Why Brands Should Consider the Marketing Potential of TikTok

Woman listening to music
 

By Ben Rudolph

Question: when did the last major social network launch? Many might think it was Snapchat, in 2011, but a newer player exists in the social media game… Enter TikTok!

TikTok is a social media app owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company. The app was created when ByteDance bought Musical.ly and merged it with their own app, and ByteDance is now valued at $75B.

The app allows users to create and share video clips up to 15 seconds long of dancing, lip syncing, or other activities, with music on top of the clip. Think Vine 2.0. It is more authentic, raw, and filled with real-time emotion than other social media apps like Instagram. Rather than seeing content through rose-coloured filters from personal connections, or friend circles, you see a more realistic take of what’s popular and trending.

1. Why should brands and marketers care? Put simply, TikTok represents exponential growth. It became the number one downloaded social media app in the US during the first quarter of this year. In the two years since its launch, TikTok has already hit 500 million monthly active users. To put this in perspective, Facebook and Instagram didn’t reach this milestone until their 6th year of existence. Because of TikTok’s roots in China, currently, only 5% of its users are in the US; but, US monthly users are increasing by 237% each month.

Especially attractive to advertisers are TikTok’s demographics. If you’re older than 25, reading this, and have no clue what TikTok is, don’t be alarmed. 41% of TikTok’s users fall in the valuable 16-24 age-bracket; 23% of Instagram users fall into that age range.

Unlike Instagram, which encourages passive scrolling, with occasional liking of content, TikTok encourages participation. Many users comment on popular and trending videos by creating their own version of a video. User-generated content, and its rapid spread, can represent a gold mine to brands and advertisers!

2. How can brands advertise on the TikTok platform? Currently, TikTok does not have a biddable and self-serve advertising platform in the same way that Facebook does. However, in January, TikTok began testing biddable ads with some agency partners. Stay tuned for its future plans.

Though TikTok doesn’t have a paid advertising business yet, brands and organizations can still engage with users through the use of augmented reality branded lenses and hashtag campaigns. 

GUESS launched #InMyDenim and encouraged its users to flaunt their GUESS jeans in a creative way. Videos with the #InMyDenim hashtag have been viewed over 37 million times. In May, Chipotle created the #ChipotleLidFlip challenge, asking TikTok users to flip and land a Chipotle lid container upright. Over 100,000 TikTok users created videos which garnered 230 million views. Other brands and organizations that have embraced TikTok are the NBA, Jimmy Fallon, and the UN.

3. But what about Facebook? As a brand, you may already be highly invested in Facebook’s ad platform, and you have definitely seen Facebook’s ruthless ability to crush competitors in the past. In fact, Facebook has already attempted to replicate some of TikTok’s functionality with an app called “Lasso”. Efforts to date demonstrate that it is not going to work, with only 10,000 downloads since launch.

Realizing this, TikTok attempted to pre-empt any further Facebook copying by putting its content on Facebook’s various apps. With a recently announced partnership with Giphy, TikTok clips can now be shared as GIFs across other platforms, like Instagram stories or Facebook!

Ultimately, any worry about what will happen will come down to whether Facebook can find a way to replicate TikTok’s features, the same way they did with Instagram Stories and whether any attempt at replication will seem authentic.

In conclusion, the rapidly growing short-form video platform offers brands the potential to reach users in authentic and real ways. While agencies await the full release of the platform’s ad options, brands can still utilize hashtags and profile takeovers as a way to reach a large, and growing young audience. Ask yourself, how can TikTok be a viable platform for your social media marketing strategy?

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