Lavender Nguyen

If you’re looking for ways to reach a younger audience, you should think about advertising on TikTok. TikTok now has 800 million monthly active users, climbing up to 6th place in the global mobile app rankings by monthly active users for 2020. Even though it's still behind WhatsApp, Facebook, WeChat, and Instagram, it’s already ahead of all the other social platforms. The most popular social media platforms in the world in January 2020. Source: We Are Social So, what's TikTok? How does it work? Can marketers actually use it to reach their target audience? Are there any marketing success stories on this platform? How do ecommerce marketers make use of TikTok to promote their products? If you’re looking for answers to these questions, look no further. This post will walk you through a brief overview of TikTok advertising. After that, you’ll know for sure if this new social media platform is right for your business. Let’s dive in. What is TikTok? TikTok is a video-sharing social media app designed exclusively for mobile devices (available for both Android and iOS). Using TikTok, users can watch, create, and share short videos of up to 15 seconds. These videos can be easily edited with music, filters, effects, and other built-in features. TikTok is the overseas version of the lip-synching app Douyin launched by the Beijing-based tech company ByteDance. In November 2017, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly, merged the app into their platform, and rebranded it as TikTok. This merger gave TikTok significant momentum to target the US teen market, which previously belonged to Musical.ly. If getting famous with a 15-second video sounds like a good deal to you, get on TikTok. The platform was built to give people the belief that anyone can become a global celebrity, no matter where they live or who they are. On Instagram or YouTube, you have to polish your image and/or video before uploading. But TikTok makes social media more fun, that is, the weirder you are, the more attention you may get. As long as you can access the internet and create a 15-second video to catch others’ attention, you can be huge. How to use TikTok. If you used Vine, you probably won't have any difficulty using TikTok—they’re very similar. The first time you use the TikTok app, you’ll see trending videos that are automatically shown based on the interests you chose when opening the app (see screenshot below). You can just swipe down to watch them. If you want to comment or share a video, you need to log in. With TikTok, you don’t need to have an account to view the content Here's what you can do on TikTok both as a personal account or a brand: 1. Make videos Using TikTok, you can record and create videos directly in the app or upload a video from your device library. The videos can be 15 seconds or 60 seconds in length. You can create videos of up to 5 minutes by combining multiple clips from your uploads. For video editing, TikTok provides stickers, animations, masks, and AR filters that can change eye color, hairstyles, and even add makeup.TikTok users can also shoot in slow-motion/time-lapse/fast forward, and they can rotate/crop videos, and change the playback speed. Sephora did a great job of using videos to promote their products and give tips for their follower If you want your TikTok video to go viral, focus on the music. The app lets you pick a popular song and record with it or choose a soundtrack from the built-in library to add to your video. 2. Add video reactions. TikTok allows users to use video reactions to broadcast their emotions while watching videos without leaving the app. Video reactions allow you to show emotions while watching a video To post a reaction, you just need to select the React option in the Share menu for a given video. Then, you can record your reactions when the video starts playing. You can also decide where you want to place the overlay video alongside the original. 3. Perform a duet. TikTok Duet lets users, regardless of their location, create content together. All users who like to sing enjoy this feature because they can duet with their loved ones, a celebrity, or any other music lover. The Duet feature in TikTok app If you want to become popular on TikTok, you should think about shaping a duet challenge. 