It’s 8 AM at Everyman Cinema, and it’s busy despite the hour.
The usual hush has been replaced with the clinking of mugs and energetic chatter. The hiss of espresso machines working overtime as a crowd gathers at the bar, waiting patiently for their first dose of caffeine of the day. Well-dressed men and women are deep in conversation with one another — you can overhear cheerful exchanges of marketing strategies, business cards, recent professional milestones, raucous laughter, and nostalgia over family holidays with the occasional lul to sip their tea.
This is no ordinary Wednesday morning. It’s The Networking Club’s monthly Breakfast Club where entrepreneurs, academics and industry leaders regularly gather together to grow their professional network and catch up with familiar faces. It’s a brilliant reinvention of the traditional networking event, cutting down any stereotypes that it has to be conservative, robotic or mundane. After all, who said networking has to be boring? The turnout grows with each month, and it was hard-pressed to find an empty seat in the cinema once everyone had been politely ushered in for the talk.
For this month, the keynote speech was entitled ‘Tiktok Vs. Instagram, What’s Better For My Brand’ and was led by our very own Managing Director at Gloss, Dheeram Vadgama (Dee). It provided crucial aid in how to navigate your brand through the fast-paced world of social media marketing. We were first taken on a journey through two social media giants’ respective histories and the tremendous growth they had both undergone within the last few years, establishing an strong userbase with over a billion monthly active users. This was particular thanks to the lockdown when many of those isolated sought shelter through online spaces.
We then moved onto the juicy part — what exactly is the difference between Instagram and Tikok? Dee gave us the lowdown on how these platforms distinguish themselves from the crowd, as well as from each other. One key aspect is the functionality of the two apps. Tiktok is tailored for creating short audio-centric videos while Instagram is focused on Reels integrated into ‘grid-worthy’ posts. They also have differing target audiences as Tiktok attracts a younger audience (Gen Z) while Instagram has a generally more mature community of Millenials. In order to make the most of the apps’ functionality and audience, it’s important to curate content accordingly. As a leading digital marketing agency, we’ve found that experimental and informal content focused around brand awareness is much more successful on Tiktok. Meanwhile, CTAs (Call To Actions), human-centred ‘aesthetic’, and educational content work exceedingly well on Instagram.
Overall, the message was clear — Invest. In. Social Media Marketing. In today’s hustle and bustle where more people have phones than magazine subscriptions, TV and newspaper ads have become obsolete. Social media is now in, and it could be so crucial to the success of your brand than you might think. Gloss had a great time attending Breakfast Club and we can’t wait to see you at the next one! To learn more about their upcoming events, keep up to date here.
