The social media platform TikTok, founded in 2016, is taking control by force. With a billion monthly active users, the video sharing network has seen a tremendous rise over the past years. It excites users and companies; latter are also discovering the advertising potential on the platform. And users even comment that TikTok belongs into classrooms, as it has a high educational potential.
TikTok itself
TikTok allows its users to easily create and upload videos. These are primarily for entertainment purposes and can be combined with songs or movie quotes. Additional features make this platform unique – e.g. the lip-sync video function, often seen in duets. Also, the app offers various filters, effects, and basic video editing functionality. Posts can be up to 3 minutes long.
Users have the possibility to follow and interact with each other – and most importantly, to build a community. The videos can be shared privately or publicly.
TikTok has a mainly young audience: 69 percent of users are between 16 and 24 years old. It is available in 150 countries and the number of accounts is increasing worldwide. Europe has over 100 million users in total, while South Europe specifically counts 32,2 million and Eastern Europe 86,3 million users. The number of users in Germany has risen to 10.7 million, France has 11 million, Spain 8.8 and in Austria 1.5 million users.
TikTok for Businesses - B2B Marketing
TikTok advertising is still at the very beginning, as the platform is relatively young. Still a low number of companies uses TikTok advertising, but the opportunities are various. And it is meaningful to fit the younger target audiences’ preferences.
Besides different paid options, there are also organic, editorial ways to engage the audiences, e.g. with the hashtag challenge. It is a great way for brands to increase their reach and visibility on TikTok. What this is about? Users challenge the community via hashtags to upload certain videos. There are many great examples of a hashtag challenge to learn from:
- #PunicaDance: “Which fruit character are you?”, Punica asked its users. TikTok users were dancing together with Punica fruits. The campaign gained almost 40 million views.
- #GalaxyA: Samsung launched the Galaxy A smartphone and asked its users to draw an A on the palm of their hand and transfer it to the hand of another user using one of the effects in the app. The message behind it: A-series smartphones connect users with their friends. The videos gained more than 30 million views.
Another idea are brand takeovers. The (advertising) photos or short videos are shown to the users when opening the app. Users can be directed to a landing page via a call-to-action. This is a great marketing opportunity for brands that wish for maximum exposure.
Other promising options can be branded effects that include filters and stickers, livestreams to brand events and product launches, but also influencer partnerships, similar to what influencers do on Instagram.
TikTok for Employer Branding
Today, it seems more difficult (than ever) to find and hire good employees. The pandemic, the changes across industries, geopolitical conflicts, the culture and expectations of the Gen Z (that has different views towards work life) are just some of the factors, to name a few. Hence, it is crucial to find new ways in recruiting the right people for your organization.
Specifically for entry-level positions, TikTok could be the ideal platform. The social network opens good opportunities to recruit younger target groups who are e.g. looking for a training position or a student job in a company.
Tik Tok for Recruiting
Companies can use TikTok in creative ways to search for and approach potential candidates. It’s important to follow the trends and react to them quickly, while showing reliability and authenticity.
Here are a few hints: companies can add specific hashtags to their videos, e.g. “lovemyjob” under which users can find a behind-the-scenes look at the workplace; or call out a TikTok challenge such as the “dame tu Costia” dance challenge. These funny videos at work could convince and encourage potential candidates to apply for the job, specifically if you have deep knowledge about the behavior and preferences of your target audiences.
The new kid in the block
TikTok is new, fast and creative. Users love the spontaneous, authentic and entertaining content. It’s a platform where content does not necessarily need to be professionally produced. It could be an exciting moment for companies to engage through TikTok, while it is becoming extremely popular.
While still being the new kid in the block, TikTok offers great marketing potential and awareness opportunities. Trends are short-lived (but powerful), which requires quick, creative and entertaining content. At the same time, TikTok offers unique, new advertising formats, such as the hashtag challenge. It can be a fierce competitor to other social media platforms, so one must keep an eye on TikTok. We are curious to see what happens next.
Stay tuned.