Spiritual TikTok or Instagram?

In case you didn’t know, there are 2 cool corners on social media: spiritual TikTok and spiritual Instagram. Yep, both of them are a thing and as a spiritual entrepreneur you might want to explore them. Because your ideal audience lives there. But first things first, how do you decide which platform is aligned with you?

As a spiritual entrepreneur, I know firsthand how exhausting social media can feel. While I personally prefer to rely on soulful SEO to get aligned clients, focusing on the right corners of social media can also work wonders. However, with so many options out there, it can be overwhelming to decide which platform to focus on. In this article, I’ll show you two popular options within the spiritual niche: TikTok vs Instagram to help you make an aligned decision. But before you choose your primary platform, ask yourself:

Decide on your overall objective with social media first before starting to post random content. If you don’t know what you want, how will you know that your efforts are working? Pick one of these core objectives:

• getting new clients
• building a community
• increasing brand awareness
• establishing partnerships, collaborations

Yes, you can have it all but not all at once 😊 Shift your focus on your most important goal and choose a primary platform with that in mind. So let’s have a look what else you need to take into account.

Spiritual TikTok for educating

Don’t jump to quick conclusions when you think about TikTok. It evolved drastically throughout the years and it’s no longer the app of dancing teenagers. As of today (May 8th, 2023), there are over 22 billion views under the spirituality hashtag and over 5 billion for spiritual awakening. The app is growing and it’s not going anywhere.

The pros of using TikTok

One of the biggest advantages of TikTok is its engagement rates. With TikTok’s algorithm, it’s easier to connect and interact with like-minded souls within the spiritual community. In fact, many spiritual entrepreneurs have found great success on the platform, by building a loyal audience. The biggest positive in my view though is this: the raw materials. While on Instagram you need to have some shiny and edited content, TikTok is more real and raw. If you’re short on time or creating fancy content is not your thing, shifting your efforts to TikTok might be a great solution for you.

Another plus is the accumulated views and followers when you’re INACTIVE. As TikTok is openly trying to take on Google as a search engine (yes, it wants us to search for answers on TikTok vs Google), SEO plays a major role within the app. When you have some understanding of SEO, you can start ranking within the top results quite easily. Which means: more people will find your content over time. Kind of like on YouTube.

The cons of TikTok

However, this platform also has some disadvantages. One of them is quite a big one for new or small accounts. You need to reach 1000 followers to be able to display a link in your profile. This can make it challenging to drive traffic to your website or lead magnets, especially for those who are just starting out.

As a spiritual entrepreneur, you want to be able to monitor what works on your social platform. TikTok has great (and easy to digest) analytics but only if you choose a professional account not a personal one. And another drawback comes with this decision: limited access to music. TikTok will only allow you use commercial sounds and music in your videos.

And last but not least, the beginning phase can feel a bit of wild wild west 😅 At first, your content might be shown to irrelevant accounts but stick with it. The algorithm eventually adjusts and in my personal view, it seems to understand better what your content is about than Instagram. It can take some effort to build up your following on TikTok, but with dedication and consistency, it can definitely pay off.

Instagram for spiritual entrepreneurs

Now, let’s see how Instagram fits the spiritual niche. One thing to keep in mind is that Meta (the parent company of Instagram) is still heavily relying on this app to generate profits. I’m expecting to see this platform improve over the coming years to minimize losing more users to TikTok.

The pros of Instagram

Remember, you never own your social followers, that’s why so many of us tell you to build your own email list. And Instagram has one of the biggest advantages when it comes to generating leads. You can add a link to your website or lead magnets from day one, no matter how many followers you have. This can be a huge advantage if you are just starting out and want to drive traffic to your website or lead magnets right away.

Unlike TikTok, Instagram is not that cautious about music rights, which is super handy when you’re trying to show your creativity or jumping on trending sounds. Not only your Reels will have a bigger music library to choose from, you can also easily see which sounds are currently trending.

And yes, while you can still post static content, Instagram is pushing video formats more than images. The only exception here is a carousel (those sliding images). So if being on video is not your thing, then you could create high quality educational carousels instead.

One final massive plus for Instagram: collaborating with other accounts is super easy. When you create joint reels or carousels, you’re seen by both of your audiences. I highly recommend utilizing this feature.

The cons of Instagram

While you can reach more accounts on Instagram when you’re using trending music or jumping on the latest entertaining trends, it has a major drawback. Favoring these trends over your authentic creativity. Despite pouring your soul into your content, you might not reach as many accounts as you imagined if you ignore the trends.

Personal example. A geek lives inside me who loves to analyse and test marketing methods. I was reaching 15k accounts monthly when I leaned into the trends vs 500 (!) a month when I followed my creative whispers. However, with the super low reach I still generated more leads & sales. Guess why? I was ignoring the crowds and showed my followers my creative side and they loved it more than the trendy stuff. Moral of the story: don’t get caught up in vanity metrics especially if your REAL audience resonates with your authentic ways.

Finally, keep in mind that you need to up your creator game. On Instagram your content needs to be much higher quality than on TikTok. Blurry images, reels without hooks and Canva templates simply won’t cut it. I’d never suggest to aim for perfection, but if you lack some design or creative skills, it’s best to find an aligned partner to support you with this. If you don’t know where to start, here’s my top favourite solution, The Luna Social who only work with the Spiritual industry.

So Spiritual TikTok or Instagram for you?

Ultimately, your decision has to come down to your intuition in addition to your overall goal with social media. Think about what type of content you enjoy creating. If you’re looking to build a loyal following and connect with like-minded souls within the spiritual community, TikTok may be a better option. If you’re looking to drive traffic to your website or lead magnets from day one, Instagram may be a better choice. Of course, you can also use both platforms to connect with your followers in different ways but if you don’t have enough time, pick only one for now.

Whether you choose TikTok or Instagram, remember to stay true to yourself and your spiritual values. Authenticity is key in the spiritual niche, and your followers will appreciate and resonate with your genuine, heartfelt content. With dedication, consistency, and the right resources, you can build a thriving social media presence and reach more souls with your mission.

And what about me? I chose social media as my creative playground. My strategy was to be found on the first page of Google, and now that I have that, I can truly have fun on social. While I also get more leads and sales. I use Instagram to share mainly business and marketing tips for spiritual entrepreneurs while on TikTok I also dive into spiritual concepts besides my marketing advice.