TikTok- The next big thing in digital marketing

The new sensation amongst marketers

TikTok is another social media platform, similar to Instagram or snapchat where you can create short, 15-60 seconds videos by using various visual effects, music overlays and sound effects. This app was created by a Chinese tech firm which merged the Musical.ly app with the features of a previously launched video app called Vine. TikTok has had close to 500 million users in the past two years. Users can create a variety of short videos, usually meant to be entertaining and comic, by using filter, visual effects, songs and other sound effects. When you open the app, just like Instagram or Facebook, you come across a feed of videos posted by various users that you can scroll through.

Different businesses across the world were surprised at this sudden surge in popularity for an app that mainly featured comic, nonsensical videos. But they saw an opportunity to use this popularity as a marketing tool. Businesses like Chipotle and Guess Denims came up with something called a TikTok challenge where in consumers had to make videos which featured them using their products or services. The best, innovative video usually trended on all of their social media platforms, thus encouraging more and more customers to consume their products or services, to gain fame on the social media platform.

How TikTok turned into a marketing platform

Social media is an entity that never fails to surprise us. With the surge in its popularity, TikTok has paved a path of opportunities for small and big businesses alike. TikTok has become a major platform for influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to the larger market.TikTok doesn’t allow a user to add links to their videos but it can be used to create brand awareness, launch a new product or introduce an app which can be found easily on the app store. Voonik, a fashion e-store for women, was the first brand to explore TikTok in India. Their TikTok platform is maturing slowly and Voonik allots 20% of its budget to TikTok marketing.

Social media marketing is gaining popularity day by day due to the increasing number of social media platforms. At first, social media marketing only consisted of posting engaging content and creative images on Facebook, Instagram or twitter. This then slowly extended to creating customised Youtube channels and has now become even more popular with the use of TikTok. Therefore, it is very important for marketing professionals to have a thorough knowledge of these ever changing social media trends. There are three main ways that brands can market on TikTok.

• They can create their own channel and upload relevant videos through their channel
• They can work with influencers, to spread content to a broader audience
• They can pay to advertise on TikTok – it is very early days for TikTok advertising – there certainly isn’t a market yet like there is for YouTube. However, TikTok may become more popular and established over time.

Conclusion

Most business combine running their own channels and working with marketers to engage a larger audience and establish a brand name. Therefore, most professional marketers and sales person will benefit tremendously from having knowledge of this app. Visit our website or contact us to know how we can help your brand to reach more customers through Tik Tok