EP 15 Instagram is now prioritizing original content: How will this differ from Tiktok?
Get ready for yet another update from our boy, Adam Mosseri. Instagram is beginning to prioritize original content, putting Instagram on a more level playing field with more casual, Tiktok. Sonia and Harley break down the nuances of what original content means, how it relates to tiktok content, and the culture & strategy involved.
Head to @yoursocialteam for recent IG plagiarism events and @thatalliemason for a rundown of why this was problematic.
Timestamps:
[0:22] Instagram is prioritizing original content - thoughts on this.
[5:19] "Hack culture."
[7:22] Growth potential on Insta vs TikTok.
[9:24] TikTok algorithm and comments.
[12:20] TikTok and Instagram don't work the same way - you need different strategies.
[16:19] Is TikTok the place for people who don't want to teach the basics?
[20:24] Is Instagram dying?
--
LINKS:
Find Harley:
IG: @theharleyjordan
Website: https://www.theharleyjordan.com/
Find Sonia:
IG: @Sonia.elyss
Website: https://www.soniaelyss.com/
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00:00
Welcome to brand meet Creator Podcast with me Harley Jordan and Sonia Elise, a place where we pull back
0:06
the curtain and the trashy filters on the influencer marketing industry.
0:10
So pull up a chair and grab a notebook, it's time to shed some light
0:13
on the ever changing. It's diverse.
0:22
We're jumping on today to talk about tick tock versus Instagram culture. Adam mosseri actually jumped on a little live recently, as he tends to do with a little news that Instagram is really starting to prioritize more original content. Now this to me, I don't know about you, Sonia. But this sounds like a little clock app that we know. And love.
0:48
Yeah, no surprise there.
0:50
Yeah, what's new, but I do think that is going to turn down a lot of this, you know, jumping on trends, stuff that's happening. So first and foremost looks like kind of banter on that. How do you how do you feel about that, that new announcement,
1:08
I honestly unsubscribed from the Atmos Cerri Instagram account, I just like couldn't take it anymore. I felt like so many of the updates were just they, but was fast. You know, it's like it gets the whole community super hyped up, but you're really left with no true understanding of what's going on. So I chose not to torture myself like that. But
1:33
the updates are so silly. Like the fact that they jump on and want to talk about that. I mean, you know, our, you know, our thoughts on the multiple feeds thing.
1:43
And I guess I just am not understanding is what he means by like, Oh, they're prioritizing original content, like they've all like everyone has always prioritized original content. So just curious, like what he means by that more specifically, in terms of like, length, I think we all know, like reels is super up there. And does he mean like less voiceover type stuff where you're mouthing the words or like lip sync, excuse me voiceover lip sync stuff, where you're mouthing the words and more like, original content as it's me speaking, teaching something? Or does he mean it in a different sense?
2:23
Yeah. See, I would guess that it would be me jumping on as a talking head and using my own voice. But I don't know if you saw another bit of beef this weekend on Instagram. about AI assume so I've got a little plagiarism that went on. From my big big account. I will let I will let you dive into that go to our social team. Live watch that little live show. I'm gonna subtly plug our our girl ally Mason as well, because she did an amazing job of recapping that. But I can't see them really being in a place where that was what they were looking to do to to disband like multiple posts of a specific video. Sure. I
3:14
think it's difficult. I mean, I think, yes, what went over what happened over the weekend was really shocking to me that it's one thing where I think it is common practice to like, share people's posts to stories and highlight them. And I don't think that there is necessarily a problem with that. tagging them giving them credit, as long as you're not using it for something that benefits yourself. But to straight up lift somebody else's video without asking them and post it onto your channel, whether you tag them or not. And, uh, you know, it's a channel that is producing high amount of dollar income for you. That's just wrong. That's wrong, especially,
3:59
especially at prices that many of us smaller businesses can't compete with. Absolutely. That family is offering $7 Everything.
