4 Key Learnings from TikTok

Globalization has created a playing field with same set of rules for all. The competitiveness of companies is no longer determined by size, country of origin or even past advantage. Company cannot be more competitive just by identifying the target audience. It needs to connect with the communities of customers/partners for co-creation & with competitors for cooperation. Innovation has become less of a research-and-develop model and more of connect-and-develop model. Innovation is no longer an internal process. In the ever-changing market, currently, market is supplying the ideas & companies are commercialising those ideas. One brand which impresses me when it comes to such inclusive marketing, is TIKTOK.

TikTok, formally, Musical.ly, that was taken over by BytDance, a Chinese company, is one amongst the most profitable & downloadable apps in the world.

Following are some of the key learnings that I observed about this brand & the marketing strategy that they have adopted.

1. Placing the bets on Youth & Netizens

TikTok has adopted influencer marketing through influential digital sub-cultures. Younger-generation consumers often become the first to try new products, thus often becoming the primary target market for marketers. They can also be considered as gatekeepers, as when youth accept new products, those products usually reach the mainstream market successfully.

Netizens on the other hand are very savvy in connecting with others. Not all the information is valuable and not all their activity is productive, but they are epitome of smarter customers. They freely express their opinions about brands, often anonymously. They create rating, post comments etc. and thus, influence others.

41% of total users and 60% of US users are between the age group of 16 and 24[1]. Hence the marketing strategy to focus on Youth and Netizens worked in Tiktok’s favor.

2. Implementing Hooks model

From Tiktok’s strategy, it becomes very evident that they have realized that the main dynamics of growth process is the relationship you have with your users. Nir Eyal, the author of Hooked, talks about the Hook Model which consists of 4 phases: trigger, action, variable reward & investment.

In case of Tiktok, external trigger is its word-of-mouth viral factor. For creators, it’s a platform for gaining and building popularity. For viewers, the viral videos shared by others gets them to download the app.

Once they are on the app, internal triggers kick in. For creators, it’s a way of showcasing talent, expressing themselves and getting recognition. For viewers, boredom and validation are the triggers. 15s videos with catchy audio and funny/entertaining content are perfect for teens whose attention spans are short.

Tiktok provides the simplest platform to operate. All a user needs to do is having a phone with camera. Popularity is priority rather than the quality of the video and hence, the users set the ball rolling. Thus, the action phase is initiated.

Tiktok provides rewards to the user by providing them endlessly scrolling videos that take care of the boredom. For content creators, the reward of completing and mastering the ability, to be popular, is satisfying. Like and Comments provides validation to this feeling.

Users don’t need to sign in again for watching the videos. On the contrary, their feed gets stronger as they like and follow the creators. Hence, Tiktok successfully keeps the users hooked. For creators, it provides more opportunity to build reputation and creates a community.

Using this model, Tiktok has 500 million active users worldwide, ahead of better-known websites/apps such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat. [2]

3.India

Before Tiktok, India had already witnessed Vine, Instagram and the very old YouTube. Vine, though being the closest to the Tiktok’s model, had failed to gain popularity. It looks like Tiktok must have done extensive research while entering the Indian market.

Tiktok targeted a general neuro profile of being quick to think, more impulsive, playful, not rooted in wisdom or longer thought (deep) process. For instance, for YouTube, the platform demands video editing, knowledge to perform that task and has no limit on the length of the videos. To compare Tiktok with Vine, Tiktok provides larger toolkit & much more founded base of expansion. Tiktok is also better in terms of usability and they understand the profile of users completely.

More than half of India’s population is under the age of 25[3] and more than 500million[4] Indians are internet users (thanks to the launch of Jio, that enabled cheap data, coupled with growing penetration of cheap smartphones). Not all of these people can express themselves in neatly worded tweets, or self-deprecating captions on Instagram. Large sections of India’s first-time internet users can’t even speak English, some are illiterate, and they find navigating video-based platforms easy to use. Hence, TikTok is perfectly tailor made for India

A platform to promote

Globally, Tiktok has smartly become a platform to promote brands. It provides In-feed native ads, Hashtag challenges ads, User participation etc. However, in India, Tiktok’s marketing strategy is a symbiotic relationship with Bollywood.

Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Bala, integrated the brand as part of its small-town narrative, where a character plays a TikTok celebrity and dances to videos of popular Hindi movie songs. While this marketing strategy effectively targeted not only Tier 2, 3 towns of India, but also the urban metros considering the fan following of the actor.

Other films like Housefull 4, Judgementall Hai Kya, Bharat, Gully Boy and Dream Girl have put out their music on TikTok, allowing users to create videos out of it. Thus, Tiktok became the vehicle for Bollywood movie promotions while increasing its user base simultaneously.

As of now, everything is working for TikTok, however, only time will tell how good they continue to adapt to the changing market.

[1] Globalwebindex, 2019

[2] Datareporter 2019

[3] Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India

[4] https://www.statista.com/topics/2157/internet-usage-in-india/