Which to open first, Instagram Reels or TikTok

The short answer: start with the channel where your buyers already watch videos, and publish the same material on the other one too. The difference between the channels is smaller than the difference between publishing regularly and not. Few Finnish brands have fallen behind because they picked the wrong channel. Many have fallen behind because they published four videos and stopped.

The choice still matters during the first months. It decides how quickly you see the first results, how much time handling comments takes and what kind of material is worth shooting.

If you have not published a single video yet, first read how to get started with short-form video. Kanavavalinta on helpompi tehdä, kun tuotanto on jo pystyssä.

Audiences in Finland differ, but less than before

In Finland, Instagram is the channel where almost every consumer brand already has an account, followers and some kind of purchase path. The age range is wide. If you sell to 30- or 45-year-olds, you reach them on Instagram without any special explanation.

TikTok's Finnish user base is younger, but it is no longer just a teen channel. Users have grown up with the channel and older age groups have followed. We will not throw in percentages here, because they go out of date faster than a blog post gets updated and because they easily lead to the wrong decision. The more important difference is how the channels are used.

On Instagram, people follow brands they already know. The profile works as a business card and a shop front. Direct messages are a real sales channel. On TikTok, people primarily watch content, not accounts. You get found without anyone knowing who you are, and the follow only comes after a few good videos.

This leads to a practical difference: Instagram rewards a brand that already has an audience. TikTok rewards a brand that does not yet have one.

The algorithms are not the same

Both channels measure the same things: whether a video is watched to the end, whether it is watched again, whether it is shared. The logic of distribution is still different.

On TikTok, a new video goes by default to people who do not follow you. A hundred followers and a hundred thousand followers start from the same point if the video is good. It also means a bad video dies quickly and leaves no trace. On TikTok, search is genuinely used: people look for products and places in the search bar, so the spoken content and on-screen text of a video affect whether you get found later.

On Instagram Reels, your own followers are still part of distribution. A video is shown first to those who already know you, and expands from there. Sharing by direct message is a strong signal on Instagram. If a video is the kind you send to a friend, it spreads.

In practice this means the same video can get many times more views on TikTok than on Reels or the other way round, without either number saying anything about the quality of the video. That is why the metric should be the same on both: how many watched to the end and how many did something after watching.

The same material on both: what works and what does not

The shoot is done once. The same vertical footage, the same takes, the same story. There is no point building two separate productions here, because the cost doubles and the result does not improve.

These things still need to be handled separately:

Watermark. Never upload a video downloaded from TikTok to Instagram. A watermarked video gets less distribution and it looks lazy. Export the raw version from your editing software separately for both.

Text placement. The interface buttons and text sit in different places. If the captions are too low, on TikTok they end up under the caption and the buttons. Keep all essential text in the middle of the frame, well away from the top and bottom edges.

Sounds. Business accounts have different music libraries on different channels. A trending sound that is free to use on TikTok is not necessarily free on Instagram. On a business account, use the channel's own commercial library, not any hit song you like.

Hook and caption. The first seconds are often worth cutting differently, because on TikTok the viewer has come straight from the feed and on Instagram they may already know the brand. On TikTok the hook can be a question, on Instagram it can be the end result right at the start.

Keywords. On TikTok, the caption and the words spoken in the video end up in search, so write the words people actually use to search for the product in the caption, not your internal product name. On Instagram the same text does less work, but it does no harm either.

Publishing and replying. Publish the same video on the different channels a couple of days apart instead of pushing both out in the same minute. That way you have time to reply to comments properly during the first hour, which on both channels is the moment that decides distribution.

Which one first, if you only have the resources for one

An online shop that already has Instagram followers and a working ad account: start with Reels. The audience and the purchase path are already there, and a video that works organically can be pushed into paid distribution the same day.

A new or unknown brand whose product looks good on video: start with TikTok. You can get going there without a follower base, and it is the fastest place to see whether the message speaks to anyone.

A local service, restaurant or bricks-and-mortar shop: Instagram first. The profile, location and booking button are all there, and a local audience is easier to reach.

An app or digital product: TikTok first. The flow of downloads starts faster there.

We look at how the channel suits different industries separately in the article is TikTok advertising worth it for a business.

When neither is worth starting

Channel choice is a pointless question if any of these apply.

You cannot publish at least two videos a week for six months. A three-video test tells you nothing. The first weeks are calibration, where you find out which format bites. If you already know shooting will stop when the season starts, put the money elsewhere.

Nobody replies to comments and messages. On both channels, sales often happen in direct messages. If messages are answered three days late, the demand the videos create drains away.

You plan to open both at the same time at half effort. Two half-dead accounts are a worse result than one living one. Open the second channel only when the first produces steadily and enough material is coming out to cover it without extra work.

Other obstacles are not solved by switching channels. If you have a few dozen buyers in Finland and you know their names, or if the only agreed metric is follower count, the problem lies somewhere other than the choice between Reels and TikTok. That list is covered point by point in the article a TikTok account for your business, and it applies as it stands to Instagram too.

What we have seen in practice

We do not split the figures below by channel, because the same material has run on both and the split varies from client to client.

With OnePlus Finland the comparison is unusually straightforward, because the account stayed the same and only the creator changed. The first four posts made 131,000 views, organic reach grew by 650% and the first video got 300% more views than the ones made by the previous partner. The channel did not change, the content did.

Sneak.fi gathered 9.8 million views in the first 30 days, and the Black Friday campaign returned 8x on ad spend. There too the same material ran on both channels, and there is no sense in isolating either one's share after the fact.

The common factor is not the channel. It is the publishing pace and the fact that the material was made for the channel rather than adapted from a TV ad.

How to go on from here

Pick one channel based on where your buyers are and where you already have something in place. Agree a publishing pace you can keep up for six months. Publish the same material on the other channel from day one as well, because it only costs an export and repositioning the text.

If you want to see what this would look like with your product, see what ongoing short-form video production includes, and book a short meeting. In it we go through your current accounts, which channel to open first, and at what pace. Prices can be found in the price list.