I remember starting on Instagram in its infancy and seeing huge levels of growth. One of my biggest regrets to this day was not remaining consistent and pushing the channel, as the people the early adopters flourished and became hugely successful, many becoming celebrities (albeit z-listers). I always told myself if an opportunity ever came up again I wouldn’t make excuses, I would learn how to use the platform and would push myself every day. Welcome Tik Tok.
This exciting platform is one of the fastest growing apps of all time, with the audience largely being 13-21 year old’s (seirously, ask anyone over 21 and they will look confused).
Is Tik Tok Musically?
Tik Tok bought out Musical.ly back in November 2017, however they kept the app separately all the way up until August 2018, when it was rebranded and merged into Tik Tok.
This might seem like a shock change, but a merge of this size and stature takes a considerable period of time if done correctly, which is why there was almost a year gap between the change over.
What is most interesting was the price Musically was bought for, $1 billion, the same amount Facebook bought Instagram for.
Will The Social Media Landscape Change?
Certainly, Facebook is considered the dinosaur of the social media platforms, with a decreasing level of usage based on lower age groups. Facebook bought out Instagram which helped it to remain with a younger age group, however the new generation coming through are living on Tik Tok.
As marketers catch up on this change, you will see a strong change come through. This has only been enhanced by the continued damage to Facebook’s reputation following massive media mess-ups.
Facebook are attempting to build a potential competitor currently, called Lasso, however whether it will be chasing their tails is yet to be seen. They have the budget to get influencers on the platform posting regularly, so only time will tell.
What Are Tik Tok Challenges?
These are challenges set out for everyone to complete. If you do well on these, you can see your following grow significantly, with a lot of people following these trending challenges. You have the skill based ones (e.g. the blanket transition) or the event/date based ones (e.g. Halloween).
If you want to see your following grow over night, this is your winning tactic, start posting amazing videos matching the requirements of the hashtag. Click on the hashtag to find further details of what is required in the video.
Are brands On Tik Tok?
They are using the platform, but they are largely struggling to adapt and create great content. As a new generation are using this platform on a regular basis, you are seeing young people become incredibly talented at video editing, often using multiple apps to create the finished piece.
Will I Be Using The Platform?
Yes, I have the created the SpaghettiTraveller account (please give me a follow, not begging I swear). I created the account one week ago and at the time of writing it has grown to 375 ‘fans’. I am seeing my other social media efforts slow down to accommodate for this new focus, but I’m sure it will be worth it.
What Are Duets On TikTok?
I love duets! People create duet videos, using hashtags such as #duetwithme, which you go on, then click ‘duet’. This will take you through to the video creation setting, where you can record something alongside their piece. Be creative and think carefully about the storyline. These are a great way to get a strong level of views and hearts if done correctly.
What Are Fans And Hearts?
Fans are the same as followers, while hearts are the equivalent of likes. At the end of the day, it’s all the same, they are just trying to stand out from the crowd and offer something slightly different, fair enough to them.
Who Owns Tik Tok?
The parent company is ByteDance, which was only just launched in September 2016, showing how rapidly it has grown. A Chinese based company, in its home country it runs as Douyin, while unsurprisingly its largest usage is in Asia, however it is quickly breaking the western markets.
Is Tik Tok Safe For Kids?
Mainly, yes. They are very good at deleting any content which has nudity, much more so than any other social media platform. My fear however is that the usage is very young, with many dancing on the app, which could be a danger if the wrong type of people were watching the content. As the platform continues to grow, I hope no issues will come, but in general it has a strong reputation for its content control.
Is Tik Tok The New Vine?
Pretty much, yes. The question is whether it will suffer the same issues as Vine and eventually crash and burn (hopefully not). What is interesting is how many people became internet phenomenon’s, starting out on Vine. There are already a huge amount of people considered new celebrities that got their fame via Tik Tok.
Is Tik Tok Shutting Down?
A post went viral, apparently by Tik Tok stating they would be shutting down. However there is no sign of the post in their history and they responded with #FakeNews therefore it looks very doubtful. When the platform is growing so well, it is implausible that this would be possible.
Key Features Of Tik Tok
- Full screen vertical video
- A.I. content recommendation
- Global community engagement
- Built from music
Their Policy
“We believe that everyone has something to share. Anything is welcome on Tik Tok, including inspiring musical performances, slick trick shots and silly selfies. What matters is that people share and express who they really are.”
An Insight Into Their European Community
| Monthly Active Users | Female Vs Male | Mins Spent On The App Per Day | Times A User Opens The App Per Day | Average Monthly Video Views | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | 4.3M | F64 M36 | 40 | 7 | 6.1B |
| UK | 4.7M | F58 M42 | 42 | 9 | 6.2B |
| Germany | 4.7M | F54 M46 | 39 | 8 | 8B |
| Italy | 2.8M | F65 M35 | 36 | 7 | 4B |
| Spain | 3.3M | F65 M35 | 33 | 6 | 3.5B |
Brand Takeover
What is it? •A Brand Takeover ad appears upon opening TikTok and it’s the first interaction users will have • •It can either be a 3-second long still image or 3-5 second long GIF/video
Why this ad format? •Can drive users to click through to the hashtag challenges or drive them to an external destination such as website • •Category exclusivity–we only allow one advertiser per day
In-Need Native Video
What is it? •5-15 seconds long, full-screen, immersive video experiences • •Showing up on the “For You” page • •9-15 seconds are highly recommended
Why this ad format? •CTA can drive users to click through to a hashtag challenge or to an external destination such as a website or app downloads • •The spinning disc feature can promote the brand’s music or soundtrack • •Opportunities for amplification and earned impressions via cross-platform sharing functions
Hashtag Challenge
What is it? •Hashtag challenges capitalize on our audience’s natural tendency to create and share content! •They encourage UGC by asking users to record themselves completing a specific action or following a set of directions to participate in the “challenge”
Why this ad format? •High potential for the baked-in virality features to increase movie awareness and engagement • •37%* of users participate in challenges
Branded Lenses
What is it?
A fully customisable 2D or 3D lens that can be triggered by Hand or facial movement. Lenses can incorporate branded themes and logos.
Why this ad format?
Lenses offer an additional layer of creativity for our users to play with!
Campaign Metrics
Brand Takeover Ads
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Unique Reach
Native Video Ads
- Impressions
- Clicks
- CTR
- Total Video Views
- Video views time over 3 seconds/10 seconds and finish
- Average video play duration
- Video engagement
Hashtag Challenge
- Banner view and clicks
- Hashtag page views
- Number of user-generated videos
- Video views
- Video engagement
- Number of users using branded music
Lenses
- Total number of videos featuring the lens
- Total video views of posts featuring the lens
- Engagement
Got Any Questions?
Please do send in any questions you have, I will answer them to you and then will post the question and answer here, so we have a continually growing FAQ on the platform.