4:10
Yeah, with that, for sure. And I think the creators team, you know, highlighted his content very recently and a lot of people were very upset with that as well. And, you know, I just don't think bringing it back to like tick tock versus Instagram. I don't think that that's something that happens on tick tock as much. I have heard that people have seen their videos posted over on Tik Tok as a screen record, but it doesn't seem to be nearly as much of a problem as we are seeing on Instagram for sure. I
4:42
think the version that you see on Tik Tok is really the advice to stitch something stitch the first part of the video. So you're catching your cat, you're having them do the hook thing. You're allowing someone else to hook their eye and then you're basically responding to it. So Even within your niche you can be piggybacking off of which I again think is just this like trash cloud thing instead of like, actually making a good point. Because you can, you can literally take that person, same video, it's very likely that it's going to get shared to their following and say the same thing, but cut them off hacker culture,
5:20
whether that is on Instagram or Tiktok. Just like really irks me, and here's why. The person who we are speaking of right now did put out a hack recently that had my eyes rolling so far back in my head, I could not it was about it was putting up a, an image of text. But having the image actually be a video that was only two seconds. Yeah, one second or two seconds long, but knowing that the text would take the reader longer than that amount of time yet, thus increasing your views. triple quadruple fold. Sure, okay. Yeah, that is an option. And I actually did recently post a real where it was very, very short. And it looped really quickly. And I noticed like triple the amount of use that I normally did. But here's the kicker to anyone who thinks that this is like the key to life. The key to winning at all. It's not because at the end of the day, those views were tripled, but the engagement was the same or lower. I didn't see new followers from it. So it still doesn't matter. Like if the content is tricking people into viewing it multiple times. Again, that started with the trick like you're tricking people into doing more views the first zero reason
6:41
Hey, Sonia, Sonia content is king. She said that to me. She said that to me before and I was like, what does that mean?
6:51
It literally means more as more and no one cares how you get there. Just do it. And unfortunately, I think that is what is happening over on Instagram more than I see on Tiktok on Tik Tok, I think that people are like rapid fire posting, but there is a bit more creativity and a bit more fun. On Instagram, people are stressed and they're just like, yeah, just stress. That's it. They're stressed on Instagram.
7:19
People are very stressed on Instagram. I mean, look, the engagement on tick tock on average. I mean, I've heard this from a couple of our clients recently in client meetings, that average engagement is lower on tick tock. Now, growth potential might be higher, but you really cannot guarantee that your video is going to reach more eyes. The ones that go off Sure, you might have a billion followers because that's just the culture of tick tock, where you press follow but you don't even you don't even hang out on your following page. Like there's just so many differences there that I I just can't. It's apples to oranges for me.
7:59
Sure. And I think I am interested in seeing what happens over on tick tock now that they have the Tick Tock stories feature. Will it mimic more of what Instagram has done with Instagram stories? I really raised an eyebrow to that recent launch, because I think one of the key features of Instagram that I have loved so dearly and that I've loved for my clients so much is stories. And so to see, tick tock of mimic it is very, very interesting to me. And of course all of the Tick Tock teachers have been saying jump on it right now. Like they want you to be using it take advantage of it. For me as someone who is more Instagram native because I've been on it for years before Tik Tok launch. I have a hard time figuring out what to put onto my tic tock stories. Like you can film a regular tic tock and then it says like, do you want to put on two stories and like, but don't I want to put it on to my regular fee? Like I don't yet get right.
9:00
With the casual content? I mean, your tic TOCs are your stories in Instagram language, right so what what else do I have for you? I just feel like I can't create more. And I'm actually very leery of even I'm I'm like a no no tic tock person. Like I don't want to be on it. I don't I don't even want to scroll it. And here's why. If I'm scrolling it, their algorithms too good. I get lost. Like I will sit there and binge it. I don't I don't got time for that. I'll end up in the conspiracy theories. I'll end up in some like crazy woowoo astrology land, like that's where I'm going to be. But I'll have time for that. And also, I really hate the comment culture over there. I really hate the culture of tick tock. I don't think it's positive. And I don't have the energy to deal with it. So let's let's talk about that a little bit.
9:54
Sure. I mean, I think common culture anywhere on any social app can be He quite negative pretty quickly. And I think this goes really well into our DM episode. People are behind the screen, they're not having to say these things to you personally. And I think because of TiC TOCs algorithm, if your video starts to go viral, you really could expose to such a wide net of people that maybe you were not intending to and that really leaves you open to a lot of internet abuse really. And I think it is pretty harsh over on Tik Tok. Absolutely, it can be for sure, I've seen some of the creators that I follow that I like a lot that have bigger followings, you know, using the comment feature and doing a video in response to comments, and a lot of them are so mean. Yeah, so I think it's the it's the FYP, the for you page on tick tock, it really just makes it a completely different beast and the algorithm that they have built, make it something that is just really unpredictable in terms of exactly how it will turn out. And I think that, you know, the advice that I see over there most frequently is like, post more. Yeah. Okay, well, posting more increases your chances of going viral? Of course. Oh, sure. That's, that's an odds game. We've all been to Vegas. So you know, eventually, you are going to hit a win somewhere in there. But you know, how much time will you have spent on losses? You know, I really have my tick tock strategy as when I'm feeling it. I'll post as many as I can. And when I'm not, I just don't open the app. And I'm fine with that. I've been on it two months, I have 500, almost 500 followers, slow and steady growth and like cool. And I've really use it a lot to interact with creators and see what they're doing, see what they're up to and to watch brands. So I think because I've been pretty strategic on this account in how I use it. I've been you know, blessed with only watching stuff that has to pertain to those things. So I'm not getting as lost in you know, some sort of like golden retriever page, which is good for me so that I don't waste too much time. But yeah, I mean, that algorithm will get you you will be on for hours. That is the purpose of the app, just like Instagram is trying to do grasping at straws for more minutes of your attention. Right?
