YouTube vs Instagram vs TikTok for influencer marketing

Every few months one platform is said to be where all the attention has gone. That's true for some products and irrelevant for others. We'd choose with two questions instead:

1. What does your customer do in the week before they buy? Search and compare, scroll and save things they like, or see something and buy it on the spot?
2. What does your product need in order to be understood? Ten minutes of someone using it, a good photograph and a face they trust, or twenty seconds of before and after?

Take three hypothetical brands. A coffee grinder brand sells a considered purchase: buyers look for reviews and comparisons, and the difference only shows when someone grinds, brews and tastes on camera. That points to YouTube. A linen clothing brand sells on looks and on trust in someone's taste: Instagram. A brand selling a clever silicone kitchen gadget sells on a short, satisfying demonstration to people who weren't shopping for one: TikTok. Most products lean one way, and the lean matters more than the size of the platform.

YouTube is a search engine as much as a feed. YouTube says its search ranks videos on relevance, engagement and quality, so a video that answers "best grinder for beginners" well can keep reaching new buyers long after it's posted. That makes YouTube the slow platform in both directions: a sponsored video takes longer to make, and its results take longer to add up.

• Long videos. Room for a real demonstration, a comparison with a rival, or a review after a month of use. Products with a learning curve, or a price that needs justifying, do well here.
• Links in descriptions. Your link or code sits under the video, where a viewer who is ready to buy finds it, whenever they watch.
• Disclosure built in. Creators tick YouTube's paid promotion setting when a brand has paid them or sent them something.

The trade-off is cost and patience: you're paying for a production, not a post. Our guide to finding YouTube creators to sponsor covers the search.

Instagram is where people judge taste. A customer who likes your product in a Reel often taps through to the creator's profile, and the grid there works as a portfolio: is this someone whose recommendations I'd follow?

• Reels for reaching people beyond the creator's followers.
• Stories for the sell, with a link sticker that takes viewers straight to your page. They're short-lived, which suits launches and limited offers.
• Carousels for routines, step-by-step results or several products in one post.
• The paid partnership label, which creators add to branded content with Instagram's paid partnership tool.

Instagram doesn't share other accounts' view counts through the API Nakodo uses, so we measure engagement there per follower: (likes + comments) ÷ followers. Beyond the numbers, judge a creator on whether the comments sound like real people and whether their grid would sit comfortably next to your product. Our guide to finding Instagram creators goes further.

TikTok's For You feed shows videos to people who don't follow the account. TikTok has said that neither follower count nor past high-performing videos are direct factors in what it recommends. A creator with a modest following can reach a large audience with one video, and a large account can post to a quiet room. Two things follow for brands:

• Follower count says less. Look at views on recent videos, and at likes and comments per view. Nakodo measures TikTok engagement as (likes + comments) ÷ views, as on YouTube.
• A video has a short life. A TikTok video's reach tends to be settled in the feed soon after it's posted, rather than built through search over years. One strong video doesn't predict the next, so judge creators over several posts and consider paying for a short series rather than a single video.

TikTok Shop, where it runs, adds a commission route: sellers can have creators promote their products and pay only when a sale is made. It's available only in some countries, which TikTok lists on its seller site. Elsewhere, a tracked link or discount code does the same job. Our guide to finding TikTok creators covers the search.

You don't have to get the choice right on paper. You have to find out cheaply. Pick the platform your two answers point to and run a round of product seeding there before paying anyone a fee. The guide is written for YouTube, but the method carries over:

1. 01

   Shortlist a small batch on one platform

   Creators whose recent posts suit your product, inside a follower range you could afford to pay later.

2. 02

   Send the product with no obligation to post

   Say so plainly. Creators who post anyway are telling you something about fit.

3. 03

   Ask them to disclose

   A free product is still something of value. Our guide to disclosure on Instagram and TikTok covers the labels.

4. 04

   Give each creator their own link or code

   So visits and sales can be traced to the post that caused them.

5. 05

   Read the comments, not only the views

   Questions about where to buy, what it costs and whether it suits someone's situation are the signal you want.

6. 06

   Pay the ones that worked

   Offer paid posts to the creators whose posts produced interest, and only then try a second platform.

Nakodo searches YouTube, Instagram and TikTok with the same keywords from one brief, so you can see what turns up on each before you commit. Each creator is scored on their own platform's numbers. The Free plan searches Instagram and TikTok; YouTube is on the paid plans, and the details are on pricing.