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What is Tik Tok and Why You Should Know About the New Social Media Platform:.
March 5th, 2020

 

Tik Tok is a new social media platform that is taking a key demographic of Gen Z’ers by storm.

It is an app used to make lip-syncing videos. However, a summary would be a short-form video app used to convey jokes, processes, and anything else users can accomplish in one minute or less.

Tik Tok began as an app only available in China in 2014, and it slowly grew its following within Asia and expanded to the West when Tik Tok merged with Musical.ly in 2018. This grew the app’s exposure to the West and finally gained attention in the United States. The app is now available in more than 75 languages and in more than 150 markets.

The platform’s use of short videos has attracted celebrities, YouTubers, and other internet personalities to participate in viral dance challenges or other activities that almost everyone has the ability to perform such as time-lapse of cleaning a messy room, creating art, or sharing recipes.

Because the app is used by a large number of teens and young adults, the app is highly influential upon people aged 14-24. Once teens see a video with hundreds of thousands of views, it makes them consider remaking the same video in the hopes of achieving the same sort of instant fame that viral Tik Tok videos often creates.

This intersection of creators and everyday “regular” people created a market that can be tapped into effectively by brands if the proper consideration is taken in the preparation stage. For example, Brita Water Filters created the hashtag, #BreakUpWithBottled. Brita originally encouraged users to shed bad habits for the New Year, including getting rid of the use of single-use plastic water bottles and tag Brita using the aforementioned hashtag. This hashtag now has more than 3 billion, yes billion with a ‘b’, views and millions of videos.

So even though these videos may have nothing to do with quitting your usage of single-use plastics, Brita is still getting consistent advertising from the hashtag. This is a prime example of the power of the hashtag on social media. It has been seen billions of times, generating significant attention for the brand.

Other than hashtags, companies can hire Tik Tok users with a large following to do sponsored content videos that in some way feature a service or product the company has to offer. Advertising can also take the shape of straightforward ads that pop up when any user opens the app. This makes for a lot of eyes to see the ad content, and in success stories, take off with billions of views.

Tik Tok allows visitors to get creative with marketing and bring fresh strategies to the table, and there are tens of millions of users on the app daily, sure to see your sponsored content.

Overall, this social media app could be a fad for now, or it could be here to stay. The name of the marketing game is staying relevant, and right now Tik Tok is the most current and most relevant social media platform for younger generations.