TikTok — why should marketers care about this new app?
Firstly, what is TikTok?
- It’s a video sharing app that is pretty similar to Vine (TikTok merged with Musical.ly in August 2018).
- Tik Tok users make 15-second video clips and use special effects and filters.
- In the first quarter of 2018, it was the most downloaded app on iOS with 45.8m downloads.
- It is 5th in the Photo & Video top charts list in the Apple Store.
- 500m active monthly users
- 150m daily users — for some reason, most of them are children (maybe because they have more time than us busy adults).
Trending Hashtags
How does TikTok make money?
TikTok offers in-app purchases of coins, starting at 100 for $0.99 and levelling up to 10,000 for $99.99. Users can give coins to their favourite creators, who can, in turn, exchange them for digital gifts.
There are no real advertising opportunities for world marketers yet, but it seems inevitable. Luke Bristow of social media agency The Honey Partnership, which works with TikTok, told The Drum: “TikTok has been successfully running ads in its Asian market for a while now, with ad formats such as brand takeovers, in-feed native videos and sponsored hashtag challenges.” So it might be reasonable to hope that we will see this rolled out to the rest of the world shortly. Happy days.
Presently, the app’s age rating is 12+. It seems their target audience is millennials but TikTok says its target audience is people aged between 16 and 25. The company acknowledges it has many users younger than that range.
Back in December 2018, TikTok recognised the UK as a strategic market, it launched a campaign that covered digital and paid social, alongside a large-scale out-of-home (OHH) effort. It targeted the millennial generation which was complemented with a series of Christmas and New Year related hashtags and challenges.
At the time of writing this blog, no ad creation opportunities exist for marketers.
When Facebook bought Instagram it seemed like a merger of younger and older audiences. 41% of American Facebook users are aged 65+ while users under the age of 35 make up more than 70% on Instagram. Could TikTok present a tech giant with a gateway to a new generation?
Chris Strong, account director at influencer marketing agency Viral Nation, said “As TikTok is trying to acquire an older demographic, I think the ad unit would be great for brands that align with Gen-Z. I am very optimistic about the future of TikTok and hope this is the first step towards creating a trackable campaign for influencers on TikTok.”
Sean Everett, Chief Product Officer at consultancy Everett Advisors said “There’s some really interesting content [on TikTok] with individual people doing sped up lip syncing for vocal work. If [brands] do these types of native and engaging content, the ads will do well. You can’t just repackage something from Instagram or Facebook and think it will work.”
There is also influencer marketing. Although there is no formal advertising system in place at the minute, this doesn’t mean that the platform is a barren desert of marketing opportunities. According to Digiday, most influencer deals have been done between brands and creators directly, but that could change with TikTok working on deals with media agencies and companies. “We’re focused on consumer experience first, but we do have plans for that,” said TikTok’s head of global marketing, Stefan Heinrich.
For the creative marketer, there is influencer marketing. Identifying popular accounts and engaging with them to promote your brand messaging could be an excellent opportunity to reach your audience.
We’re always looking at new platforms and arenas to help our clients get their brand messages out there. Visit our website to find out more or reach out to me, today!
