1-2-1: The Power of Partnerships, Creators as Creative Directors, and more

Welcome to another 1-2-1!

It’s a short one this week as I’m scrambling to get my act together before heading to SXSW for a few days. Today, we’ll cover:

• TikTok’s growing success amongst teens
• Bytedance’s newest app
• The evolving nature of brand/influencer partnerships

Enjoy and shoot me an email with any feedback you’ve got!

1 - Insight

TikTok Triumphs Amongst US Teens

Via Benedict Evans' presentation exploring macro and strategic trends in the tech industry.

2 - Interesting Links/Shares

Lemon8: ByteDance's Latest foray into Luring the US Market

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has launched a brand new app in the US called Lemon8.

Gizmodo did a breakdown of the app 

"Signing on to Lemon8, users are greeted with a select few topics of interest, from food to fashion to outdoors. Influencers described it best as “Instagram meets Pinterest,” and it shows. The main page includes a “following” and “for you” tab ala TikTok, but the feed itself is very Instagram-like while other pages relate to several broad topics like “Fitness” or “Travel.” Some posts include tutorials or explanations, such as one describing “3 Ways to Style Viral Birkenstock Boston’s” or “ALL you need to know about styling a denim skirt!”

While it's still early, there have been rumors ByteDance is recruiting creators to help start scale downloads and usage.

As influencer marketing continues to mature, here’s why brands are hiring creators as ‘creative directors’ (via Digiday)

Great piece from Digiday about the evolving nature of creator partnerships.

Creators are seeing their peers launch their own brands, products, and communities and make more money than ever. There’s a playbook. Creators find content marketing fit. Then they build an audience. Then they launch companies. So, creators understand they’ve got options. As a result, brands have to make their incentives more compelling.

1 - Question

TikTok is testing search ads. They've expanded character counts so you can now post up to 2,200 characters in a video description.

Can TikTok compete with Google when it comes to search? Have you seen TikToks with more characters perform better as a result of search?