THE GEN Z IS ON THE MOVE! HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT TIKTOK?
There’s a new hot social media network shaking the established and drawing quite a lot interest from brands and that is… TikTok. TikTok is a mobile-first social media platform and in their own words “a destination for short-form mobile videos”. SnapChat audience is getting “older” and this is one of the key reasons why.
This could mean a new opportunity for brands to engage with the younger generation on a platform they pretty much own, so maybe it’s time to take notice of this fast-growing platform and look ahead to its potential in the marketing industry.
History of TikTok
Born out of Vine, TikTok (formally known as Musical.ly) is a platform that generation Z have taken ownership of. Although TikTok is more advanced with what it offers its users, the basic concept and hype replicates Vines. Its mainstream appeal it is a place where pre-teens create cheesy videos and take part in viral challenges. Some great viral content in 2018 was created here.
TikTok is still in the experimental stage, so we can’t really say for certain what will happen. As it stands right now TikTok is being described as a viral boom! Where the number of people joining is increasing by 395% year-on-year. You could say that the future looks promising.
What’s Next
From a brand perspective there are limitations. With its ad offering not at the same level as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat yet, they only provide limited metrics – Likes, comments, reactions and the targeting options are less varied as well. As a result of this brands tend to work with the influencers on the platform or choose to promote hashtags in return for user generated content.
Ruling it out at this stage wouldn’t be ideal though. As the platform is in its experimental stage there are many opportunities for TikTok to add in features and grow its ad offering to be on the same level as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Allowing brands to advertise properly and gain key metrics.
For advertisers to really invest in the platform TikTok will need to bring in campaign building features and vast data metrics to increase the opportunity for brands who want to advertise to a younger audience.