Since the Coronavirus pandemic hit, quarantine drove a Global download boom for TikTok. We have seen a huge surge in popularity in Croatia also and the app is currently nr #1 downloaded app in the application store, and it has expanded from only underaged platform to be popular also to the millennials and beyond.
TikTok is a chinese social media app that was called Musical.ly in the western world for years. Musical.ly was built around lip-syncing videos, and this form of content remains popular in TikTok. In China, the app is called Douyin, it is owned by a company called Bytedance.
While seen as a social network, unlike other platforms, users are not required to sign up to access content.
TikTok is comprised of mainly 15 second videoclips, people participating in different challenges or jokes, dance or commenting life in an ironic way. It is quite light-hearted content with much audio clips and hit music: actually, a large portion of the content found on TikTok syncs to music found via the platform’s extensive music library.
TikTok has been in charge on multiple global phenomenon already. No.1 Billboard-charting artist Lil Nas X with his hit ‘Old Town Road’ in 2019 originated as a TikTok meme. The latest Scooby-Do movie was mainly advertised in TikTok and in the time of corona isolation, was able to break through with the app. The K-pop community in TikTok is said to also run a joke on President Donald Trump reserving majority of the tickets to his recent rally in Tulsa and to show empty hall.
90% of users are under 25
Users ages start from 7-8-year olds and mainly is highly popular with under 20's. It has over 500 million users in China, over 150 million in India, 40 million in the US, 5 million in UK, 4.3 in France, 2.8 million in Italy and 3,3 million in Spain – and it continues to grow rapidly.
It seems that in majority of the countries in Europe have a slightly higher number of women, for example in Italy females are 65 % of app users. They use the app approximately 36 minutes per day, open the app 7 times per day and on average staggering top 4 billion separate video views per month.
Recent study in UK, USA and Spain concluded kids spend almost 80 minutes per day in the app, only few minutes lower than in YouTube in daily usage.
In general, 90 % of users are under 25-year olds.
How can a brand thrive in TikTok
Which brands then could thrive in TikTok? Basically any, but you need to have a broad audience that has teens (12-14-year olds) and tweens (8-11-year olds). In Asia, where social commerce, people buying straight from social media apps, is more mature, you can also target young adults who have their own money.
In a very good rule of thumb, you should invest into a social media channel if 10% of your target group are in the platform. Getting attention as a brand organically is extremely hard, so I would advise at this stage to look at using influencers.
Some brands in Croatia have also started their own channels. For example, CineStar movie theatres have employed their mascot to be the star in their own channel and they do the popular challenges.
Using influencers
One great way of using TikTok's popularity is using influencers as the most popular content is what fits the platform the best. The best at doing that are obviously influencers, who have a close relationship with their followers and know how to use the platform. It is all about the fun and eye catching challenges and content.
Recently Home Depot’s jingle found its way into TikTok and went viral. More than 62 million pieces of content were created using the hashtag #HomeDepot and synced to the catchy tune – a boon for a brand whose core audience traditionally skewed older.
TikTok has not been without its brushes with controversy. Last year, the platform faced a temporary ban by the Indian government following several accidents and mishaps that were reportedly related to the use of the app, and the US Federal Trade Commission fined TikTok $5.7m for collecting children’s personal data without consent. There have also been allegations of censorship and a lack of moderation.
Due to these issues, some brands have not been using the platforms advertising features, but only the organic content.
Brands need to consider how comfortable they are about appearing around user-generated content, as well as the extremely young audience on the platform. For some brands, by the very nature of regularly talking to younger adult audiences, they will be comfortable with the setting.
TikTok advertising basics
TikTok has some advertising, but not yet available in Croatia. Advertising has spread in Europe this year though and we are waiting for it to hit here as well. The other way of using TikTok for marketing purposes is to build up an own channel to the platform to gather followers or use influencer to relay your message.
Ad solutions include:
- For reach and awareness, discovery page takeovers work well as this is the initial experience users have when they open the application.
- In-feed native video
- Sponsored lens filters
- Hashtag Challenges are campaigns directed at Generation Z, prompting users to post videos of themselves with the brand’s hashtag visible.
One word of caution needs to be said: the prices for takeovers and ads will be quite high in TikTok for Croatian market compared to other social media. Not impossible, but it needs to plan carefully to return the investment.
How brands can succeed on TikTok
China has shown us that TikTok is an effective way to reach consumers, especially for brands looking to drive awareness, create affinity with consumers, entertain and sell products and services – all without users ever having to leave the app.
Outside of China, TikTok continues to capture the imaginations of Generation Z, helping brands struggling to talk to younger age groups by providing the toolkit and reach to engage in creative and relevant conversation to sway perceptions and connect with younger audiences' day-to-day lives.
For brands that are considering TikTok remember in Croatia:
- Are at least 10% of your target core audience in the platform? If yes, consider your approach. If not, please think of waiting for paid solutions.
- Please consider your approach according to point 1. If you invest into generating own content to this audience, do you have a long-term solution in mind producing content that can be successful in organic way? Or would an approach with influencers be sufficient at this point for your brand to get visibility and guaranteed reach? Or would you wait until the paid solutions come available in Croatia
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If you want to know more about the Tik Tok possibilities and form a plan to be present in the app, please contact your client director or me.
Happy Tik ToK summer to all,
Heli Ruotsalainen
heli.ruotsalainen@dentsuaegis.com
Business Development Director
Dentsu Aegis Network Croatia