Instagram’s tumultuous relationship with creators is becoming more heated with the Facebook-owned platform’s latest proclamation that it is “no longer a photo-sharing app” and will lean further into video content.

For creators who have long focused their efforts on photography, the news is maddening. Others who have begun to produce more video and Reels on the platform welcome the change, but feel if the algorithm doesn’t evolve, their efforts are still better spent across multiple platforms. Experts at influencer agencies say brand deals will keep creators on Instagram, but they expect the changes to spur more multiplatform creators. 

The situation could have major implications on brand influencer deals as marketers place bets on which apps resonate the best with creators and their followers.

At the end of June, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, posted a video to Instagram and Twitter in which he laid out changes coming to the platform, namely that the app will embrace full-screen, mobile video more broadly and bring more recommendations to users’ feeds. The effort is a way to dive deeper into a format hooking younger audiences and therefore brand budgets. It's also a way to lure creators who have also been shifting efforts to TikTok where video creation is faster and the algorithm allows for more visibility.

“Let’s be honest. There’s some really serious competition right now. TikTok is huge, YouTube is even bigger, and there’s lots of other upstarts as well,” says Mosseri in the video. “And so people are looking to Instagram to be entertained, there’s stiff competition and there’s more to do, then we have to embrace that. And that means change.”

The fact that Instagram is moving to further emulate competitors TikTok and YouTube is no surprise. Creators grew dissatisfied as the app added features such as Reels and IGTV and took away its chronological timeline. But Mosseri’s new announcement underscores how much Instagram is being influenced by the competition. Last week, Mosseri clarified in another tweet that although Instagram is shifting away from being a photo-sharing app, it is not “abandoning photos or photo creators.”

Backlash has been widespread among Instagram creators. Many feel betrayed by the very platform that made them creators in the first place. “It’s becoming disheartening to use the app with so much inconsistency and uncertainty when you post now,” tweeted Chloe Lloyd, a model and creator with 336,000 Instagram followers and 75,000 TikTok followers. “Creators [are] being forced to change entirely who we are in order to ‘succeed.’” Instagram declined to comment to Ad Age, instead referring to Mosseri’s statements.

So-called micro-influencers—meaning people with smaller, but more targeted followings— don’t have the resources or time to produce more videos. So they are particularly opposed to the change. “The shift proves what we already know—IG only cares about instant ROI. This will push those forward that give them big $$ making it harder than ever for small businesses, small creators and regular users to be seen," says Jenna Polyniak, an Instagram creator with only 2,000 Instagram followers, but 60,000 followers on TikTok, where she has been concentrating more of her efforts recently.

Jessica van Dop DeJesus—a travel creator who runs @diningtraveler with 14,600 Instagram followers and has worked with brands like Nespresso, Hilton and HarperCollins—believes adding more video to her workload simply isn't sustainable in terms of time and budget. Right now she spends $2,000 to $3,000 a month for a video editor on retainer to create Reels out of eight long-form videos that take time to do well. Brand deals and freelance projects fund 75% of the channel, but she says the other 25% is self-funded.

Others are simply fed up with so many changes. Beauty creator Teni Panosian says due to all the changes Instagram has made, she was driven to launch her TikTok account earlier this year, where she has nearly 6,000 followers. Panosian (@tenipanosian) is currently an ambassador for YSL Beauty and founder of beauty brand Monday Born Beauty and has 573,000 followers on Instagram.

“Instagram has been shifting their platform for some time and it seems the further they reach to try to compete with other platforms, the more unhappy users become,” she says. “TikTok is doing a fine job at bite-sized video content; Instagram trying to emulate that model just makes it less interesting to use.”

Of course, there are creators who are more optimistic about the shift. Aimée Kelly, a British actress and content creator on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube with 114,000 Instragram followers, finds it exciting but is also sad that so many platforms are about video and "the love and culture for photography online will be gone."

Engagement rates are slipping

Instagram’s disappointing engagement rates are the main reason why even creators who have been producing more video for the app say they’re underwhelmed with the platform’s decision to place even more focus on video, and plan to continue to build out their efforts elsewhere. Simply put, they’re tired of putting so much work into video creation when they aren’t getting the same results they see on TikTok and YouTube. TikTok especially is a platform where the possibility to go viral still exists for those with any type of following. 

“Most creators look for a positive feedback loop in what they are doing, like any job or endeavor,” says beauty creator Amy Chang @bondenavant, who started on TikTok in 2019 and now has 1.2 million followers, but has more slowly grown her Instagram where she has 198,000 followers since 2016. “TikTok has enabled this positive feedback loop because of the way the algorithm works—no one likes creating content they think is good, only for no one to see it. The TikTok algorithm allows creators to access a much broader audience of people than has historically been the case on Instagram, have a video (or videos) go viral and grow their platforms quickly—and I think this really encourages creators, like myself, to create and continue creating content on TikTok.”

TikTok’s algorithm favors all users generating engagement with the app over Instagram’s tailored timeline to those with higher followers.

Even as creators have steadily been posting more video content to Instagram, engagement rates have continued to slip across all content in-feed with video seeing even less engagement than images, even with the pandemic causing people to spend more time on their phones and social media, according to data from influencer marketing agency Creator IQ. The agency looked at video posts and engagement rates for creators with over 10,000 followers (Stories not included). In January 2020, posted images saw a 2.6% engagement rate which has gradually dipped to a 1.2% engagement rate as of June 2021. Video has fared even worse. Video posts in-feed saw a 1.7% engagement rate in January 2020 which has continued to drop to 0.9% in June 2021. This comes as the percentage of video posts rose from 13% in January 2020 to 18% in June 2021, found CreatorIQ.

