TikTok TikTok Are you there?

With over 1 billion upload and 500 million monthly users it's time to explore this relatively new but promising platform.

If you do not know at what I am referring to, as a human or as a Brand, this article is for you! TikTok is a ‘’new’’ (2016) social platform. More precisely a video sharing platform, becoming very famous and from certain sources it could take over Facebook and YouTube. TikTok is the platform of the moment, with over 1.2 billion total downloads and 663 million downloads in 2018 .

What makes me want to say it with an inspirational and deep voice: And now, there is TikTok. An inspirational tone of voice: And then, there is TikTok!

Let’s start with the more or less exiting definitions:

General information or I have to said Wikipedia moment: TikTok, also called Douyin (Chinese: 抖 音 短 视频; litt. "Short video vibrato") is a mobile video sharing and social networking application it is developed by the company Chinese ByteDance. Its logo evokes a musical note or the letter ‘’d’’ (in reference to its Chinese appellation).

What is the appeal? In surface, TikTok is pure social media platform Users make 15 second videos (think funny dances, pranks, and lip-syncing bits), and then use TikTok tools to incorporate music and effects.

But wait here is a description of Ape app * more exciting:

Content are exciting, spontaneous, and genuine. Whether you are a sports fanatic, a pet enthusiast, or just looking for a laugh, there’s something for everyone on TikTok. All you have to do is watch, engage with what you like, skip what you don’t, and you’ll find an endless stream of short videos that feel personalized just for you. From your morning coffee to your afternoon errands, TikTok has the videos that are guaranteed to make your day.

I know, I know, on the surface TikTok sounds exactly like the different content apps you’re already know, but TikTok is so much different. Let me try to explain.

On the surface, it looks like YouTube. However, under the surface the picture is more complex. And this is through its exponential expansion and its approach to exploit user data.

According to user data analyzed by App Ape* TikTok is THE destination for mobile videos.

And according also to Bloomberg, “Within a day, the app can get to know you so well it feels like it’s reading your mind.” Oh yeah! Already talking about AI but I promise I will not enter to the machine learning future that brings TikTok ;) but I have to say that it is one of the most sophisticated artificial intelligence to entertain endlessly its consumers.

Behind the memes

ByteDance is fast becoming a social media giant. It is smaller than Facebook (2.27 billion global monthly active users, including Instagram and WhatsApp, which it owns), but it is far ahead of Twitter (336 million) and Snapchat (186 million). Moreover, as of February 2019, 27 million of those active users were in the USTikTok’s rise has not been without controversy.

Interesting political thought: TikTok represents also the first time that a Chinese technology brand grew very directly out of the Chinese tech ecosystem, has found organic traction internationally.

The rules: unspoken understanding within the community

You simply open the app and a TikTok video immediately plays. You do not need to follow anybody — you just immediately start scrolling. What distinguishes TikTok from virtually any other platform is the unspoken understanding within the community that making good TikToks is what is going to get you noticed amongst the incredible large pile of content on the platforms. And for that, a TikTokkers must have a basic understanding of how to tell short stories and edit video.

Fascinating: what ends up happening is that 99% of the most popular videos on TikTok are always people doing the exact same thing as everyone else, and then over time the types of videos change as the TikTok trends change. You would think that this would be boring, but it is actually captivating and strangely addictive.

Game Changer?

TikTok is not just building a generation of good TikTokkers — it is reshaping the way we consume media and recalibrating what we can expect to see online.

TikTok is where you go to watch videos, where you go to film them, and also where you go to edit them. It is a feat that established video giants like YouTube and Twitch cannot claim to have accomplished as quickly, nor as well. Promises: TikTok has found a way to give you an infinite number of chances at being hit by viral lightning. Try to create a new account on a social network without any follower, and you post content do you think it could go viral? Impossible or crazy thoughts? However, that is how TikTok works.

The reason a sound will start to go viral is because someone on TikTok will shoot a video out of it that has a repeatable format so that other people on TikTok can create their own versions. It’s how they pull people in to participate themselves with hashtags, memes, and duets.”

