Tik Tok isn’t just the sound made by a clock anymore, it’s now a popular Chinese-born social media app. It’s gaining traction in China as it’s in India, US, Africa and so forth. Tik Tok App downloads are now at 1.5 billion, making it the third most downloaded non-gaming app after WhatsApp and Messenger.
The app is viral in that users can create short-form videos, add effects to make it more appealing and then share. The creativity on the app is unlimited.
Tik Tok allows users to even re-share to WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Email and every other platform you can think of. It’s a content-first app thus on the download of the app, first-time users are presented with curated content before they even sign up for an account.
How does it benefit my brand?
Influencers are already on the platform, and they can help your brand story-tell on the platform in a creative way before it gets too crowded. Avril Kenya has close to 70k followers on the platform already and she shares a different side of her.
See below some of Kenya’s top curated content on Tik Tok.
Did I mention there’s a Kenya verified account @TikTok_Kenya? Check out some of the posts there.
Global brands are riding the wave too.
NBA shares snippets
UN IFAD got creative by launching the #danceforchange challenge.
The Washington Post uses Tik Tok to showcase what’s happening behind the scene, news bytes and so forth
Rules and guidelines
Tik Tok is hugely a branding platform where organizations can showcase their creativity, humor and excite the younger audience. We are seeing Kenyan influencers with thousands of followers and the #kenya hashtag has over 100 million views on Tik Tok so certainly, the audience is there and brands can tap into that to connect, engage and influence.
The app is new and there are no Kenyans brands yet onboard, so it’s a good time to get in and experiment with different content pieces; from duets to hashtag competitions, there are plenty of features to play around with.
Can I drive sales with Tik Tok?
Yes, they are experimenting with that. Tik Tok will soon allow influencers and brands to embed links on videos to allow users to click and purchase within the app. Think of WeChat but now in motion. How cool will that be? Watch the makeup video while placing an order for the products. Seamless. Frictionless.
Lastly, Instagram isn’t happy with Tik Tok’s popularity and as such, they have created a similar feature for video creation called “Reels on Instagram”. Just as they did with copying stories from Snapchat, this could actually work and keep users from leaving but that shouldn’t stop you from checking out Tik Tok.
If you’d like to learn more about Tik Tok and even integrate it into your content strategy, please feel free to reach out to us. Tik Tok! Tik Tok! The clock is ticking.
