off.
Instagram and TikTok are the least forgiving social networks regarding the speed of content engagement. If the post is boring, another one is just a scroll away. Nobody thinks twice about this - it's almost an instinct.
💡 Keep in mind
Even if you didn't grow up with social media and can't understand this behavior, you must adapt your content to these standards to succeed.
Captions
You may also consider adding captions to your video - many tools can generate them automatically. They're handy when posting videos on Instagram as posts (not as Reels) because they're muted by default. When the user scrolls to or opens them, he can immediately start reading the captions and get interested. Otherwise, the video will be silent, and he will have to turn on the sound and start watching it again, which many won't do. It's also very helpful for people who don't understand a given language well.
Rebirth of raw content
The young audience is increasingly interested in raw, unpolished content. This is a huge shift from the requirement of almost professionally produced media we've been used to until recently. It almost exclusively concerns the video quality, but the sound has to be crisp no matter what. In practice, it means your phone is more than enough to record what you need. What's trending instead of amazing quality is the creative use of cuts, background removal and replacement, and other effects that can be applied using nothing but the phone.
Remember
👉 Check if your audience is on Instagram or TikTok before prioritizing these platforms.
👉 Instagram Reels are the best way to grow your audience as a new creator.
👉 Instagram Highlights are perfect for showcasing your expertise to potential followers.
👉 Your content must engage viewers within the first second to succeed.
👉 Captions can significantly increase engagement, especially on silent auto-play videos.
👉 Raw, unpolished content is trending. Use creative editing techniques over high production value.
Homework
1️⃣ Think how you can bridge creating valuable content with substance and the need to keep it easy to understand and super-engaging all the time.
2️⃣ Organize your Instagram Stories into Highlights that introduce your work and showcase your expertise. You will likely need to create new ones, too. Make sure the first image is small and centered so it looks good in the Highlight thumbnail in your profile.
3️⃣ Learn how to auto-generate captions for your videos.
👏 Big leap forward!
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