It’s time to pay some serious attention to the online video creating and sharing platform, TikTok, which has quickly become the go-to destination for telling the world about yourself. Despite its rapid rise, there are still plenty of people who aren’t quite sure what TikTok is. Here, we look at the Chinese app that debuted…
By Ruby Edwards3 min read
It’s time to pay some serious attention to the online video creating and sharing platform, TikTok, which has quickly become the go-to destination for telling the world about yourself.
Despite its rapid rise, there are still plenty of people who aren’t quite sure what TikTok is. Here, we look at the Chinese app that debuted in India in late 2017, and how it’s already clocked up 500 million monthly active users. The best part is, it’s the users who produce the app’s content.
TikTok is often referred to as a “lip-syncing” app, which makes it sound like it’s an online karaoke experience. Stories are told via crisp 15-second extremely pervasive videos. Pervasive, because TikTok’s videos have invaded all other content platforms, WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you name it. All thanks to its easy sharing and integration options.
While Vine may have introduced the concept of short-form video, TikTok has made video editing incredibly simple by allowing users to watch musical clips, shoot short clips, edit them and add special effects to them. You don’t need to be a video expert to put together clips with a range of effects. The music list contains a wide variety of music styles, including hip-hop, pop and electronic. It’s the Instagram for the mobile video age, in a way that Instagram itself won’t be able to reproduce, having already aligned its community with influencers and advertisers.
TikTok users may have spent hours setting up gummy bears as Adele concert-goers and learning how to do a shuffle dance up a set of stairs, but that aside, there really is potential for users to really showcase some special talents, drawing, painting, gymnastics, dance or skateboarding, perhaps. They do science experiments, make jokes or use special effects for a little video magic.
Sometimes it’s dumb, sometimes it’s clever. Whatever your view, it’s always addictive.
So, where’s the dough? We know that the 500 million monthly active users are mostly adults, but who else is using it? According to HubSpot’s social media team, brands have done a great job of using the app for brand awareness rather than generating traffic or leads. They’re also using it to engage younger audiences and show off a lighter side to themselves through funny videos, challenges, and other strategies that you’d only see on this platform specifically. These brands include, NBA, Chipotle, a popular Mexican restaurant chain, United Nations, Guess and The Washington Post. Brands like Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Lays and Snapdeal have been spotted on the platform’s various ad formats.
While it might be challenging to get your content to go viral like the bigger brands, TikTok could be a great tool for getting into sync with younger audiences. And since the app is relatively new, you can pretty much experiment with any strategy you want, to see if it works.
Facebook and Instagram have long dominated social media as the largest and most popular platforms. However, it is expected that niche social media platforms that are gaining popularity, like TikTok, will continue doing so in 2020 and beyond.
According to a Cisco study, by 2022, 82% of all online content will be video content. This clearly shows how important it is to start utilising video content to stay relevant in the social media domain.
Video content is one of the most engaging forms of content and is quickly becoming a clear winner over all other types of content. Whether it is short-form videos like those on TikTok or Instagram stories or long-form content on YouTube, videos are the future of social media content.
If you’re not currently creating videos, it’s now time to consider using it in your content strategy for 2020. In the near future, videos will dominate social media. You can start by using features like stories, both or your social media content and for advertisements. You can also add videos to your social media posts, even on platforms that were traditionally dominated by image or text content.
