In early March, AE Lauren and I attended Social Media Marketing World. We participated in dozens of incredible sessions and, as second year attendees, were amazed by how much we continued to learn. If you haven’t had a chance, check out Lauren’s blog on the value in social marketing on LinkedIn. But, I’m here to discuss the infamous TikTok and what we learned. If you’re unfamiliar with it, TikTok is a video content platform that allows users to create videos of up to 60-seconds with the ability to add filters, text and music or other popular sounds.
TikTok has been a highly debated topic for the last six or so months, especially as momentum picked up at the end of the 2019 and evolved with our current work dynamic. Skeptics were quick to say it was a fad, unfit for social marketing. But founder of SMMW Michael Stelzner kicked off the conference with detailed information on how video, and TikTok in particular, are the future. In 2019, TikTok had 738 million downloads and one BILLION monthly active users. It is estimated that an average user spends 61, uninterrupted minutes on the app with the sound ON. These are extraordinary stats in the world of social media marketing. We know social media to be of fleeting attention spans and minimal engagement times.
We attended Rachel Pedersen’s session on TikTok. As the only session offered on the app, we knew it was a must attend and were fascinated by some of the information she shared. She discussed how many were hung up on the perceived age demographic on the app. At the beginning of its popularity, it was believed to be overrun by 15-year-olds, dancing to viral trends and lip syncing to funny video clips.
So, she had the audience perform a test. Type in any hashtag related to your industry and see how many video views you can find. I chose the word cryptocurrency. Surely an app full of dancing teens couldn’t also be producing content on digital currencies? Wrong. At the time #cryptocurrency had nearly 8 million video views (it now has 23 million views). She called on random people in the crowd and each time we were all shocked to hear a similar story for the hashtag they had chosen – #weddingdj, #plumber and #dentist.
There is absolutely a contingent of the app’s users that lives in the “dance-sphere.” The most followed star on TikTok is 16-year-old Charli D’Amelio who, as of June 18, 2020, has 64.1 million followers. She has had unprecedented growth on the platform and while many people don’t get the “hype,” she is authentic, understands the way the app functions and connects with her audience. But, Rachel’s test showed that marketers would be wrong to think that these are the only users on the app.
TikTok has a high functioning artificial intelligence algorithm that is able to analyze a user’s “movements” and put content in their feed that fits their interests, thus keeping them on the platform longer. So, your videos will be directly served to the people interested in your product or goods like your products. Unless you’re a fan of the dancing videos, there is a wealth of other content to be consumed.
We returned home from the conference ready to join the TikTok hype, not even fully aware of how long this pandemic would be, and how the stay-at-home orders would affect additional downloading of the app. In March, the first month of “stay-at-home,” TikTok’s U.S. visitor count rose by 48% and its minutes viewed increased by 93% compared to October 2019.
Yet, keynote speaker Michael Stelzner said that in a survey of marketers nearly 70% had no plans to use TikTok in their 2020 marketing plans. This means that you, as a savvy social media marketer, can be an early adopter of a platform that millions of people are on.
When any new social platform hits the scene, experts are quick to judge how it is being used, how it could fail, and why it isn’t the right fit for their sophisticated marketing strategy. Take the time to read these statistics and do some more research about your industry. You should be where your consumers are. Forty-nine percent of users on TikTok are 35 or older, according to Stelzner. Major brands like Chipotle, Steak Umms, SoftSoap, Spikeball, Guess, Elf Cosmetics, The Washington Post, NBA, Gushers, Crocs and more are on the platform. Be an early adopter. Understand the power the platform has and use it to get your brand, your product, your message in front of millions of people. People mocked Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram once, too – don’t be one of them.
Keep an eye out for more TikTok blogs moving forward while we continue to research, understand and adapt as the platform grows. We may even have a few tips for how to create videos that will speak to your audience.