TikTok - Short lived fad or next big SoMe platform?

OK, ok, I know I am a little bit late to be launching my ‘thoughts’ on the latest kid on the block, but I wanted to gather everything I could, knowledge wise, before giving my verdict.

The question on everyone’s lips right now – What is this ‘TikTok’ that everyone is talking about, and will it be the next big Social Network. That last question is the ultimate question that I am not sure anyone can answer yet… but let’s start at the beginning and try and unravel the facts.

What is TikTok?

I know what you’re probably saying to yourself right now: “I have no idea what TikTok actually is!”. Completely understandable to be honest if you are above the age of 18, given its largely teenage fanbase. According to Business News Daily, over 40% of TikTok’s users are aged between 10 and 19.

The TikTok app itself enables its 500 million monthly users to shoot short-form, musically-influenced videos (Before it was TikTok, it was Musical.ly). Then, those videos, in true Snapchat and IG style are layered with fancy lenses, filters and AR features and then shared on the TikTok network.

Sounds fun right? – Absolutely, and it is. Think of it like a Vine and Snapchat combo. No wonder then that so many of its members are of a similar demographic to that of Snapchat, Generation Z. This allows for a huge potential if your marketing and brand audience is primarily Gen Z, as 500 Million is not to be sniffed at!

Here is an actually great video from YouTuber LifeWithErick explaining how TikTok is different from Musical.ly and how it all works:

The TikTok algorithm

TikTok is of course all about content that is created by the user (and at the moment, not so many ‘Brands’, but that may change). However, unlike most of the other social platforms, TikTok revolves around content that you like. Think Facebook Video (which is my guilty pleasure actually), where users are introduced to new and innovative content that users may like.

Fed by its algorithm, the ‘TikTok For You’ feed shows users content it thinks they will like, and makes adjustments based on their behaviour over time. As New York Times columnist John Herrman put it, “Imagine a version of Facebook that was able to fill your feed before you’d friended a single person. That’s TikTok.”

Ideal for small marketing budgets.

Trying to convince boards, CMO’s or the like for a large amount of money for an innovative social ad campaign can be near impossible for a small business. On the likes of Facebook and Twitter, there is so much competition that to really reach the masses, you do need to put some money behind campaigns (even though the value of Facebook ads if correctly targeted is still exceptional value at the moment!).

This is where TikTok could again be a real player for Digital Marketing. The network has recently been trialling a few paid ad campaign options, including takeovers of both brands and hashtags, while of course native content ‘ads’ can also be inserted into feeds of brands. These have been successful already for the likes of Nike, NBA and Guess Clothing.

So the value is there and it could be very effective. But, word of warning. Act now, before the platform and competitors arrive on the platform and thus push potential ad content costs up on TikTok, but also be very smart with your content. As we now, Gen X more than any other demographic is incredibly picky as to what content it will engage in. Innovation will be your greatest asset here to stand out and produce results.

Gen Z – Often disregarded but huge marketing potential.

It is completely understandable, and I have spoken to brands who have told me so, to disregard Gen Z because they are just a bunch pf smartphone and screen addicted, passive youngsters who never have purchasing power anyway. But, dismiss this key modern demographic and you are dismissing a huge swathe of potential customers. Their buying power is growing (as they, believe it or not, are getting older!), and you can slowly build trust with them by producing content that is both authentic, innovative and consistent.

The good news is that on TikTok, you won’t need to spend thousands of production costs on great content. In fact, at least at the moment, overly polished and perfect looking content actually looks weird and too ‘salesy’ amidst the eccentric, young and ‘Hip Hop and Happening’ creative content on the app (Yes I am aware that by saying that I am in fact revealing myself as the opposite!, but I am not Gen Z!).

According to a recent Forbes report, Generation Z is currently streaming an average of 23 hours of video content every week. TikTok allows a perfect channel to try and reach these notoriously impossible to target audience base, at a low cost where experimentation may just pay dividends.

So my two-penny, for those who would like it is that I see huge potential in TikTok. It has cleverly tapped into a niche audience and designed a content platform that speaks directly to that audience. It is now the biggest start-up in the world (overtaking Uber) and I look forward to seeing how brands utilise it more and more in the coming months and year.

To discover, and maybe even experiment with TikTok yourself, head to https://www.tiktok.com/en-uk/