Take off your Shoes and Jump in to Tik-Tok

First of all, I hope everyone and their families are safe during this uncertain time! I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm an expert on COVID-19 and the economic consequences of the pandemic. However, I will say Apple has reminded me every Sunday that my screen time has skyrocketed. Admittedly, this is largely due to an app called 'TikTok'. If you haven't heard of Tik-Tok, it's a Social Networking Site that launched in 2017. It prides itself on short videos with music and sound effects, quite similar to the apps Vine and Musical.ly (Which I believe it bought). TikTok is still relatively early in its life but has billions of downloads and is now an emerging rival to the world orders of Instagram and Facebook. With a large population of it's users being from Gen-Z Tik-Tok has a whole different vibe that is raw, uncut, and quite frankly unpredictable. It's this unpredictability that should have marketers industry-wide intrigued.

I started a TikTok account in September of 2019. My account -@devocustoms currently sits at 5,700 followers and 90,000 likes across all my videos. To put it in perspective, I've gained more followers on TikTok in the last 7 Months than I have across all my other social media platforms combined over the last 4 YEARS. I don't say all this to brag, truthfully this type of growth is nothing to what I've seen young creators amass in short periods of time. Growth that has changed the trajectory of some creators' lives in weeks, even days! I saw a video of a creator who bet his dad if he could get 1 million followers on Tik-Tok, he wouldn't have to go to college. So what did he do? Create 3 viral videos garnering multi-millions of views. After 5 days he currently sits at 1.3 million followers... It's probably gone up by now as we speak. I think it's safe to say he won't be writing any application essays. (Unfortunately I can't find the link to his videos again, otherwise I'd share!)

This is the unpredictability I'm talking about. The landscape of Tik-Tok is like no other social media platform we've seen. Allow me to elaborate. You open your Facebook in 2009, you check out your crushes homecoming pictures and wish your friend a happy birthday. If you're lucky, your friend Will is online and you guys have a quick chat. My point is, social media used to actually be about being SOCIAL. It wasn't until social media matured in 2011..12..13 to where we started to see everyday consumers use social media to build a following and a personal brand. Instagram right now is starting to look more like LinkedIn with the amount of personal branding going on. Tik-Tok is ascending in popularity right now with a Gen Z audience that has grown up with/on/in social media. Which in turn, makes these creators create content with the intention to go viral and build a following. This leads to a hodge-podge of attention-grabbing, funny, beautiful, and sometimes twisted videos that fill the average feed. You truly never know what you're going to see, which keeps people on the app and engaging with content.

Social media used to actually be about being SOCIAL. It wasn't until social media matured in 2011..12..13 to where we started to see everyday consumers use social media to build a following and a personal brand

The only thing I can compare Tik-Tok to right now is one of those jumpy houses at a carnival/event. You know, the one where you take off your shoes as a kid and dive through the entrance only to be met with 7 other kids jumping as if their life depended on it. When you enter those jumping houses you have effectively entered a space with no rules or governing what so ever. Kids were tackling and pushing each other. Throwing each other in to the air and attempting back flips. It was truly the wild west. Every so often, there would be a dad who would try to regulate from outside the mesh walls. But even alpha-dad Rob knew damn well that no kids were going to listen to him in there. In the end, you either left those houses having the time of your life or with a life-commitment to never enter an inflatable jumping vessel again. This is Tik-Tok. The lack of rules and disdain for polished "Instagram" content makes the environment one where you can choose your own destiny. You can either go in intimidated and leave traumatized, or go in with an open-mind and rock out to the madness.

When you enter those jumping houses you have effectively entered a space with no rules or governing what so ever.

Especially in a time like today, I encourage businesses, marketers, professionals to explore Tik-Tok. Go into the jumpy house with the intention to have fun and create genuine, goofy, real content that you would never see on the likes of your Instagram timeline. It will get engagement! In a matter of time, Tik-Tok will in-inevitably evolve into the rule-based, algorithmic, ad-space that Instagram and Facebook are at. It's just the way these platforms operate. Therefore, the time is Tikking to maximize the opportunity! I'm no expert still, but it's been a massive lift for my personal business in devocustoms. I hope it can be for you! Stay safe everyone!

What is your first Tik-Tok post going to be?

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