Unable to wrap your head around the phenomenon that is TikTok? With over 119 million active users in India and a global audience of more than 800 million, it looks like the platform is here to stay, so let’s dive into understanding the history behind this platform and what makes it “tik”!
What is TikTok?
TikTok started out with humble origins as Musical.ly, a lip-synching platform. It was picked up by Chinese social media giant ByteDance in 2018 and combined with an existing platform that was already huge in China. Like that, TikTok, and a whole new generation of social media, was born!
TikTok is being called a social media for everyone. Its democratic algorithm allows any smart content creator to grow, and with easy content prompts and filters – everyone can now look like a Bollywood star in a well-produced self-shot piece of content.
Our Favourite TikTok Features
- Algorithm
The platform’s algorithm has been talked about at length. It is a fast adapting algorithm that truly learns and understands your choices and adapts to it. You may notice the content change to suit you better as you use TikTok longer.
The algorithm looks at a combination of the following variables which determines how widely content is disseminated. Content has an initial “trial period” for the first few minutes it is live, and based on performance there it is pushed to a wider audience based on the following factors:
- Number of your followers
- The number of shares of the content
- Number of likes & comments your content is getting
- “Completion Rate”: what percentage of your content is watched before moving on (a higher rate means higher scoring)
Content comes to viewers based on what their past viewing history has been. For example, if you’ve been watching a lot of one specific challenge or music theme, you may see more of this content on your feed. Do note that Tiktok is matching what hashtags (text) or what music, challenges you are watching and is able to unilaterally match you to your preferred type of content.
A key takeaway for brands: content need great completion rates, and do a careful selection of influencers to ensure the algorithm will be favourable to your content! Shorter videos are recommended (we’ve seen 10-15 second content suggested as an optimum time period).
- Duet
You can duet with your friend or a stranger where you create a video together. You can even create a video and use the hashtag #duetwithme to ask others to join in with you. This is a great two-way conversation enabler of TikTok.
- Audio
The large library of music, dialogues and sounds makes it very easy to create content without worrying about copyrighting issues. You can see trending music to catch on to the latest musical craze.
- Hashtags
The hashtags are a big part of the platform, it helps your content get discovered. It also helps you discover some great new platform. Trends are almost always in hashtags unless created by the platform.
- Challenges
TikTok challenges whether organic or sponsored are pushed out to the public to either learn a dance move or do a specific task. This is a fun way to challenge yourself and connect with your audience. Brands can sponsor challenges – some of the most successful campaigns in history were the Pepsi Swag Challenge and Dettol Handshake Challenge.
- Social media sharing
Sharing videos from the platform is extremely simple. It also provides options to share with the most common platforms. If you are making TikTok content – be sure to share to Instagram & Facebook if relevant!
- AR Filters & Games
TikTok has some really advanced the AR filters & editing features that can make anyone’s home look like anywhere else on the planet. With beauty filters, you don’t need to wear makeup anymore. And with the AR games, you can just record yourself playing games for engaging content!
Does your audience match the platform?
A key factor to consider before launching your brand on TikTok is whether your audience matches the platform’s audience?
Ages of 18-24 create almost 26% of TikTok’s global audience and 50% of their global audience is under the age of 34. Which means if your audience is below the age of 34 the platform is great for you. The average TikTok user spends 52 minutes on the app per day.
Here are some more facts about TikTok’s audience.
It’ll be wise to consider these points before launching your brand on TikTok:
- As of beginning 2020, the Indian userbase of TikTok users had reached 200 million.
- Majority of the Indian user base is between 18 – 35 years old, and from Tier 2/3/4 towns.
If you have a young focussed, mass-market brand wants to show a more humane and fun side of the brand then TikTok is the way to go. If not, TikTok may not be the ideal place to spend your resources.
What kind of content works on TikTok?
TikTok is known for its variety in content. There have been successful challenges and trending hashtags about everything from cooking, lifestyle, jokes, fitness, travel, storytelling – literally everything! It has several different communities and hashtags for all this content.
If you are consistent with the content and it is entertaining or educational the content will probably do well. Dances, lip-syncing to dialogues, trying viral challenges and pranks are extremely famous on the platform. It works well as it is easy to replicate it. The more people that replicate your content the better it is.
Here are some ideas of how brands are using TikTok for their brands!
You can try branded hashtags for your brand.
Dabangg ka swag, dabangg ki Pepsi #swagstepchallenge #swagattohkarohumaraswagse #harghoontmeinswag #Dabanng3 @SKFilmsOfficial pic.twitter.com/lcRiDEBaYE
— Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) December 21, 2019
@i_am_gaur Tharkii😂😂 ##UnbottleApnaSwag ##teamfl01 ##prank ##comedy 😂😂
♬ original sound – alizachouhan
You can teach your audience interesting new things.
@chefkunal ##khandvi ##gujarati ##desifood ##quickbite ##chef ##tiktokchef ##food ##quarantine ##quarantinelife ##dhokla ##food ##stayhome ##kunalkapurrecipes ##chefkunal
♬ original sound – Kunal Kapur
You can partner up with influencers and try creative and fun things with them!
@faby_makeupartist Tag your FAV tiktoker ##passthebrushchallenge ##passthebrush@nagmaa @anammidarbar @sameeksha_sud @aliya_hamidi @ankitachhetri25 @kankadas ##fabysquad
♬ Boss Bitch – Doja Cat
Brands that you must check out on TikTok
@dunzoit 🏵️ ##HappyOnam ##HappyOnam2019 ##Onam ##TikTokIndia ##Dunzo ##Sadhya ##Trending
♬ original sound – Dunzo
As we all know, Dunzo has been making a big impact on social media. How could they leave out TikTok? Check out their channel for some much-needed inspiration.
By focusing on celebrities Amazon Prime has also built an audience for themselves on TikTok!
@amazonprimevideo IT’S FAMILY ❤️ ##happinesscontinues @jonasbrothers ##primenow ##nickjonas ##kevinjonas ##joejonas ##brave ##concertfilm ##gettingbacktogether ##jonasbrothers
♬ Properly Heal – amazonprimevideo
@flipkart Move to the beat and ##JustWrapIt ! Exciting prizes up for grabs. *T&C Apply
♬ FLIPKART #JustWrapIt with Alia – Flipkart
Flipkart stole our hearts with their #BigBillionStar campaign. It featured celebrities like MS Dhone, Amitabh Bachchan and Alia Bhatt, with winners getting a chance to bag Realme 3 phones.
Want to learn how to get started with TikTok influencer marketing? Get in touch with our experts on hello@chtrbox.com.