YouTube vs TikTok
Which Platform Is An Influencers Hotspot?
The biggest rivalry between the second largest search engine platform “YouTube” and also the fastest growing social media platform “TikTok” both competing for your attention. Today, we will be looking at the disparities of Youtube vs. Tiktok.
Both of these social media giants provide video contents but which of these keeps you entertained most of the time. Despite many people comparing these two social media giants with some TikTok fans saying “TikTok is the new YouTube” or “YouTube is outdated” and so forth. In opposition, users that have been using YouTube for years fancy its longer video form’s and are also inclusive of all ages.
Your friendly neighborhood YouTube
Youtube has been around since the start of 2005, and since then, it has been dominating the video-sharing space with over 2.6 billion monthly users worldwide and ranks as the second largest most visited website in the world. YouTube now is considerably one of the most popular sites on the internet. Youtube is a video sharing service where users can watch, like, share, comment, even upload their own videos or even launch a business. With the recent introduction of YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, Music, and a host of other features, it’s clear that YouTube’s golden age isn’t over just yet.
Now, do you know TikTok? What is TikTok
TikTok blew off onto the social media scene since it was launched in 2016 by a Chinese giant Bytedance under the name of “Douyin”. Since then, Tiktok have been gradually asserting dominance in the social media platforms and the number of users have been escalating with over 2 billion downloads per today.
With such an astonishing growth rate, you might wonder. Is TikTok giving YouTube a run for its money? Which platform is better for businesses and viewers in 2022? Which platform is more suitable for influencers? Now that the YouTube vs. TikTok debate is heating up. If you’re a small business and don’t have the time or resources to create and edit video content for both platforms at the same time, you might be dilly dallying on which platform you should be using.
What makes the LARGEST video-sharing platform and the FASTEST growing social media different?
So, let’s start off by differentiating the features and functions of both these platforms. Spotting the differences may well be obvious, YouTube caters videos that can be in seconds, minutes or even hours in length. Whereas, TikTok caters to short videos which average around 15 seconds to a minute.
TikTok extended its maximum length of video to three minutes, but they prevent TikTok creators from delivering detailed pieces of content as they tend to focus more on allowing users to keep scrolling through videos.
Tiktok also features and viral trends create an appetite for young people to get in on the action and unleash their inner creativity. What’s more? The videos are short but raw, authentic, energetic, and deeply engaging. You don’t even need to post videos or follow anyone to view their content.
YouTube however, gives more freedom to creators in creating their own content without bearing in mind of any time limits. YouTube delivers full-length videos that are coordinated to entertain you through music, education, sports, gaming, or just your favourite creators’ daily vlogs. And also, the search bar is right there – yeah as in like right there.
YouTube has ascertain dominance and growth due to several factors, which includes:
- The ease to use and access
- Attracts a larger target audience
- Trendy user base
- Various contents and volume
What makes you want to use YouTube and TikTok regularly?
Ever heard of the “OMG I love his/her content ” or “have you seen that TikToker”, yes, we definitely are one of many subscribers and followers to our favoured content creators. We tend to enjoy being up to date on their daily or weekly posting whether it’s a daily vlog, new product exposure, educating content or just pure entertainment.
But what makes us want to use YouTube and TikTok repetitively is mainly to relax and feel entertained by our favourite channels and beloved content creators. They deliver what our eyes want to see, and with that we subscribe and follow them on their channels and accounts, not only to be up to date but also be a part of their social community.
What else other than creating content to entertain?
Content creators, businesses, and influencers are now more conscious of the power of video-sharing, and how to use it to their advantages. Despite the fact that YouTube and TikTok are video-sharing based platforms. Creators also use them to promote businesses, social media branding, advocating events and showcase new products of their own.
Both have an incredible amount of eyeballs. But coming back to the time limit that TikTok implied, brands and businesses can only promote their products or services for a limited time only.
Beyond uploading videos to your channels or working with influencers, TikTok advertising is an effective way to market your brand on these social media platforms. Since the platform thrives on fast interactions in an easy-going atmosphere, you can reach an audience that’s excited to connect with you.
TikTok for business offers different ad types to help brands expand their reach, including:
- TopView Ads
- In-Feed Ads
- Branded Hashtags
- Brand Takeovers
- Branded Effects
Contrastingly, YouTube allows creators to publish multiple-length ads which may suit some brands where longer screen time may be their preferred advertisement choice. But there are also downsides of YouTube ads which may lead to terrible user experience because some ads just pop out of nowhere – like???.
Other than that, the YouTube stats don’t lie. YouTube is valuable for driving traffic, audience engagements, and revenue. With over two billion users, you can reach a broader target audience and market your product and services. By creating engaging videos, you can achieve top ranking, establish brand recognition and authority.
The beautiful thing about YouTube is that it supports active content marketing with a clear call to action. You can ask your audiences to subscribe to your channel, watch other videos, leave comments, visit your website or social media pages.
Top influencers on Youtube and TikTok
What is an influencer?
Influencer – A person with authority, knowledge, position and relationship with his/her audience may impact the purchasing decisions of others. They create a social relationship with brands by collaborating through social media to fulfil their marketing objectives.
Stars like Charli D’amelio and Pewdiepie, the biggest stars on TikTok and YouTube have their large amount of fan base respectively. Charli has around 138million followers on TikTok and 9 million subscribers on YouTube as of now. With that thought, she is the first person to surpass the 100million line in TikTok.
Now – wonder how she makes the $$$?
Easy answer: through sponsored content. With the amount of her followers, brands such as Prada and Dunkin Donuts have seen the opportunity to amplify their popularity through collaborating with the TikTok star.
However, Pewdiepie doesn’t have his own TikTok account as of now, but he has a staggering 111million subscribers to his channel and counting. He then became the most subscribed content creator on the platform multiple times during his career which had seen massive shifts away from what he became a YouTube Influencer.
Somehow the quality of the content is an essential factor
How people make the content on each platform ultimately affects how you view each platform. TikTok skews relatively young compared to YouTube.
TikTok, with its short videos and easy uploading experience, appeals to the younger generation. People with a smartphone camera can immediately start a TikTok channel and the quality would be just as good as many of the videos currently airing.
As a viewer, the higher quality content tends to be more watchable than a short video recorded on a smartphone. When it comes to the quality of the content, YouTube beats TikTok hands down.
Conclusion
As you can see, there’s no doubt YouTube and TikTok can help you drive your business to the next level. However, the most suitable platform for you depends on your target audience, your marketing goals, and the type of videos you want to make.
If you’re looking to target young millennials or Gen Z audiences, then TikTok is a perfect fit. But if you’re targeting a more diverse audience made up of both the young and old, then YouTube should be a crucial part of your marketing mix.
YouTube is excellent for creating brand awareness, acquiring leads, and increasing conversions. On the flip side, TikTok is suitable for creating a buzz about your brand, products, trends, or social activities.
You can find out more on how to take advantage of these platforms for your brand through our social media agency. For more information click on the link to contact us for more social media marketing consultancy.