What you need to know about TikTok
“Don’t make ads, make TikToks” and “Where Hollywood meets marketing” is what differentiates TikTok from the rest of its competitors in the social media space such as Facebook, Instagram and, to a lesser extent, Pinterest.
A relatively new player to the game, it has been making waves with its almost instantaneous content and short videos that allow any one of its users to become famous and create highly personal content to broadcast to the rest of the world. The only space left for it to colonise is TikTok for advertising.
TikTok was launched in September 2016 and in that time has been downloaded over 2 billion times and has over 100 million monthly active users in the United States alone. Furthermore, 50 million of those users are on the app every single day.
It’s fair to say that, while the app hasn’t gone into full monetisation mode like Facebook, it’s only a matter of time before it could potentially be another critical source of revenue for your brand.
The only difference is that the way that you do things on TikTok with advertising isn’t the same as regular marketing methods.
This is because while advertising on TikTok is possible, it has become a space where a wide variety of unique content creators from all around the world have the chance of getting their TikTok videos seen and liked by millions of people.
The algorithm is more geared towards what you like rather than who you follow and for that reason it makes marketing trickier. Another thing to take into account when considering advertising on TikTok is if those users are in your target market, as the majority of TikTok users are millennials and Gen-Z.
TikTok for Business
TikTok’s current advertising space may be slightly less formal, but that doesn’t mean businesses should stay clear. In saying that, TikTok for Business promotes creativity and a different side to your brand. As TikTok is more personal, with many videos happening in real-time and unfiltered, you can connect with your audience in a more human way. It’s where content creators and brands can be discovered just because of their innovative marketing methods and leveraging of trends on the app.
While creating unique videos is fun, we know that what brands want to hear about is how they can increase their revenue by using the TikTok advertising. Initial stats point to the fact that TikTok ads have a high CTR and the highest CTRs are achieved when you put your message in the first 3 seconds of the video.
Due to the fact that mostly Gen-Zers use TikTok, your advertising has to be on point for the new age. It also begs the question – is your brand right for TikTok? Are Gen-Zers going to purchase your products? Do you have an offering that appeals to a younger demographic?
All of these need to be considered before taking the leap into TikTok, which appreciates uniqueness while sticking to the daily trends that pop up due to hashtag challenges. Using trending songs and hashtags and giving them a unique spin in videos are a surefire way to gain traction.
Conversely, isn’t that the same with every new form of social media? The young people adopt it, make it famous and get older people to use it, and as a result, the older people are the ones who make it a million or billion dollar corporation.
Reasons to use TikTok for Advertising
TikTok highlights a few main factors behind why it’s important for businesses and brands:
- Everyone will eventually be using it
- It’s about creative expression
- The cultural impact is bigger than other social media
- All about content first
- Videos play with Sound On, strengthening your message
- It’s a full screen experience that immerses user
So, even if TikTok seems like a space that’s hard to navigate in terms of advertising your brand now, it’s good to get to grips with the basic mechanics for when advertising for TikTok really takes over.
