THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TIKTOK MARKETING COMPARED TO INSTAGRAM IN ATTRACTING GENERATION Z

Аннотация

The study will compare and contrast the ability of the two platforms to market to consumers in generation Z. This paper uses a combination of industry data, peer-reviewed empirical studies and advertising performance metrics published from 2023 to 2026 to assess the performance of both platforms across five areas: user demographics/reach, algorithmic content distribution, organic and paid engagement, the effectiveness of influencer marketing, and downstream audience-inspired purchase behavior. These results show that although Instagram has a larger overall Gen Z user base, with adoption rates around 86-89 percent versus TikTok's 63-82 percent, TikTok consistently performs better than Instagram when it comes to engagement metrics, with organic engagement rates ranging from 2.5 to 8.1 percent, well ahead of Instagram's averages. Other benefits include the reduced advertising expense, the higher level of brand discovery for organic content among Gen Z, and the greater impact on purchase intent as a result of TikTok user engagement, with 77 percent of Gen Z users saying they discovered a product on TikTok. The analysis highlights key constraints, however, such as inconsistencies in measurement, regulatory uncertainty of TikTok in some regions, and potential risks of content fatigue. The paper concludes that a strategy to use both platforms is a good combination of tools, with TikTok being more powerful for awareness and discovery tasks, and Instagram complementing the platform for conversion and nurturing tasks.