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As of 2022, TikTok holds the top domain spot, above, yes, even Google. According to web security company, Cloudflare, this doesn’t equate to TikTok having the most users, it equates to TikTok receiving the most traffic. A whopping 5.6 billion searches are made through Google every day, so it’s wild to think that TikTok gets even more traffic than that. The main draw of traffic comes through the gem of TikTok, For You pages. For You pages are so popular because they appear automatically when you open the app.
An Overview of TikTok
TikTok takes personalized content curation to the next level with posts being selected and displayed based on your past likes and engagements. TikTok users will spend hours scrolling in the For You section alone. Globally, the average user spends around an hour on the app every day. Viewers are also able to find video content through 5 other traffic sources: Following, Discover, Sound, Hashtag, and Personal Profile.
The internet has never seen a domain quite like TikTok, other than its old friend Vine. TikTok replaced Vine by adapting a practical, clean interface that allows for higher engagement and traffic. The popularity of TikTok grew exponentially during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. While the app initially attracted the Gen Z audience through lip-syncing and dance videos, TikTok has since sparked curiosity in all ages and demographics, who have hopped on the bandwagon for its cooking hacks, DIYs, memes, and relatable content- just to name a few topics found on the platform. The beauty of TikTok has a lot to do with the fact that they show individual users what they like to see based on what they have previously engaged with.
TikTok: The Holy Grail of Marketing
The surge in TikTok’s popularity has increased the platform’s users to around 2.6 billion. The huge audience averages scrolling for an hour daily, and this is not going unnoticed by digital marketers. Right after Cloudflare released its list of domain rankings, the New York Times wrote: B2C businesses see TikTok as the new “holy grail of marketing.” With marketers focused on reaching the Gen Z audience, they have backed off on the cable television advertising spend, because of its decline in popularity due to streaming services. According to the Times, TikTok presents a new opportunity, especially considering the viral #TikTIkMadeMeBuyIt hashtag which currently has over 7 billion views on the platform. Spending time, placement dollars, and ad spend on TikTok might just be your best move if your ideal buyer is part of this audience.
Data from TikTok estimates that the platform has about 1 billion active monthly users in the United States alone. Of these users, 60% are between the ages of 16-24 and 26% are between the ages 25-44. These users open the app around 8 times a day. Just because of the massive amount of traffic it gets, doesn’t mean TikTok is a good platform for every business. Again, the main demographics of TikTok are younger audiences, although more people are beginning to join in on the platform, you have to know your audience. It is important to make sure your social efforts line up with your ideal buyer persona and who you’re trying to reach.
- Your target audience is between ages 16-30
- You want to expand the reach of your brand to a younger audience
- Your products and/or services are well-equipped for video content
- You’re comfortable sharing light-hearted brand content
- You’re ready to spice things up with your brand image by going trendy
- You don’t mind spending time experimenting with content and the platform to see what works best for you
How is TikTok used for Business?
TikTok is not only engaging with its captivating videos, it’s responsive to the fast-paced, ever-changing world around us. It’s the social media platform with the most opportunities to “go viral.” While 83% of users post their own content, mass amounts of traffic provide great opportunities for business exposure.
TikTok is a place for short, mobile videos. For those unfamiliar with the capabilities of TikTok, it has a mix of content types - much like you’d find on Instagram or YouTube -, but with additional elements. TikTok videos can be anywhere from five to sixty seconds long and you can choose from a plethora of filters and effects. Along with the creative visual features, TikTok offers an enormous library of music that allows you to add any sound effect or song you can think of. TikTok’s state-of-the-art algorithms use Artificial Intelligence to suggest content to users (like their For You page we mentioned). The algorithm creates an easy way for users to discover new content, or become a viral sensation.
Four Types Of TikTok Content For Your Business
When it comes to the creation of TikTok videos, there are many successful methods to cover in terms of TikTok video content forms.
1. Videos Created By You
The top type of content your business should be sharing on TikTok is your own video content created by you. Your business is striving to create a likable, sharable video that increases engagement, and maybe even goes viral. Being authentic is a key component as it is more relatable and easier to connect with the audience, anything too staged will translate as fake. Using people in your videos is a continued way to increase the authenticity of your brand’s TikTok content. Users aren’t looking to watch objects; they want to watch people.
Videos see more success when you use your phone and play on natural lighting. Developing crowd-pleasing content is dependent on including a bit of comedy, creating relatable content, and jumping on the challenges that flood users’ feeds. Most importantly, the ultimate goal of your videos is to have them reach the largest amounts of people in an inexpensive way through going viral. But that’s easier said than done. The more you can create unique ways to hone in on authenticity, the more engagement your TikTok campaigns will see.
2. User-Generated Content
55% of TikTok users have uploaded a video in the last month, which creates a perfect opportunity for businesses to incorporate user-generated content. As you create and share video content, especially through the popular challenges and hashtags, your audience will without a doubt begin to interact with you. They may recreate and put a twist on popular content you’ve created, do brand reviews, or use your products in videos. All of these are perfect opportunities to interact with your followers and share more authentic content from your brand supporters. One way to find user-generated content that you might’ve missed is by using TikTok’s search feature to look for hashtags related to your company, industry, or products.
3. Advertisements
As of June 25, 2020, TikTok officially launched TikTok For Business. The platform is a marketing hub for business accounts. TikTok For Business offers different ways to reach audience bases. TopView is the first video users see when they first open the app. Infeed Videos pop up in between user content. These ads can help you increase clicks, web traffic, and downloads. Infeed videos see more traction with the audience providing a more organic feel, while TopView ads seem to acquire more traffic. Some of the best ways to advertise within the platform include takeovers and challenges.
Brand Takeovers: allow brands to take the spotlight on TikTok for the day and create images, GIFs, and video content that acts as calls to action, mainly linking to websites. This ad option focused on building brand awareness. Branded lenses can also be incorporated within videos. These lenses usually focus on showcasing the trending products or ideas of a brand. A great example of this in action is the brand Too Faced’s campaign with TikTok, which received 7.6 million impressions and a click-through rate of almost 19%.
Hashtag Challenges: This gives you the ability to promote a branded hashtag you craft to increase engagement and awareness. The most popular categories from hashtag views are #entertainment, with 535 billion hashtag views, #dance coming in with 181 billion views, and #pranks landing at 79 billion views as of January 2022.
4. Influencer-Created Content
You’ve probably seen influencer marketing in action on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, especially over the last few years. TikTok is the new platform for influencer marketing. This type of content creates a stronger audience base of influencers and the data backs it. According to Statista, U.S. influencers on TikTok see an average engagement rate of around 18%.
Key Takeaways
Mr. Zhang Yiming the man behind TikTok says, “We must adapt to the industry’s changes. In the content industry, texts and pictures have evolved into videos, and content is increasingly generated by users. Many of our changes are in response to what today’s users need.”
As the popularity of TikTok continues to grow, it is changing the face of social media marketing, and digital marketing altogether through the use of short clip videos and new trends. With the bulk of Gen Z and millennials spending hours a day on TikTok, this could be the perfect platform for your business. The bottom line is that TikTok isn’t a platform for you to be stuffy, salesy, or too serious. The businesses that see the most successful content thrive on TikTok. The type of content that brands like Chipotle, Starbucks, Oreo, and Fenty Beauty post is fun, aesthetic, and entertaining and follows up and coming trends. Go try it, and have FUN.
