By PIXIT
26.02.2020
When it comes to online advertising, the choice is usually made on either Google or Facebook. Both players are also often used. But there is a new marketing player that is particularly worthwhile as a marketing tool for a young target group: the social video app TikTok.
TikTok on the triumphal march
What started a few years ago with Facebook, Instagram and Youtube has now reached its social media peak through TikTok. At TikTok, the media self-portrayal takes the form of short, self-made videos, which users can then add their favorite music to. Mainly creative and funny videos are created. The special thing about the videos is that they can only have a maximum length of up to one minute and can be shared with other users. A variety of pieces of music, effects and challenges can be used, for example to create a playback video for your favorite song or to tell something about yourself (#dasbinich).h).
TikTok facts and figures
TikTok was founded by the Chinese company Bytedance in late 2016. In 2017 it was merged with the well-known Musical.ly app. The reasons for this were not only the combination and thus the increase in the number of users, but also the development of simple lip-syncing videos through to a social media entertainment platform. In addition to music videos, vlogs or comedy should also be offered. A brief overview of facts and figures can be found here:
Users, downloads and growth
In just one year, TikTok already reached almost 500 million active users per month. The pendant Musical.ly, a lip synchronization application that was bought by ByteDance in 2018 and merged with TikTok, achieved “only” 100 million active users per month. This makes TikTok the third most downloaded app worldwide in early 2019. By February 2019, TikTok had reached around 1 billion downloads, beating Instagram and Facebook in the app stores.
Demography
- Approx. 50% of TikTok users worldwide are under 34 years old, 26% are between 18 and 24 years old. (MarketingCharts)
- A little more than one in eight adults has joined TikTok. (MarketingCharts)
- 56% of TikTok users are male. (AppApeLab)
- TikTok is already available in 155 countries. (Oberlo)
- Over 500 million monthly active TikTok users are Chinese. (AdAge)
- The app has 26.5 million active users per month in the USA (Digiday)
User behavior
If you open the TikTok app, you will receive videos in your feed that have been curated according to an algorithm around your interests. If you like a video, you can share it and comment directly in the post. Since the videos last between 15 seconds and one minute, the app is ideal for the morning train ride to work or during the lunch break. From our own experience, you can quickly spend more time than planned with TikTok, because you simply cannot get enough of the videos as they are really entertaining.
- The average user spends 52 minutes a day on TikTok. (BusinessOfApps)
- 90% of TikTok users visit the app more than once a day. (GlobalWebIndex)
- Users open the app an average of eight times a day. (Digiday)
- TikTok claims the average session is almost 5 minutes, which is longer than that of Snapchat or Instagram. (Digiday)
Trends
Just like YouTube, Vine, Instagram or other video applications, TikTok can be a springboard for success for influencers, comedians, meme creators or even brands.
- The most persecuted person on TikTok is a comedian and influencer named Loren Gray. She has 34.4 million followers. (TikTok)
- One of the earliest brand hashtag challenges was Guess' #InMyDenimChallenge. According to TikTok, videos tagged with this hashtag have received a total of 38.8 million views. (TikTok)
- The rapper Lil Nas X attributes TikTok the success of his song "Old Town Road". The song was ranked #1 on the Billboard Top 100 in 2019 after the artist uploaded it to TikTok. (BuzzFeed news)
TikTok as an advertising platform
TikTok is little or not known to many as a social platform or even for advertising purposes. But just like Facebook or Instagram, TikTok is also interesting as an advertising platform for companies. Only a few advertisers are still aware of it, so fewer competitors will court for the attention of the target group. Another advantage is the steadily increasing number of users, the relatively long stay and the young community. This offers various opportunities for marketing. Since TikTok does not allow hyperlinks to the websites, companies have to focus on increasing brand awareness rather than leads or traffic. TikTok currently offers various advertising concepts for this.
One example is the so-called brand hashtag challenge, which is said to cost up to $ 150,000 a day. Some major brands, such as Chipotle and the Washington Post, are already using the platform intensively to appeal to a new audience. Likewise, the Guess brand stands out with creative and viral videos. With the #InMyDenimChallenge, Guess has encouraged TikTok users to shoot a music video while wearing the new Guess denim line. The platform is mostly used to share comedic articles with users, but serious videos can also be conveyed in the short videos to raise awareness of more serious issues such as global warming and world hunger. Another approach is through influencer marketing. It is clear to many entrepreneurs that influencers can be very valuable for the brand due to their reputation, their high level of commitment and their professional presentation. What has been used almost exclusively by large brands so far should serve as an example or suggestion for smaller companies to discover and use this advertising platform for themselves.
