Background
The scope of this project involved discovering a brand with an interesting story that can be shared with the class in order to create a collaborative learning opportunity. I convinced my team to select TikTok because the platform has taken the world by storm as of February 2020 and is growing at an alarming rate. I also wrote an article about this on LinkedIn which you can find here.
What is TikTok?
TikTok is currently the leader in short-form mobile video apps. What is short-form mobile video? It’s a video, usually around 15-60 seconds, that has been recorded on your phone.
TikTok has become one of the most entertaining social media platforms, despite having only been founded in November 2018 after ByteDance, a Chinese company, bought the app Musical.ly.
Here is a quick compilation that showcases the entertaining and resourceful attributes of the content that exists on the app.
Who is on TikTok?
Pretty much everyone is on TikTok. The demographics range from 14-90 years of age. Posting on TikTok used to be just a Gen Z characteristic, but it has now expanded to entire families coming together to make and share content. You can easily find multiple videos of babies, teenagers, parents and grandparents all in the same video. This is a family activity!
Here are some demographics to help you get a better understanding.
The basics
The interface is simple and the editing is easy, you don’t need to be a filmmaker to make content that can reach a billion people. The main activity you will see on your feed is users posting content that revolves around #challenges, which can be organic or sponsored.
Other things you can do on TikTok include making music videos, picture montages, pet videos, duets, cringe videos, reaction videos and passive lurking for hours!
Paid media options
These are the four most important forms of paid media:
- Hashtag challenges: Similar to Google Ads, this medium allows for brands or users to pay for sponsoring a particular phrase to show up on the discover page.
- Brand takeovers: These are the first videos to show up when a user opens the app for the first time each day.
- In-feed videos: These are video ads blended with clickable content for lead generation. They are designed to increase click through rates.
- Influencer partnerships: This is when a brand connects with an influencer who has a great engagement rate and to create content that can potentially go viral.
Tips to be successful
- Create unique and creative content
- Keep up with the trends
- Chill and experiment
- Take risks that your followers would love
- Engage in the community
- If Instagram is perfection, TikTok is reality — be your true personality!
- Most importantly, have fun!!
