Boasting more than 500 Million active users,
TikTok is a mobile video-sharing app that stepped on the scene in 2018. Users
can create and post short, looping videos set to music or sound bites – often
with humor as the focal point. Like the other social platforms, TikTok features
a personalized discover page, a home feed, user profiles and a built-in suite
of video editing tools. Because TikTok posts have a max length of 60 seconds,
the end result is typically a quirky, highly concentrated form of entertainment
that’s equal parts confusing and captivating.
To understand TikTok, you have to look at it in
the context of its forerunners, Musical.ly and Vine. Vine, the viral short-form
video-sharing app launched in 2013, can be thought of as the originator of snack-sized
viral video content. Vine put the wheels in motion for short videos to take off
as a standard video format where creators could leverage the vertical
orientation native to smartphones.
In 2014, Muscial.ly launched as a follow-up to
the success of Vine, which Twitter acquired in 2016. Users could create short
videos with the added layer of lip-syncing. This approach, coupled with low
production requirements, made it easy for just anyone to create engaging
content. Fast forward to 2017, when Chinese tech giant ByteDance saw an opportunity in Musical.ly’s content model. ByteDance acquired Muscial.ly in
2017 and in 2018 rolled out to the international market with the name TikTok.
By October 2018, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the U.S. and reached a
record 1.5 Billion downloads globally at the end of 2019.
TikTok trends move fast. Blink and you might
miss them. The platform doesn’t have the visual aesthetic of a curated
Instagram grid – nor is it the place for serious issues. TikTok has managed to
create a distinctive social experience that values spontaneity, humor, and
relatability above all else. It’s turned social media into pure social
entertainment.
Here’s how users are getting the most out of
the app:
Video Editing - TikTok has provided an entire generation of
users with a crash course in video editing. The platform’s easy-to-use tools
add a unique creative impact that doesn’t require the learning curve of an
advanced video editing platform. Creators can choose from dozens of overlays, transition
effects, filters, playback speeds, text options, and sounds. It gives just
about anyone the ability to create an engaging video with just a few taps.
Playing with sound - The platform’s editing tools and
advanced filters enable creativity by default, but a unique edge is an ability
to add a sound from a massive library of both licensed music and user-created
recordings. After a video is posted, any user can rip the audio, re-create the
parody, and throw it back into the TikTok ecosystem until the joke is dead.
Similar to the way hashtags work to discover content, users can search for a
song or sound to see the original content and all other videos it appears in.
Sound on the platform inspires music video spoofs, funny lip-dubs, dance
routines, and more.
Hashtag challenges - Viral trends start in the hashtags
on TikTok. Hashtag challenges encourage users to attempt and share their own
unique takes on challenges posed by different creators or brands – like Guess’s
#InMyDenim challenge or Jimmy Fallon’s #tumbleweedchallenge. Challenge have
proven to be an engaging way for users to easily create appealing content,
while brands can use it as an opportunity to build awareness with consumers.
React Videos - Users on TikTok have taken the concept of a
reaction to a hilarious new level. With the ‘React’ feature, users can record
their own reactions (with audio and video) to an existing TikTok video. The
reaction video can appear side-by-side with the original.
Cringe-worthy content - Like a train wreck you can’t look
away from, cringe videos feature awkward performances aimed at getting a laugh.
It’s a format made famous on YouTube, and TikTok-ers are playing it on their
own terms with injections of youth commentary and social satire.
TikTok Users - Gen Z runs the show. Younger audiences (ages
13-22) make up the majority share of TikTok users. As of September 2019, 42% of
internet users in the U.S. aged 13-16 are on TikTok according to eMarketer.
Among the ages 17-21, the percentage falls to 32%.
Older generations (Boomer, Gen X, Millennial)
have used social as a mode of staying up-to-date with friends, exploring
interests in groups, and communicating through messaging. Gen Z, on the other
hand, is carving out its own value in social as an unbridled medium for
entertainment, confessionals – and, well, dark humor. It’s part of the reason
why brands have to think differently about their content approach on a platform
that embraces weird, ephemeral, off-the-cuff entertainment.
TikTok For Brands – Now that TikTok has taken off in the U.S. and
looks likely to continue growing – brands are itching to get their messages
seen. Before jumping into the memetic platform, businesses need to ask whether
or not they should be joining in the first place. For brands setting out to
reach younger audiences with fun, challenging or unusual content, TikTok might
be the place. But it’s worth it to note that image-based ads and Instagram
style product endorsements won’t cut it on TikTok. Here are some ways brands
are dipping into TikTok.
Advertising – TikTok’s advertising business is still in its
infancy. The platform introduced a self-serve ad offering in beta last year,
garnering enthusiasm from the brands who were first to test it out. The
platform is still in beta testing and lacks some of the more robust targeting
options and programmatic features that enable advertisers to automatically buy
and measure ads.
For now, advertising on TikTok is only offered
on a CPM basis (cost per thousand impressions). To get started, advertisers
will need to create a TikTok ad account, after which a representative will
grant access to the beta self-serve ad platform. Once in, the process for
creating an ad is similar to other social platforms. Advertisers can define the
campaign objective and select targeting rules based on age, gender, location,
interests, etc. There is also an option to define the ad placement (TikTok, its
affiliated apps – or both), as well as an option for automated placement (in
beta).
Creative formats include: In-feed native video
ads, Brand takeovers (a full-screen ad that appears when a user first opens the
app), Hashtag challenges, Branded filters, Topview Ads (similar to brand
takeovers but uses in-feed content), Influencer brand partnership.
Social Commerce - In November, TikTok began
testing shoppable video posts, making it possible for creators to place
social commerce links in their posts. Users can then complete a purchase
without leaving the app. For now, the option is still in beta with no current
word on when it will roll out more broadly.
Sponsored hashtag challenges - Despite TikTok’s lack of a solid ad
offering, brands are still finding ways to make their products known by
leveraging the community at large (and we all know the TikTok community loves a
good challenge). Sponsored hashtag challenges give brands the ability to create
a video effect and pose a prompt to the community, which users can then play
into with their own spin.
No comments:
Post a Comment