Sean Spielberg, director of data product management at Creator IQ, says while the reason for the dip in engagement is difficult to pinpoint, increasing competition from other platforms like TikTok and the growth of influencers overall could be the cause. “As more and more influencers fight for followers' attention and space in their feeds, we'd expect the overall engagement rates to decline,” he says.

With dwindling engagement, influencer agencies have had to charge higher fees for Instagram influencers because they've had to put more paid support behind organic posts, says Sarah Remesch, founder of 270M, a New York-based digital agency that works with consumer packaged goods and and luxury brands.

TikTok's influence

As Instagram has been working to beef up its monetization efforts with creators like affiliate tools and boosting creator inclusion with its first Creator Week, TikTok hasn’t been shy in its efforts to scoop up both new and frustrated Instagram creators. Experts credit the app with quick content creation, discoverability democratization with its “For You” page, efforts to build out uses for the app like its new Resumes feature and its Creator Fund, something still lacking at Instagram.   

“TikTok has truly nailed a lot of what influencers look for in a platform. Even though monetization isn’t as clear-cut, TikTok is incredibly creator-centric,” says Ali Fazal, VP of marketing at influencer agency Grin. “TikTok feels more like a promised land for creators, especially those who are trying to build up their followings. Think of it this way—TikTok feels like a casino where anyone can win, but on Instagram you need a better strategy and more investment in order to truly hit that jackpot.”

A new “State of TikTok Influencer Marketing” study from influencer marketing agency SocialPubli, which works with brands like Coca-Cola, Adidas, BMW and Disney, found that 87% of TikTok influencers said they were seeing higher audience engagement from TikTok than other social media platforms, with more than 60% of creators saying they doubled their time spent on the platform. The study also found the 73% of creators dedicate 1 to 5 hours to TikTok daily.

When it comes to marketers, 88% consider TikTok influencer marketing effective with 54% saying they plan to increase their budgets on the platform in 2021. The study surveyed 1,743 influencers and 122 marketers, on the SocialPubli platform in the U.S., Mexico, South America and European countries like Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. More than half of respondents (55%) are Gen Zers, with the remaining 45% made up of millennials (40%) and Generation X (5.2%).

Creators say they often see more engagement on TikTok posts now then they do on Instagram. Van Dop DeJesus says she sees more video views with her 300 TikTok followers than she does on Instagram with almost 15,000 followers. 

Even with Instagram prioritizing more video posts some say they won't change their reliance on TikTok. “The video trends start on TikTok—not Instagram,” says Danielle Alvarez, creator and founder of Latina-owned marketing agency The Bonita Project @thebonitaproject, which has 15,000 followers on Instagram and 1,130 followers on TikTok. 

Multichannel approach

Those with large followings on Instagram aren’t leaving the platform; rather, they are building out new profiles on TikTok as they also put in the work on Instagram, especially during the pandemic. Posting content first to TikTok and then re-posting it to Instagram Stories has become common practice as has placing TikTok and YouTube handles in profiles on Instagram and vice versa.

Chang credits the combination of TikTok and Instagram Reels for her growing audience on Instagram. Her feed, which she began building out in 2016 and started at 25,000 at the beginning of 2020, has grown to 197,000 followers today. She says about half of her brand partners, which include L’Oréal Paris, No7 and Lancôme, now want a combination of both TikTok and Instagram deliverables. 

“TikTok has become an increasingly essential platform to add to the creator arsenal,” says Troy Osinoff, co-founder of digital marketing agency Juice. “Some influencers got their start on other platforms such as YouTube or Instagram and are leveraging the quick growth and content creation abilities on TikTok to grow their followings across channels; others are completely new.”

Of course, the success rate on TikTok also means others appreciate it less, making a large Instagram following much more coveted in the eyes of influencers and brands, says Gil Eyal, partner at Starfund and founder of influencer platform HYPR. "The term 'TikTok Famous' is a somewhat ironic term for being famous, but not really." 

That sign is evident with creators who started on TikTok but who are also growing their Instagram accounts to reach more audiences and work with brands that want to be on both platforms. Mario Selman, a TikTok creator (@marioselman) with 4.3 million followers, has worked with brands like T-Mobile, Google Pixel and Nike, across TikTok and Instagram where he now has 1.6 million followers. “All have used both platforms in different ways and have allowed me creative liberty depending on the platform in order to make sure I could give the best content possible for the audience," he says.

This kind of multiple channel approach will continue even as Instagram puts more emphasis on video and brands put more money in TikTok, experts at influencer agencies say. “Most marketing campaigns are run on Instagram and even the largest TikTok influencers repeatedly ask their followers to also follow them on Instagram (or YouTube if they have a channel),” says Eyal.

“Instagram will continue to be an incredibly valuable tool when it comes to sponsorship opportunities and connecting content with e-commerce,” says Ricky Ray Butler, CEO of branded content agency BEN Group. “Influencers aren't going to jump ship long term — if anything, the next wave of creators will be native to TikTok, but will ultimately be multichannel experts in social media.”

Panosian says that it makes sense for creators to continue to lean into both platforms, or more, even as headaches arise. "We all sort of ‘grew up’ on Instagram. It’s not easy to walk away from. It’s just a matter of being fluid enough to adjust to its changes."