Poor TikTok has not only faced a nail-biting teeter at the edge of survival this week, but is also contending with a Chinese rival actively recruiting its influencers.
Now, another rival, Meta’s Instagram, is also reported to be trying to court TikTok influencers over to its platform, with thousands of dollars promised if they will post to Reels.
The alleged deal would see influencers pocket the cash from Meta if they post to Reels first but then are able to publish elsewhere. Meta, though, would get the exclusive.
Capitalizing on the Chaos
According to a report from The Information, Instagram is actively approaching creators and offering them “bonuses” valued at between $10,000 to $50,000 per month.
The Meta execs are obviously hoping this will give the platform a boost of exclusive content from some of TikTok’s biggest names, and attract TikTokers to follow them to Instagram.
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TikTok users are actively looking for alternatives as the surge of interest in Shanghai-based social media app, RedNote, has shown and so it’s understandable that Instagram would want to capitalize on the chaos around TikTok’s future as well.
Waiting in the Wings
Instagram’s Reels, launched in 2020, was designed specifically to compete with TikTok. A recent (and not universally loved) decision to switch from square to rectangular profile grids is a measure of exactly how much emulation there is.
The two platforms have always fought a close battle, with Business Insider reporting last June that increased engagement with Reels was directly correlated with decreased usage of TikTok.
The report quotes a Morgan Stanley survey of 2,000 US consumers, which revealed that more than a third of Instagram users use Reels daily, and 78% engage with it monthly. But specifically, it revealed that 26% of reels users are not using TikTok at all, which is an increase on the previous year’s percentage.
The Meta team may be suggesting that TikTok’s popularity is waning but its incoming changes to moderation (and TikTok’s possible reprieve) might yet change the rankings.
Have Reels Bonuses Worked Before?
The Verge suggests that bonus-led schemes to get creators on board have had mixed results for Instagram in the past. The company launched a bonus program in 2021, but it was short-lived with creators complaining about decreasing payments. There is a bonus program on the Instagram site at the moment.
Meta also ran an invite-only bonus program for Threads last spring, but Engadget wrote that, despite the dollars coming in, many were totally baffled by the algorithm.
With the fight for TikTok refugees ongoing, despite the 75-day window, this is one bonus program that Meta needs to work and really catch the big-hitting influencers’ attention. However, it also needs to be good enough to keep them from returning to TikTok or looking elsewhere.