I am completely fascinated by the impact on culture, business, and humanity, that TikTok is having and it gives us a clear vision on what are the values and behaviors of the next generation. I have seen so many example personified in my 11 years daughter. Recently she told me that I really have to vote for the NPD guy more than Trudeau as he respect so much the environment and as he truly understand her generation. I was very surprised and we had a 2 hours conversation about politics. Ok I spend 45 min to explain why she cannot vote yet and why as a resident of Canada her dad and I are not truly Canadian yet so we cannot vote .

Here a quick note to answer to the many parents that are virulent against TikTok. Of course parent have to control it but it seems that instead of others platform where users are just watching and dreaming , TikTok push people in general and mostly kids for creativity , to value originality, to recognize the differences and to reveal many nuances of their personalities without being ashamed to share it. Moreover, all along the way, people (children and adults) learn to edit videos but also to become better narrators / communicators.

As a TikTok user (most controlling my daughter activity :)) for now 3 years, I can tell change is here .Many more celebrities and brands have made their first TikToks and businesses have become eager to figure out how to capitalize on this audience. Apple, McDonalds are definitely there such as Will Smith and Canadian politicians talk to younger generation during the election period. Everything is on TikTok.

Now let s talk business: TikTok the go-to platform for brands?

With over a billion people, you would think that brands would be all over TikTok.

TikTok is definitely the go-to platform for brands that want to reach an audience between 13 and 18 years old for now. TikTok is not just for kids, expectation are TikTok will be used by people of all ages and after all kids will grow up ;)

So Yes, It is time for brands to acknowledge TikTok’s potential.

It mostly focused on a younger audience, not only for the Customer Acquisition campaigns, but they built an app with a UX that is millennial friendly. This makes it the ideal platform for brands that want to reach the current, next and future consumer

TikTok is growing fast. So brands should be leveraging the infinite potential that influencer marketing has now as it means that your competitors are not using it.

It is cheap and you can engineer a trend that could bring a ROAS hardly achievable on other platforms. The barriers to entry are low and the engagement rates are faster, cheaper, and higher than ever before. Are you asking for more?

 Viral videos being the main type of content, there is potential for low cost viral marketing campaigns. There are many different ways to grow an audience on TikTok.

At minimum, for any brand that wants to understand next generation of consumers they should be on TikTok. At the end, the actual disruption is it not to be up to date with the current trend?

So it is time for your marketing team to download it and test a marketing campaign that could bring results you never thought possible. Challenges with their product, nice prize, or get a few influencers on this platform is ways to introduce the brand to new consumer or developing loyalty project or asking consumer to participate on TikTok. A criteria of direct success to remember: videos that are easy to do and replicate to become viral faster.

 How your brand can engage on TikTok:

Of course, one of the first way is to pay TikTok for advertising. TikTok will show your ad when people load the app and when scrolling through the endless feed.

In addition, you can create original video content, use sounds and follows trends.

And the last is still to pay TikTok influencers to create content that includes your product or tags your brand TikTok account. TikTok influencer marketing solutions can target an audience that is unreachable anywhere else.

Near Future: TikTok will become a hub for ecommerce transactions.

For this we just have to look at Douyin (remember, the Chinese version of TikTok we can see what the future of TikTok looks like.)

On Douyin, products are usually labeled on videos to allow users to buy directly by pressing on the label to add it to their baskets. Douyin has also a face and object search, to find people and sell product. Those features are expected to roll out on TikTok soon !

TikTok are enabling humans being to go viral faster than ever what’s about your brand? Still having concern?

Maybe legal concern: TikTok has already launched many options to filter unwanted attention and to control the profile’s privacy and data. TikTok is also educating the users on how to actually use the platform and on how to ensure safety to the younger audience.

Other platforms have these features but they implemented them at a much later stage. 

 If you do not already have a TikTok account, maybe now is the time for you to check it out? https://www.tiktok.com

Do not hesitate to share with me your feedbacks.

Sandra A.