12:19
Right. So you are a through and through Instagram girl. Yes, I
12:25
would say Instagram is still my number one. Tick tock is slowly sneaking up as my number two. But I still don't I still am an Instagram girl. It's stories for me. I can be on stories for a very long time seeing what people are up to friends are up to publications that I pay attention to a lot clicking their links than reading an article. I can really be deep on stories for
12:51
you know what, I totally agree it's the deeper water for me, I'm someone that like hate small talk like I despise it with my whole soul. So tick tock feels like small talk to me where like you're only commenting back and forth. Like you're not really in people's DMS it's not really about community Instagrams community.
13:09
Yeah, I think that's a really great point that I had never thought of before. Tick tock is little tiny bite sized, that's why you have to be so quick, so entertaining, so over the top, to get people to follow. And I get served people's videos all the time. And I sort of tried to create, you know, like little levers for myself, if I laugh, if I raise an eyebrow, if I watch it more than once, then I'll consider following. If it isn't someone that I already follow. So I try and give myself that because or else I'm watching so many videos that people I don't follow, and I don't even like them. That's the other thing. Like I think that's why engagement on Tik Tok is so low is because you become so entranced with each video and swiping to the swiping to the next one, that you forget that you're even supposed to do anything else, right? Instagram really started in singular images that you were supposed to like and comment on and grew from there. And so because you were trained early on in your Instagram usage, that this is what we do. I think that you have to have different strategies for each. Some content will of course always be able to move over. But I noticed recently that when I'm teaching I teach much better on Tik Tok because I have a slightly longer period of time on Instagram. If I'm doing a real witch. That's really what I'm thinking of is the comparison to tick tock. It's very difficult to teach something that I want to teach specifically in one minute. I find that it's much easier for people who are teaching things that will make three minute videos on Tiktok but sometimes I don't go all the way to the three minute mark but I find that one minute is too short. Like I need 30 or two minutes to dissect something that is a real teaching moment for me personally and I think If that's because I'm not the type of person who teaches an entry level concept most of the time and like, let me give you these three points and talk about why. And I'm talking about marketing strategy. And I'm talking about like deeper subjects. And when I filmed those, and I think about putting them over onto Instagram, I'm realizing like, I can't edit this down to a minute, it's like not in my capacity. And then why I'm gonna put it on like, well, what IG TV rip, but that's not it's not even a thing anymore. But you know, like, nobody watches those, they get zero, right? Service zero. So essentially, Instagram is being very counterintuitive for me personally, when they're saying like, teach something, add value to the community. Oh, but then you only do it in one minute. We're only going to if you can do it in the one minute
15:46
or loud even? Yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't even recommend a minute, I get terrified at 32 seconds. I'm like, they won't watch it. This is 32 seconds. So true.
15:56
Which is why so many people are teaching the same things. Because I don't think that there are a lot of truly truly valuable things in life that can be taught in less than 30 seconds. There are things that are like eyebrow razors that are like, Huh, that's interesting. I want to learn more that you could learn in that amount of time, but like truly adding value to a community in less than 30 seconds like no, I just don't think so.
16:20
Okay, I think this is a super interesting topic, because this is something that I've been changing up recently. And I've been trying to just tell a story that has a take home message that's more like problem awareness, instead of like really diving deeper into the very typical, provide value, provide value provide value, because I think that provide value turns into hacks very easily. And you know, how we feel about hot culture? I just not, it's not deep enough. And at this point, I'm also kind of questioning if you have that secondary level of service, providing if you're not your basics kind of person, which there's tons of people that are in that boat that never want to teach the basics is tic tock your place.
