What is TikTok and How Can Brands Leverage it?
If you have a teen or tween you probably know what TikTok is. For those that have never heard of it, here is a brief explanation:
TikTok is a social media app that let’s users create and share short videos (up to 60 seconds) that are overlaid with filters and audio. It started as musical.ly in 2014 but was merged into TikTok after a Chinese company called Bytedance bought it.
Initially you only found videos of teenage girls dancing or lip-syncing to trendy songs in their bedrooms. Recently the range of content has broadened. You can now find videos around every theme/topic under the sun from fitness, cooking, business, cars, animals….you get the point, TikTok now has content for everyone.
Below are some examples of TikTok videos if you need to see what they look like:
https://www.tiktok.com/@wianmagic/video/6784369812723223813
https://www.tiktok.com/@chanegrobler/video/6784467776451939589
https://www.tiktok.com/@heykelseyj/video/6782613708037295365
https://www.tiktok.com/@heykelseyj/video/6782613708037295365
How Popular is TikTik Then?
The short answer…very. TikTok is very very popular. The statistics behind the apps growth are mind-blowingly crazy. Below are some quick stats (see here and here for more detailed stats):
- It has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times on IOS and Android
- 660 million of those downloads came in 2018 alone
- It was the top most downloaded app for IOS in the US app store for Q1 2019
- 41% of users are ages between 16 and 24
- Users spend 52 minutes per day on the app
- Available in 155 countries
- Over 1 billion video views per day
- Top countries include India, China and USA
Why is TikTok so popular?
No one really knows why things go viral and other things do not. I mean, does anyone remember Vine, the popular short-format video platform that failed?
Below I will try to summarise the mass-appeal of TikTok to everyone over 20.
- Creating content is super easy. Filters, effects, captions, popular music…it all just works very well on mobile and makes publishing video content easier than Instagram, Youtube or Facebook.
- TikTok has a vast database of audio and filters that you can easily layer onto your videos.
- The community encourages content creation and collaboration (you can duet an existing video which creates a split screen video). Overall there is a very positive vibe throughout the content on the app.
- Getting traction is really easy. My wife and I created this silly video in Pick n Pay clothing which at the time of writing has nearly 60k views. You just can’t get that sort of traction on any other platform right now.
Linkedin does not allow me to embed TikTok videos, so read the rest of the article on the Revcore blog to see examples of how brands are using TikTok.