4. Create challenges. Memes are a defining part of how teens communicate in the digital world. They grew up in the golden era of the internet and have a knack for identifying trending memes as well as recreating them. TikTok challenges are inspired by meme culture, which makes the app so appealing to a younger audience. Users can perform a challenge and then challenge others to do the same. Each challenge is often a combination of 3 elements: text, sound, and movement. Who uses TikTok? Before advertising on TikTok, it’s crucial to understand its demographics and whether they match up with your target audience. TikTok demographics. In the beginning, TikTok became a hot trend among women. But now the number of male users is higher in all groups. According to Vox, 66% of TikTok users are younger than 30. However, research shows that TikTok caters to a specific demographic: nearly half of its users (41%) are between the ages of 16 and 24 (Gen Zers). Here's why TikTok is so popular with youth: 1. TikTok creators have a deep understanding of Gen Z's behaviors, interests, and preferences. This helps them create a social media app that gives their target audience exactly what they’re looking for. Look at how TikTok entered Japan. The director of TikTok Japan had been working and studying in the country for 17 years before joining the company, and the rest of the team are either Japanese or have studied in Japan. Using insights into the local culture, they designed contests that allowed students to join interest groups like cheerleading, driving a lot of traction for TikTok in Japan. 2. TikTok brings users an experience-directed feed based on algorithmic observation and inference. The first time you open the app, you see a page called For You. The pool of videos is enormous, and most of those videos are incredibly addictive. This can explain why millions of teens are obsessed with the app. 3. Teens love challenges. The brain of a teenager is compelled to seek out new experiences. TikTok understands that, so it gives teens new, fun challenges they can’t find anywhere else. Which countries use TikTok the most? With TikTok, you have an opportunity to reach audiences around the world. TikTok is available in 155 countries and currently supports 75 languages. Among TikTok’s 800 monthly active users, 500 million of them (equal to 60% of the total) live in China. However, Indian users have made the main contribution to the number of TikTok downloads across the App Store and Google Play, with 466.8 million in 2019. This number is equal to 31% of all unique installs coming from the country. How do American teens use TikTok? In October 2017, there were 2.6 million adult US TikTok users. A year later, that number increased to 7.2 million. By the end of 2019, the US generated the third-largest number of TikTok downloads with 37.6 million or 7.4% of all global installs. The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon was considered one of the main contributing factors of TikTok’s sudden rise in popularity in the US. In the show, he encouraged viewers to join a TikTok challenge with the hashtag #tumbleweedchallenge. The challenge eventually drew more than 10.4 million engagements and over 8,000 submissions. TikTok videos with the hashtag #tumbleweedchallenge attract huge engagement The popularity of TikTok in the US is supported by teachers at many schools. A lot of educators even set up their own accounts and encourage students to use TikTok for assignments. These positive reactions towards TikTok in the US are what brands should bear in mind. If you find a way to resonate with the target audience through the app, TikTok advertising can be a smart move. Benefits of advertising on TikTok. Here are some advantages of promoting products on TikTok: Easy to reach young audiences. Teens love TikTok, so this platform is an ideal choice for brands whose target audiences are younger consumers. Some brands have already achieved tremendous success with TikTok. Elf Cosmetics, a brand that’s popular among teens, for example, hired an agency to produce the song “Eyes Lips Face”. The song title is based on the brand name’s acronym and inspired by Kash Doll’s 2018 hit “Ice Me Out”. The brand then worked with some influencers to create the TikTok hashtag campaign #eyeslipsface. The #eyeslipsface hashtag has over 4.6B views As for the results? More than 2 million videos were created using the Elf Cosmetics’ song, and as of now, the #elfcosmetics hashtag has 4.6 billion views. When used effectively, TikTok can help you tap into one of the most lucrative pools of users and increase engagement with your brand. Improve brand awareness. TikTok's hashtag system labels content and makes it easier to explore. Brands can use trending TikTok hashtags or create their own to include in their videos. Yves Rocher is a good example of using TikTok to increase brand awareness. Their campaign targeted Gen Z women and focused on the message that it's OK to be imperfect. This In-Feed Ads campaign helped Yves Rocher drive a CTR of 1.55%. The TikTok ad of Yves Rocher. Source: TikTok How to advertise on TikTok. In early 2019, TikTok launched a beta version of its ads offering. TikTok’s ad platform is already available in certain regions such as the US, EU, India, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. You can access TikTok Ads if you’re based in these regions. TikTok Ads are similar to Facebook Ads with features like custom audiences, lookalike audiences, a tracking Pixel, or a three-part ad structure (campaigns, ad groups, and ads). However, regarding ad types, TikTok Ads are different. Where TikTok differs is their ad types. Below are the TikTok ad types that...

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