Transcript
It's the battle of viral posts: TikTok vs. Reels vs. Shorts. Which one is your best bet for going viral? We recently got a comment on one of our videos asking us to do a comparison between the three, so that's what we're gonna do today. If you have any other topics you'd like to see covered, drop those in the comments below. You might just inspire our next clip.
Okay, let's get into it. The question of the hour: which one is your best bet to go viral?TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube shorts? We regularly publish content to all three, so let's take a look at how the same piece of content performs when posted to all three places.
Repurposing trending TikTok videos to Reels & Shorts.
First up, we have this video by one of our content marketers, Amanda. In the clip, she uses a trending TikTok song by Rihanna and is poking fun at how many different hats a social media manager wears. We first posted this video on TikTok and here's the stats. The clip received over 91,000 views and nearly 300 comments. Not too shabby for an account with just over 50,000 followers.
Now, over at Instagram, where we have a much larger audience of over 400,000 followers. As a Reel, this clip received 173,000 views and over 250 comments.
P.S. If you're publishing a TikTok to Reels, it's super important to first remove the watermark as Instagram has stated that publishing Reels with the TikTok watermark will likely lower your views. You can use a site like Snaptick.app to remove yours.
Now, on YouTube Shorts, the video received just under 300 views; though, it is worth noting that our YouTube channel is our smallest following, sitting just around 30,000 subscribers.
So, what's the takeaway? It might seem easy to say that Instagram Reels is the clear winner for virality, but when you factor in our follower size on each platform, TikTok really takes the cake when it comes to virality. But there are some key factors worth noting, especially when it comes to TikTok versus Reels. Let's look up another video.
Repurposing less trending audio from TikTok to Reels & Shorts.
This sound is a clip from the Blockbuster hit film Legally Blonde. The sound actually wasn't trending on TikTok, but we added our own unique spin. As a result, the video really took off for us with over 700,000 views and more than 600 comments.
Me? Yeah. Okay. Hi. I'm Elle Woods and this is Bruiser Woods. And we're both Gemini vegetarians.
Over on Instagram, it hit around 252,000 views and just over 140 comments.
The takeaway? Originality is definitely rewarded, and starting a trend on TikTok tends to feel a little easier than Reels at the moment. But that's not to say TikTok always reigns supreme in every case.
This video is an example of how important it is to jump on a trend at the right time. We originally first shared this video to TikTok while the trending audio was well into its peak and it received just under 10,000 likes and 30 comments. On Instagram, the clip hit a million views with over 130 comments.
The key difference? We posted the Reel super early into when it was trending on Instagram, so it's super valuable to jump on trends quickly on both channels rather than wait to craft the perfect video because your moment to go viral might just pass you by.
Is it even worth posting to YouTube Shorts?
If you're like, "Okay, but what about YouTube Shorts? Are they even worth posting?" On a good day, we get anywhere from 5 to 7,000 organic views on a video. While that may not seem like a lot when you compare it to TikTok and Instagram Reels, we found it's still worth our time as it's still a fairly new addition to YouTube.
The landscape is less competitive, and since we're just repurposing content from TikTok and Reels, it's a low-lift effort on our end. Plus, we've seen a boost in our following when a particular video does well.
So, which platform is the real winner?
When it comes to going viral, there's not much competition. TikTok is the clear winner. While our brand finds it beneficial to post to all three, we typically tend to get the highest overall views for our audience size from TikTok. If your goal is brand awareness and you haven't jumped on TikTok yet, I highly recommend the platform. And don't stress; I've got plenty of helpful TikTok resources, from courses to an ultimate guide. Let us know if this was interesting or helpful. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button for more social media hot takes, tips, and tricks. See you later!
