Never heard of TikTok? Then you are in the 25+ target group!
The Chinese app TikTok is slowly moving into the top league of social media networks with its 15-second videos and more than 130 million users worldwide. The good four million members in Germany are mostly very young users who want to stay among their own. This target group is hard for marketing strategists and recruiters to reach anyway: instead of running into teachers, parents or even grandparents and aggressive marketing on Twitter or Facebook, they would rather spend their time on TikTok, Snapchat or Twitch. The time spent is also remarkably interesting: according to Digiday, the young target group watches short videos for 39 minutes a day. That makes the platform extremely interesting for advertisers.
TikTok also offers a wide reach, because no sign-up is required on the platform. Successful videos also spread rapidly to YouTube or other platforms and create even greater visibility. A campaign with influencers on TikTok would also be interesting for companies, because that way they would reach potential new customers who only consume the app passively.
TikTok’s algorithm also fits the goals of companies in social media marketing very well: instead of collecting followers, content comes first. The app automatically assembles content for its users and learns to understand their interests. That keeps the barrier to entry low for new participants, which explains the rapid growth of the video platform.
The TikTok phenomenon shows exactly where the journey in social media is heading: anyone who offers creative and entertaining videos with relevant content is rewarded by the platform with attention, from day one and without a large community. Even so, the content should of course fit the target group.
This mechanism is a huge opportunity for young companies with a small budget whose brand is not yet well established. Anyone who manages to start a creative and exclusive hashtag challenge on TikTok builds greater brand awareness. Working with an established and credible influencer is a useful addition.
Here too, of course, the rule is: stick with it. The young target group wants to be entertained on an ongoing basis. The fashion brand Guess shows a good example of a successful TikTok campaign with its #InMyDenim campaign. The International Fund for Agricultural Development of the United Nations was also very successful in 2019 with the worldwide dance challenge #DanceForChange.