TikTok is a fun, entertaining social platform that has become especially popular in the past few months. The app allows users to create and share short videos (up to 60 seconds) on any topic. TikTok has created an app called “Duyin”, which is designed for the Chinese market, which has more than 300 million active users. The new app’s logo is a combination of the Musical.ly and Duyin logos.
How TikTok has grown Popularity
Since its launch, TikTok has gained immense popularity, growing at an astonishing rate. In October 2018, it was the most downloaded photo and video app in the Apple Store worldwide. The app has reportedly gained over 500 million monthly active users. According to statistics, the US is the most popular country, with 80 million downloads.
Now let's consider some of the main reasons for the increase in popularity of the TikTok app:
Famous Faces
The app is used by many celebrities, such as Jimmy Fallon, who helped popularize the app. The app has partnered with and paid many celebrities in different regions to help raise awareness of the app among local audiences.
Jimmy Fallon was initially interested in the app, and TikTok later signed him to a paid advertising deal. In November 2018, Jimmy Fallon launched “Challenges” on his show, using TikTok as a platform for the challenge. He invited his viewers to post a video on TikTok with the tagline #TumbleweedChallenge. In the video, they had to do some tumbling on the floor. In order for the campaign to go viral, the host himself took on the first challenge.
The challenge went viral, reaching over 8,000 entries and 10.4 million engagements in a week. TikTok has also partnered with celebrities in the regions. When it launched in Japan, users included celebrities such as Kinoshita Yukina, Kyari Pamyu Pamyu, and Watanabe Naomi. In Thailand, TikTok has partnered with social media celebrity Kaikai Slider, and in India, with Aashika Bhatia.
The celebrities mentioned not only posted content on TikTok, but also promoted TikTok on various social media channels. For example, in the post below, Indian celebrity Aashika Bhatia promoted TikTok on Instagram.
Localized Content
Another important factor driving the popularity of TikTok apps is that, despite being a global app, TikTok focuses on localized content. The app often hosts local contests and challenges using hashtags that reflect local trends.
TikTok is running a competition called “1 Million Audience” in different countries. For each competition, participants are given a topic to create a video on, and the creators of the top videos are ultimately awarded. This competition not only focuses on creating thousands of local videos for each country, but also helps TikTok creators increase their awareness and followers.
TikTok sends personalized recommendations to each user. This helps app subscribers stay informed about interesting news, receive suggestions, and ideas for video production. Using techniques like these, TikTok is very popular with users.
Simple Content Create , share And View
Creating and sharing videos with the TikTok app is easy. To watch them, you just need to open the app, and various recordings will automatically play one after the other. Users can record anything from their daily routine and post it on the social network. Due to the short format of the video, it does not require much time to prepare it.
How They can Brands Join Tik Tok ?
Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok does not have a dedicated space for advertising, nor does it intend to compete with other media platforms in this regard. However, due to its rapid growth in popularity, many brands are now realizing the potential of TikTok as a marketing channel. Several brands have used techniques such as TikTok challenges and contests to get users to generate content related to the brand. Brands are also using hashtags to help promote their products/services in TikTok marketing campaigns.
For example, consider the Guess brand’s campaign called #InMyDenim. On September 1, 2018, Guess invited all TikTokers in the US to participate in their #InMyDenim hashtag challenge. The contest asked users to create a video of themselves wearing Guess clothing and use the hashtag.
TikTok – He/She Future
The current popularity of TikTok is impressive, but it still doesn’t guarantee that it will ever reach the heights of other apps like Instagram and YouTube. Vine was once a very popular video-sharing platform, but it’s now almost forgotten. To maintain its current popularity, TikTok will have to innovate and find new ways to engage users. They will also have to make the platform more marketable for brands so that they can place ads. For brands that want to expand on social media in the future, TikTok will provide them with the opportunity to do so. If it manages to capitalize on brand engagement, then TikTok’s usage will grow even further and be able to compete with other social media platforms.
