Tik Tok- On the Clock (Literally)
Experimentation is a crucial part of any social media strategy, but it isn’t something a brand should just jump into. As mentioned in lecture, there’s no “magic answer” when deciding whether to launch your brand into a new platform. However, there are plenty of factors to consider when making this decision.
While conducting research, the brand needs to understand the platform and its purpose. You need to know if your audience is on the network and if you’re strong enough in your other platforms to take on another one without neglecting the others. This is also a great time to be a follower (literally) and see what the leaders on the platform are doing.
One platform that has everybody buzzing right now is Tik Tok. The app launched back in 2014 under the name Musical.ly, but has spiked in activity within the past year. The demographic for the app started at strictly teenagers, but has grown to a broader scale recently. During quarantine especially, all kinds of people had all kinds of time on their hands and have used the app as a way to keep busy.
What started as a silly app to post dances and “POV” videos has skyrocketed into a platform for creators of all backgrounds. Brands have started hopping on board out of urgency, but very few have the capability to do it right. The Washington Post is one brand that has made an impression on Tik Tok, gaining 574.7K followers.
It’s hard to say whether the app will have the same unprecedented impact in a year from now, but I think it’d be hard to completely get rid of it without legal action. No app with this much traction is going to disappear on its own. Executive orders aside, I think that in a year from now brands will have established their place in relation to the platform, whether it’s positive or negative, but recreational users will still spend a lot of time on it.
