The Rise of TikTok
While scrolling through social media, or even watching the news, it’s likely that you’ve come across a vertical video of someone you’ve never seen before with a bouncing TikTok watermark logo in the corner. When the app first launched it originally targeted dancers, singers, and artists to share their creativity and talents to a broader audience. However, don’t be fooled by the silly name and Gen Z popularity. With its addictive user interface, celebrity endorsements, and its overall rebrand to a more community-based app, TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform in history and has completely redefined the relationship between people and platforms. It now competes with Facebook as the new norm of social interaction and digital marketing, with practically every name brand using the app to share content with consumers. There are many opportunities for small businesses to grow on TikTok, so here’s an overview on why it has become so popular and how you can use it to your advantage.
What IS TikTok?
On the surface, TikTok is a short-form, video-sharing app that lets users create, edit, and share any type of video content to the public. What makes this platform different from its competitors is that video is the only media form users can post. Another, more important, factor that sets TikTok apart is it’s futuristic, personalized content feed known as the “For You Page”.
This is where we take a deeper dive into what the app does. We’ve become used to having social media as the place to connect with those you care about to see photos or sentiments they want to share. However, when you login to TikTok the first thing that you’ll discover is a video of someone or something you’ve never seen before, labeled For You Page. Similar to other apps, you can swipe away if you don’t enjoy the video, or you can like the video if you find that topic or style of content appealing. The app uses advanced technology to data track which videos you swipe past and which videos you Like in order to recommend more videos that you’re most likely to enjoy. This also means you will be seeing videos from anybody around the world that has a public account. Users with viral videos will appear on most user’s For You Page feeds. No matter how many followers a user has, if they post a video and it gains an exponential amount of Likes and engagement, that video could be seen by every single user on the app thanks to the For You Page algorithm.
The Rise of TikTok
It may feel unfamiliar and weird at first to watch random videos of random people doing anything and everything, but that really is the beauty it. Instead of being limited to only seeing content from people you know to follow, TikTok uses the videos you like to keep track of your personal interests, what topics you care to keep up on, and recommends new inspiration that parallels with your lifestyle. The app’s user interface is intelligently designed to make users never want to stop scrolling because once their feed algorithm is customized to know what videos you want to watch, it becomes seemingly impossible to swipe away from an influx of interesting content. Whether you enjoy Fashion, Sports, Baking, DIY’s, or simply want to see funny videos of puppies, there’s never-ending content for every niche to join.
On any other app, you’re generally aware of the average amount of engagement you’re likely to receive each time you post, but on TikTok there could be 3 people viewing your video one day and then 50,000 people viewing your next video the next day. Humans love instant gratification, so if a user posted a viral video on TikTok that wouldn’t achieve that type of engagement on any other platform, they’re likely to be intrigued by this recognition and stay motivated to post consistently. Everyday people who may not have many followers on other social media accounts, can share their lifestyle vlogs to build a personal brand through their community on TikTok with anyone who finds them relatable or entertaining. All this, without the pressure of gaining or losing followers. Users love how personable and genuine the video content feed is compared to superficial, overedited photos on Facebook and Instagram. Depending on the quality and entertainment value of the content you’re willing to post, you can create an account, post a few videos, and earn thousands of views within days.
TikTok for Business
TikTok creates a whole new world of opportunities for digital marketing teams to connect with consumers and drive business. For your own content, your business can showcase its products and services in a video format that’s more natural and not over commercialized. Not only that, but people who aren’t aware of your business are able to react to your videos/brand, ask specific questions, and provide real-time feedback that can be used to enhance your products and services. A unique feature TikTok has is the ability to reply to a comment through a video post. This allows brands to form a personal relationship with their customers by reaching out individually to answer specific questions with a more in-depth, human explanation available on their public platform.
Businesses that want to reach and grow a certain market of their consumer base should heavily consider investing in micro-influencer marketing, also known as the key to community commerce. Like other social media apps, there are ways to create a classic advertisement to post for the entire TikTok userbase to see. Knowing the surface-level basics of the app and recognizing its immense growth, marketers are quick to invest a huge portion of their budget on a TikTok advertisement like they naturally would on any other social media platform. However, considering the deeper level of the app’s popularity with its personalized content feed, sense of community and sharing ideas, and easy access to quick entertainment, commercial advertising tactics have been proven not to work as well with TIkTok since users are very quick to swipe away from something they don’t want to watch. Businesses have found some success working with verified influencers on TikTok because they’re trustworthy of highlighting the brand. On the other hand, there are lifestyle vlog content TikTok creators that don’t have that “influencer” title but gain views by posting interesting content that certain communities love to watch and learn from. Reaching out to brand-friendly TikTok creators that gain thousands of views, multiple times a day, allows growing businesses to reach a broader audience by taking advantage of the relatable, reliable, and most effective word-of-mouth marketing strategy.
Many small businesses have grown from posting creative content on TikTok, and the platform has an ongoing effort to support these businesses in any way. That’s why, at the end of 2021, they launched their “Small Wins” initiative to help small businesses make the most of their content and gain the most traction on the app. These series of videos and tips educate new users and demonstrates the best ways to design a successful platform. After the difficult year in 2020, TikTok provided $100 million in ad credits to assist businesses to get back on their feet. Small Wins gets marketers adjusted to the unique data-driven insights on TikTok Ads Manager and gives you the key tools to finding the most ideal partnerships. Remaining authentic and sparking new discoveries are the best tips for businesses to find success on this new, gigantic, and quickly growing social media platform.
Now go create your first TikTok video, you won’t regret it!
Cheers,
Bre