In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past two years, you have surely heard of TikTok, but what is TikTok exactly? TikTok is a short-form video app that has grown into the go-to creation platform for short videos and fast entertainment
This poses an interesting opportunity for brands to connect with their audience as well as market their products online, as the variety of content allows for all industries to create and share content within the app.
Today we’ll take a look at what TikTok is and what brings marketers looking for that extra reach online.
The destination for short-form mobile videos, as TikTok describes, is a video platform for short videos.
TikTok allows its users to record, upload and edit videos with in-app features like filters, sounds, and effects. In the beginning, became really popular for dancing videos and lip syncing, but as the audience evolved, the app did too, allowing now videos up to 10 mins long.
Creators now focus on a number of topics, allowing to have content for everyone whether it is entertainment, education, politics, news or whatever you are looking to watch there’s probably a TikTok for you.
The app started rapidly growing during the covid pandemic, as most people had time to kill and explore the upcoming video platform. This led to a rapid increase setting a record for the most downloads in a quarter with 315 million installs.
For marketers, this is a phenomenon as the fast pace of the videos of the app and it's drawn for younger audiences reflect the creative liberties and trends that rule today’s social culture, opening a door for new marketing opportunities.
According to statistics, most TikTok users interact on a daily basis with the app, whether it posting or interacting with posts this leads to long times using the app with the average being 52 minutes per user per day, this constant activity mixed with TikTok intuitive algorithm leads to incredible opportunities for virality on any type of videos.
TikTok is a platform mainly focused on current trends, usually dominated by teenagers and young adults, this s a common trend as these groups adapt easily to new social media and platforms.
Now that is more popular there are definitely a lot of older audiences consuming and creating content, the availability, and variety of content definitely cater to all age groups and keep everyone engaged nowadays.
TikTok is available across the globe in more than 120 countries, especially in Asia where most of the population sits, this has been recognized by global brands as a way to engage with the youth in a different country with just one single platform, encouraging partnerships, user-generated content and campaigns that focus on the app’s advantages.
Artists and celebrities are also using TikTok as a way to engage with their fanbase and stay relevant to current trends, as TikTok users value relatable and genuine content this leads to these public figures showing their personality and connecting on a deeper level with the audience.
TikTok is a perfect opportunity for marketers to reach younger audiences, many of the social media trends now begin with a TikTok, this is a clear opportunity for brands to start creating content on their own following trends and tapping into TikTok’s creative and playful environment.
One of the most common ways for brands to engage is with memes on the platform, many of the current memes also start on TikTok and due to the low cost of production and quality needed to become viral on TikTok, this can lead brands to put out a current stream of trendy content and memes for their audiences to enjoy.
TikTok provides a wider reach for audiences across the globe, perfect for brands looking to become global and relevant, unlike other apps that now do the same, accounts on TikTok don’t need to be popular to become viral. As long as the content appeals to your audience, it will find its place and ramp up the engagement of brands on the platform.
The best way to understand it is to join in, you can use TikTok as a research tool for your business, get acquainted with the TikTok algorithm and trends, see what your industry is doing and what your target audience likes posts, and searches for in TikTok.
As TikToks can be done with little to no budget, you can create a branded channel and start experimenting with content types and formats, see what works for other brands and try to get in the trends that work for you, don’t overthink it or overdo it, always keep moving and look for what resonates with your target audience.
Once you know what to look for and start creating content you can get in touch with the community, look for those influencers on the market that use and review products or services like the one you provide, and get in touch with them. Influencers understand TikTok and they have a loyal following that can help you get a little bit more reach to that target audience, so create a deal that works for both the creator and your brand.
Memes are a great way to connect in the app, whether is a quick joke about your audience or a common struggle in the industry, joking is caring for TikTok users, these types of content spark genuine connections between brands and their audiences and can be the difference for those trying to get that reach.
On a similar note, trends and essentially what’s the most popular on TikTok, many of these consist of formats or challenges that people many people do, and brands can take advantage of this to connect with their audiences and make the brand feel more human and connected.
TikTok has developed tools for marketers to advertise on the platform, you can run different types of advertisements, like banners, sponsored hashtags, or even in-feed ads. Ads on TikTok are incredibly detailed targeting any demographic you have in mind.
To better understanding of ads on TikTok, brands should sign up for TikTok for Business and run campaigns and advertisements with TikTok integrated tools.
So TikTok is all great then? Well yes, it's a great opportunity for marketers and brands to connect with younger audiences and communities and focus on their target audience to advertise and grow organically within the app.
But do keep in mind that TikTok might not be suitable for all brands, as it’s usually targeted to younger audiences this might bring a little bit of a challenge for those marketing to older age groups, but not all is lost as most of the older groups inside of TikTok are there because of reference from younger users.