
Making sense of TikTok Part 2: How to be best in class.
Social & Mobile • 3min read
Social & Mobile • Written by Daria Willis, Client Director
You may have heard a lot about TikTok in industry and news media, but if you haven’t actually downloaded the app and seen the platform for yourself, you could be forgiven for not fully understanding what the hype is about. The TikTok team describe the platform as: “the world’s leading destination for short-form mobile videos, available for iOS and Android. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy.”
So first and foremost, TikTok is an entertainment platform for self-expression. While we’ll dive into how brands can integrate with TikTok later, it’s important we start with understanding what the platform is to its users.
That’s a very good question, especially as the other platforms continue to evolve and introduce new features that can sometimes feel similar.
From my point of view, TikTok can be differentiated in the following ways:
The audience
The TikTok audience is skewed a lot younger compared to the other platforms. Gen Z & Millennials make up most of the users (and there are 800M of them worldwide every day).
It’s sound-led
A song can remind you of TikTok, and TikTok can introduce you to a song – soundtracks, voice overs and sound effects are foundational to TikTok content. In fact, TikTok has actually launched the careers of budding new artists.
The algorithm
TikTok’s machine learning is so advanced it’s made headlines. It learns from audience signals, tracking what type of content you watch and engage with and feeding you more of that. While you can still follow your friends and seek out specific profiles, you’ll find that on TikTok you probably see more content from people you don’t know than those you do.
Duets
These are side-by-side style videos created when a user shares an existing TikTok alongside their own new content – creating a remix, reaction or unique take on the original. Duets are a clever way to encourage engagement, and by adding new audio and video, creators can introduce harmonies, record funny reactions or even start ‘duet chains’ like this full comedic musical.
Music/Voiceover Memes
A new take on meme culture, TikTok users create amusing content about personal or social situations using existing quotes or songs. Plenty of these bring new meaning to the audio they’re using, and start entirely new trends themselves!
Video diary entries
Many users, especially those with big followings tend to make quick vlogs about elements of their lives.
TikTok is a platform that moves quickly, and there’s no shallow end that you can dip your toe in. Understandably, this can be quite intimidating as a marketer. So to make it easy, we’ve highlighted why TikTok might be a good fit:
Reasons TikTok could be perfect for your brand:
You simply want to reach a younger audience
78% of US users are 16-34. It’s no secret that this demo has high disposable income, and are active online shoppers. So if your product is of interest to this audience, it can be swiped from a TikTok ad and added to cart in a blink of an eye, your brand might find ad formats like TopView & InFeed ads beneficial.
Your brand has an authentic way to engage in the TikTok trends and features
For instance, challenges are a great TikTok phenomenon to take part in if there’s one relevant to your brand. Nivea did this really well with their ‘splash’ challenge – a way of contemporising a classic beauty shot in a way that was fun and relevant for a younger demo on Snapchat. But, as the saying goes, if it doesn’t fit, don’t force it.
Music is a passion point of your customers
As mentioned, music is a key component for TikTok. If you’re a brand that leans on killer soundtracks for your most memorable campaigns, you could use TikTok to bring new meaning to those songs through the POV challenge. HighSnobiety gets creative with their videos and leans into TikTok’s sound and music features.
Social & Mobile • 3min read
Social & Mobile • 3min read