The honest answer is: it depends on what you sell and who buys it. But 'it depends' is useless without data, so here is what 420+ Singapore campaigns have taught us about where each platform wins, with the numbers.
The short version
| If your goal is… | Lead with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Explosive reach fast (launch, event, seasonal) | TikTok | The algorithm distributes to non-followers. A 2,265-follower creator did 184,603 views for Unikul; a 1,360-follower creator did 305,677 for Camford. |
| Footfall to a mall, showroom or restaurant | Shares to friends and story link taps drive visits. CapitaLand's mid-year sale: 24,520 shares, 64% of all engagement. | |
| Considered purchases (skincare, furniture, insurance) | Instagram first, TikTok for reach | Saves signal intent. Aveeno: 23% of engagement was saves. Uniswap: 19%. |
| Under-30 audiences (students, gamers, first jobbers) | TikTok | OCBC FRANK's top campus video: 10.30% engagement. myRepublic gaming TikTok: 800,000 views. |
| Chinese-speaking Singaporeans and Malaysians | Xiaohongshu + TikTok | Rednote notes rank in-app for months. See our Xiaohongshu service. |
| Content you'll reuse as ads | Both, with usage rights | Mom's Cooking: 16x return on ad spend from creator content re-cut into Meta ads. |
Reach: TikTok wins, and it isn't close
Instagram shows your post mostly to people who already follow the creator. TikTok shows it to whoever the algorithm thinks will watch. That single difference explains most of the gap.
In our campaigns, the outlier results - a video doing 50x to 200x the creator's follower count - almost always happen on TikTok. Unikul's top reel: 184,603 views from a 2,265-follower creator, 81x her following. Camford International College: 305,677 views from a creator with 1,360 followers. myRepublic: one gaming TikTok did 800,000 views and 74,000 interactions.
Instagram outliers exist too - a 10.4K-follower creator did 344,891 views and 19,000 shares on a CapitaLand reel, and a 27K-follower creator did 641,967 views for Kaadas - but they are rarer and usually come from Reels picked up by Explore.
The practical implication: if you need to be seen by a lot of people who have never heard of you, TikTok gives you more reach per dollar. If you need to be seen by the right people, casting matters more than platform.
Engagement quality: Instagram's shares and saves
Raw engagement rate is similar on both platforms - our campaigns typically land between 3% and 8% on either. What differs is the type of engagement.
Instagram produces shares to specific people (a friend, a spouse, a colleague) and saves for later. Both are intent signals. Ergoworks: 10,191 shares on 365K views - people sending the chair to the colleague who needed it. IMM by CapitaLand: one reel sent 5,100 times. Aveeno: 23% of engagement was saves. Uniswap: 19% saves on crypto education.
TikTok produces comments and rewatches. kimrobinson: 15% of engagement was comments, mostly people asking where to buy. Shakura: 10-second average watch time on a skincare video, where most brand content loses viewers in under 3 seconds.
For a mall, a showroom, a restaurant or anything bought with a friend, Instagram's share behaviour is the metric that becomes footfall. For a product people need to think about, saves are the metric that becomes a later purchase.
By category: what we'd run today
- F&B. TikTok for a new outlet or seasonal launch (Martina's Kitchen: 657K views, one 24K-follower creator did 254,400). Instagram for premium or gifting (Kee Wah Mid-Autumn, Le Rainbow festive catering at 4.41% engagement). Every post routed to a place to order.
- Beauty and skincare. TikTok for reach and before/after (Aveeno: 1.73M views, 709,800 accounts reached on TikTok alone; Supersmooth's top creator: 12.82% engagement on one TikTok). Instagram for routine integrations and saves.
- Home and living. Instagram-led. Home tours, reno diaries and showroom visits are Instagram formats, and shares drive weekend footfall. Dreame ran 10 campaigns with us across both; the styling creator who did 684,700 views and 11,100 saves was on Instagram.
- Finance and insurance. TikTok for under-30 (OCBC FRANK; Longbridge's comedy and lifestyle creators - 34K to 798K views between campaigns). Instagram for 30+ (Citi Singapore: +15% following in two weeks, 200K reached).
- Retail and malls. Instagram. CapitaLand: 2.65M views across 20 campaigns, and shares are the metric that puts people in the mall.
- B2B. Instagram. Practitioners follow practitioners there. 3M x MassTech: 3.98% engagement on a construction adhesive; Raydent: 3.87% on dental implants.
- Tech, gaming, telco. TikTok. myRepublic: 911K views, 5.06% engagement, from creators native to gaming and trading-card communities.
Cost: roughly the same per creator, different per result
Singapore creators of the same tier charge roughly the same on either platform (see our cost guide). Many post on both for one fee. The cost difference shows up per result: TikTok is usually cheaper per view, Instagram cheaper per share or save.
On paid amplification, TikTok Spark Ads (boosting the creator's own post) tend to outperform brand-account TikTok ads. On Meta, partnership ads from the creator's handle outperform the same video run from your page. Either way, the ad runs from the creator, not from you.
What we actually recommend
Most campaigns we run in 2026 use both - led by one platform based on goal and audience, with the other for reach or retargeting. The cast is usually creators who post natively on both, so the incremental cost is low and you learn where your audience responds.
After the first round, the data decides. If TikTok delivered 80% of the views but Instagram delivered 80% of the store clicks, campaign two shifts budget to Instagram and uses TikTok as the top of the funnel. That's what "the budget compounds" means in practice.
Want the number for your brand? Take the two-minute readiness quiz. It tells us your goal, history and budget band, and you get an honest read on what a first campaign should look like - then a 1-on-1 call with Joshua, our Head of Strategy. No sales team.
Take the 2-minute quizFrequently asked questions
Is TikTok or Instagram better for influencer marketing in Singapore?
TikTok for reach and under-30 audiences; Instagram for footfall, considered purchases and audiences over 30. Most effective campaigns lead with one and use the other for reach or retargeting. The decision should follow your goal and buyer, not the trend.
Which platform has higher engagement rates in Singapore?
Similar - our campaigns typically see 3–8% on both. Instagram engagement skews to shares and saves (intent signals); TikTok skews to comments and rewatches.
Do Singapore creators charge more for TikTok or Instagram?
Roughly the same per tier. Many creators post to both for a single fee. The real difference is cost per result: TikTok is usually cheaper per view, Instagram cheaper per share or save.
Can one campaign run on both platforms?
Yes, and most of ours do. Cast creators who are native to both, lead with the platform that fits the goal, and let the first round's data decide where the second round's budget goes.