17:09
Yeah, I mean, that would be my recommendation. I shot a video today about things I bought recently from the Sephora sale because of marketing. Yeah. And I highlighted three different brands. And I talked about the marketing efforts that brought awareness to me that led me to purchase. It's like two minutes and 30 seconds right now. And I was trying to think like, Okay, this didn't take me a ton of time to film because it's something I've been thinking about for a hot second. So I was almost thinking and this could be a good takeaway for others is, can I get one clip from it that I really love for reals, and then just have the caption or the promotion and stories be like, Hey, I broke this down in greater detail on tick tock if you want to. And then post the full video on tick tock. That funnel
17:57
is really what you need to do. I mean, even if you're setting up the problem with just your real, like I said, Your realist problem awareness, your tick tock is the full blown potato,
18:10
for sure. The full blown
18:14
out man,
18:15
your reels are the french fry, and your tick tock is the baked that is your take home nugget for this episode. I do think that's true. And I use tick tock a lot because of that discoverable motion that they have over there. Because like if you're really in the genre that you want to be in, you can connect with people quite quickly. I use it just to like remind people that I'm looking for beauty influencers a lot. And I like lip syncs to remind people of that. And I don't really think that adds value. But because it's increasing the number of posts that I do, and it's increasing the number of posts that I do within my niche, I have been able to find more girls over there that want to be
19:04
for skin true Tik Tok fashion and trying to find my girlies
19:08
I think at this point, my Instagram is just to remind people in my industry that I exist, I have worked with good clients, and I know what I'm talking about. And hopefully it just keeps me like top of mind for them. And I think it does, because I've had friends who follow me, reference my work that oh, yeah, I remember that you did this thing. So like, let me connect you to this. But that's also more specific to my personal business model as well, where, you know, I don't really have stuff that's as affordable and as quick plug and play. Whereas somebody you know, like, like you who has stuff that is like if someone discovered you they'd be able to quickly for literally $15 Exactly, they'd be able to get into your next group session. I think that's amazing and that using those quick moments is probably very beneficial for you. So I think it's really about thinking about Got your business and I, this goes back really to everything in business. Step back before you commit your time to something and think about what your goal is. And then think about what is applicable to that goal because not everyone needs to be on tick tock, and not everybody needs to be on Instagram with full force, you can pick one or the other, but decide what suits your business goals most or what you're trying to accomplish most on each channel before you dive in.
20:24
One thing that I do hear all the time is, and I can't believe people are still saying this is Instagram dying, isn't dying.
20:32
Never. That's how they got on top of shops and affiliates so hard that Instagram will not die. Also, hello, owned by Mehta, they will never die because they will always have funding. So Right. No problem. And they clearly have and this is maybe for another episode, but they do clearly have a monopoly on advertising. There is no other platform, like Facebook slash Instagram under the meta umbrella where you can advertise for as low cost as effectively as you can there. And thus, they will always survive no matter what they do.
21:12
I just think that anyone that's telling you that you have to jump ship, you have to go to tick tock if you want to, you know, build a sustainable platform. No crazy. But one of the other things that we do see, because we because we have this big great vast hole between Instagram and Tiktok. This divide is people are like really actively fighting Instagram users are really actively fighting the like, new changing territory of, of Instagram. Like we hated rails, the number of times that I've heard, like, I just love pictures. I'm like, No, your view, time tells me that you don't like pictures. So like, nice try. But I'm wondering if that is going to leave us in a place where it's like Facebook, where it's just its own different entity of like, bad culture?
22:09
Um, yes, I mean, I think as products evolve, we evolve our usage of them, and no one likes change. And that's like a blanket statement for humankind, people are resistant to change. So every time there are updates every time that they rock the boat, people hate that, because they have to learn something new, they have to figure out new strategies. It's just difficult and stressful for everyone involved. And there's so many businesses that rely on the way things worked before that it makes it so hard to be constantly evolving. I think it's a mindset shift at that point, knowing that you have to surrender, that, uh, you don't own the business, you don't own them, tick tock, you don't own Instagram, they're all or Facebook, they're always going to do what they want to do and what's in their best interest for them first, and you have to evolve with the times, the only thing you own is your own website, your own product, your own experience. So if you really have such a hard time with the changes that are going on in other places, maybe consider investing somewhere else.
23:15
You know what I love that take home message though, I love this idea that we always should be reflecting and growing and evolving within our content within our strategy and watching and learning. I think all of that is so important, because at the end of the day, I will scream this from the rooftop rooftops, it is not hard to grow on a platform, it is the soul searching and evolved and the time that you must commit into finding your place that people love you for not that you love that people love you for on the internet.
23:49
Absolutely. And if you don't want to do all that growing, evolving, changing, and I'm like deep searching for like how to keep moving on the platform. I also think like that's fine, but then just adjust your expectation know that you are not going to continue to grow at that rate. Yeah, you're not gonna grow and that's okay at this at the same time. Like maybe you hit you know, your 5000 followers and you're like, you know what, I'm in a good place with these people. And like, I'll continue to use the functions that I feel comfortable with at the rate I feel comfortable with. And I'm good with that. Other people want to keep climbing and that's great for them as well. But if you don't want to evolve don't but just stop considering that you're going to have other outcomes because you will
24:30
let's be realistic. Let's be realistic here. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of brand meet creator if you loved it, rate review. Subscribe. Are those the words I still don't know. Follow any of you. Follow along? Unsure and come hang out with us on Instagram. I had the Harley Jordan and Sonia dot Elise