Instagram vs TikTok: audience, features, and marketing potential (what actually matters)
A few years ago, picking a social platform was mostly vibes. Now it’s math.
If you’re running paid social or trying to grow an ecommerce brand, the platform you prioritize changes:
- Who you reach
- What creative formats you can ship fast
- How ads scale
- How much effort it takes to keep the content machine running
Instagram and TikTok look similar from far away - vertical video, creators, trends - but they behave differently once you’re spending real money.
Below is the clean comparison: demographics, features, and marketing potential, plus real brand examples you can steal from.
Also - if your bottleneck is not strategy but output (you need more winning creatives, faster), that’s exactly what EzUGC is built for: generating UGC style video ads at scale without begging creators for turnaround.
Audience demographics: how Instagram and TikTok differ
The demographics aren’t wildly different. They’re closer than most people think.
The real gap is TikTok skews a bit younger, and TikTok has slightly more US users. That’s it. Everything else is nuance.
Age distribution: TikTok is younger, but not by a mile
TikTok has more users in the 18-24 and 25-34 age range than Instagram.
But don’t over-index on it. The distributions are still similar:
- 31% of Instagram’s audience is aged 25-34 compared to 32.5% for TikTok
- 31% of Instagram’s users are 18-24 years old compared to 38.5% for TikTok
If you sell to everyone under 35, both platforms are in play. If you sell specifically to Gen Z, TikTok gets the nod.
Gender distribution: basically the same
52% of Instagram’s user base is male compared with 54% on TikTok.
Geography and availability: Instagram is broader, TikTok is huge in the US
Instagram is available in over 170 countries. TikTok is found in 150.
In the US specifically, TikTok is bigger:
- TikTok has 170 million users in the U.S.
- Instagram has 158 million
If you’re a mass-market brand focused on the US, TikTok’s scale matters.
TikTok vs Instagram: demographic summary
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| Primary demography | Under 35s | Under 25s |
| Gender distribution | 52% male | 54% male |
| Geography | Mainly in North America, Latin America, and Europe. Growing in Asia | Primarily located in Asia, including China and India. Growing in Western markets, like the US and EU |
| Usage habits | Frequent usage, but lower than TikTok | Compulsive usage more than most other social media platforms |
| Income levels | Popular among middle-income individuals: the middle class | Used across all social strata, regardless of income level |
| Primary content creators | Millennials and Gen Z | Primarily Gen Z with a few Millennials |
| Content type | Travel, fitness, food and fashion | Meme-related content, dance, singing, comedy |
Key UGC statistics you should know in 2025
When to prioritize TikTok
Prioritizing TikTok is better if:
- Your primary audience is under 25 (Gen Z)
- Your content plan involves short, snappy content that grabs attention and aims to go viral
- Your main focus is in Western markets or Asia
- Explore TikTok influencer rates
When to prioritize Instagram
Likewise, Instagram is better if:
- You want to target Millennials
- Your content plan demands a mix of photos and videos with captions
- Your main audience is in the US, Europe, and Latin America
- Explore Instagram influencer pricing
Features: Instagram vs TikTok (where the product decisions show)
Both are visual networks. Both want you posting video. But they’re optimized for different behaviors:
- TikTok optimizes for discovery and velocity
- Instagram optimizes for identity, polish, and relationship building
Post types and formats
TikTok and Instagram differ in post types and formats. TikTok’s offering is more simplistic.
Here’s the practical difference:
- Instagram feed posts can be photo, video, or carousel
- TikTok feed posts are short-form videos (up to 3 minutes apiece)
Both offer a Reel-type experience - short-form video with editing tools. TikTok’s editing library is deeper. Both support livestreaming, and TikTok adds digital gifts.
Where Instagram wins is range:
- 24-hour disappearing photos exist on Instagram
- Long-form 60-minute videos exist on Instagram
- TikTok doesn’t offer those
Content discovery
Discovery is where the platforms feel totally different.
Instagram has an Explore Page. Users browse it, and the algorithm learns what they like.
TikTok is the For You Page. It’s not a directory, it’s a firehose. Your behavior trains the feed, and trending content is a huge part of why TikTok produces so many viral spikes.
Instagram trends are more optional - you can find them through Explore and posts, but your main feed is still anchored to who you follow.
Marketing tools
Marketing tools differ substantially between TikTok and Instagram. Both are serious platforms, but they’re serious in different ways.
Ad formats:
- Instagram supports photos, videos, Stories ads, Shopping ads, and carousel features
- TikTok focuses more on in-feed and TopView ads
Creator and UGC collaboration:
- TikTok uses Creator Marketplace
- Instagram uses Instagram For Creators
Analytics:
- Instagram has the edge on depth
- TikTok has analytics (for premium accounts) but less detail
If you’re running a creative testing machine, analytics depth matters because you’re trying to answer: what hook, what offer, what creator style actually moved revenue.
Content creation and editing
For creation and editing, TikTok is slightly ahead.
It has:
- More effects
- More filters
- A bigger editing toolkit
- A music library that’s basically built for meme culture
Instagram Reels and Stories editing works, but it’s more basic. Music integration is more limited and the sound effects library is smaller.
Content creation flexibility (Instagram’s underrated edge)
Instagram has the advantage of flexible content organization:
- Save and label posts in Collections
- Save Stories in Highlights for archival
TikTok doesn’t have these features.
This changes how brands behave:
- Brands on Instagram build a visual presence and invest in aesthetics
- TikTok leans into viral content and cares less about polish
Examples:
- Travel and luxury brands often prefer Instagram for presentation
- Music companies and service operators often prefer TikTok for turning everyday stuff into entertainment
Engagement and interaction
Both have DMs. After that, TikTok is more participatory.
TikTok:
- Duets and stitching let creators build on other videos
- Stitch lets creators start discussions about the video’s subject matter or answer prompts
- Virtual gifts add monetization and interaction
Instagram:
- Stories polls and questions are great for lightweight audience research
- Group chat features make it easier for brands to talk with multiple customers at once
If your goal is community feedback loops, Instagram has nice primitives. If your goal is remix culture and viral mechanics, TikTok wins.
Looking to boost your ad effectiveness? Here are the UGC trends to follow on TikTok.
Marketing potential: where results actually show up
Features are cute. Performance is the whole game.
Engagement rates
TikTok’s edge is engagement in certain segments.
Figures suggest it outperforms Instagram in the U.S. in some follower ranges.
Numbers:
- Average engagement rate for Instagram Reels is 6.59% on accounts with 100,000 to 500,000 followers on Instagram, while it is 9.74% on TikTok
- For accounts with more than 10 million followers, engagement rates are 8.77% and 10.52% respectively
One caveat: TikTok is more view-driven, so higher engagement rates are normal.
Instagram is more follower-driven, so brands that want to build tighter communities might prefer it. If you’re explicitly trying to build tight-knit communities, Instagram’s mechanics help.
Also worth noting: TikTok and Instagram both perform better than YouTube Shorts, the other major short-form video platform.
Advertising options
Instagram is stronger on ad format variety.
Instagram ads include:
- Image Feed Ads - ads that appear as single images in the native experience (blending into the rest of the content)
- Image Story Ads - ads that appear in the Stories feed (helping brands generate traffic and conversions)
- Video Feed Ads - video ads that appear in the main user feed
- Video Story Ads - video ads that appear in Stories
- Carousel Feed Ads - status ads that appear as scrollable images in Instagram’s carousel
- Canvas Story Ads - immersive 360-degree virtual reality ads (VR) supported on numerous mobile devices
More formats means more angles to test. If you’re running a real creative lab, optionality is leverage. Learn more about partnership vs brand ads.
If you’re producing lots of ad variants for Instagram and TikTok, this is where a system matters. EzUGC is built for pumping out UGC style creatives quickly so you can test more hooks, more offers, more edits without waiting on humans to deliver.
TikTok ad formats (solid, just fewer):
- In-Feed Ads - ads that appear in the user’s feed (and blend like regular content)
- TopView ads - ads that appear at the top of the For You feed offering the same interactivity features as user-generated content
- Brand Takeover ads - ads that show stationary or dynamic images to users across their entire screen
TikTok also has Branded Hashtag Challenge. It’s not exactly an ad, but it pushes users to create and share branded content, usually as part of a viral campaign.
For trend watching: TikTok Ad Trends
Case studies: brands using Instagram and TikTok (steal the pattern)
Big brands don’t use these platforms because they’re fun. They use them because the format forces attention.
Dove - Instagram
Dove is a master of social media marketing. It leaned into the women’s self-esteem conversation with an ad about the content women consume online, calling out filtered images and the way they distort beauty standards.
Pattern to steal:
- Pick a cultural tension your audience already feels
- Make the brand the narrator, not the hero
- Keep it native to the feed
IBM - Instagram
IBM is not the first brand you’d expect on Instagram, which is exactly why it works.
Its outreach highlights consistency, using images of IBM loading massive mainframe computers onto trucks in the 1950s. The message is simple: IBM mattered then, and it still matters now.
Pattern to steal:
- Use the platform to compress decades of credibility into a scrollable story
- Show proof, not positioning
Adidas - Instagram
Adidas used Instagram to amplify its #WithWomenWeRun campaign after learning that 92% of women feel unsafe while jogging outdoors.
It didn’t bury the stat. It led with it, then connected the brand to action.
Pattern to steal:
- Lead with a hard number people can’t ignore
- Tie it to a clear stance or initiative
Wet n Wild - TikTok
Wet n Wild used TikTok’s community to launch a new mascara range.
They worked with JVKE (one of the platform’s top influencers) to create a soundtrack, and the campaign generated:
- Over 1.5 million video creations
- A 9.6% increase in brand awareness
Pattern to steal:
- Build a piece of media (sound, hook, format) the community can copy
- Measure success by how many people remix it, not just views
Gymshark - TikTok
Gymshark is another TikTok success story.
The goal was a fan-led community powered by user-generated content, because they were fighting giants like Adidas and Nike.
Results:
- Grew TikTok followership to 3.7 million
- Gained 57 millions likes
Pattern to steal:
- Let fans do the content creation
- Give them a repeatable template they can plug themselves into
Continue learning:
- Partnership vs Spark ads
- Organic posting from creators