TikTok: Changing the way that brands display themselves in the 21st century
- Angus Andrews
- Jun 1, 2020
- 4 min read
The social networking app TikTok has been rapidly gaining users and popularity globally. The platform has over 800 million users from all around the world including myself. 800 million users however from a marketing and advertising standpoint that is 800 million potential consumers of your product. So that got me thinking, how have brands adapted to fit this new form of advertising medium and are there many examples of companies that have found huge success through this global sensation?
For those of you who don’t know how TikTok works, it is essentially a feed of short, 10 – 30 second clips that could consist of memes all the way to dances and even promotions of users’ personal brands. The creative potential on this platform is vast. According to an article on Social Media Examiner, there is such a wide variety of advertising options that companies have to choose from when advertising on TikTok. There are two key forms however that have proven most effective. These are ‘In-feed Ads’ and the use of popular content creators to promote a product. So, let’s break it down.
Popular Creator Promotion:
I have only been using the platform for a few months as my social media focused university degree continues, and I have already seen so many different “verified” creators endorse, sometimes in not such a subtle way, a brand of energy drink called Bang! When I say that the promotion isn’t so subtle I am talking about a creator just putting a can right in front of the camera and doing a half dance half pose in the background, and this somehow gets 1 million likes but that has something to do with the TikTok algorithm and that is a completely different conversation. So how much do Bang! pay the creators they get to advertise for them and how beneficial has it been?
When Bang! energy was still a young, it struggled to compete with the major energy drink brands that dominated the US market. Brands like Redbull and Monster already had the consumer base and it made it very difficult for any other competitors to enter the Market. So, Bang! changed their tune. The CEO of Bang! quoted a catchphrase “If you aint bangin, you aint hangin” as they began to approach the issue of entering a monopolised market through a new medium. Bang! began to set dance challenges and post them through platforms like Musical.ly and most recently TikTok. As the brand began to gain traction, especially on the more recent TikTok, content creators were being paid to promote it and I would say it would be hard to identify a user of TikTok who doesn’t know the brand Bang! Energy. The company has had exponential sales growth and is on tract to being one of the top 3 energy drink providers in the US.
In-feed ads: As I stated before, TikTok has feeds that are based off the users previous watching habits. The feed consists of 10 – 30 second videos that the user can scroll through at will. In this feed, there are occasional advertisements that grace the screens of a user, however 99% of them can be skipped instantly just like YouTube. This gets me thinking do they actually have the same effect or even success as paid creator promotions? My opinion from the research I have conducted is no, paid creator promotions have a much better reach and viewer engagement. However, yes there is always a however, I am in no way saying they aren’t working for brands who do not have the budget of the larger companies. According to the TikTok advertising page, there is a process to setting up an advertisement on the platform. This includes setting a target demographic, budget, duration, hashtags, and if there should be various types of advertisements all for the same product. You might think, but Gus many other platforms offer the same basic advertising package and you’re right, however they are set apart in regard to how targeted the ads are. The demographic that stands out is 60% of the 800 million users of the app are aged between 16 – 24, having this many young people who are susceptible to repetitive advertising is great for brand recognition. The average user spends on average 52 minutes a day on the app, that’s a lot of exposure no matter if your advertisement is having the desired effect that was intended.
TikTok has become one of the most downloaded apps on the 2010’s, almost eclipsing the likes of Instagram and Snapchat. We are seeing rapid use of the platform to promote songs, products and even careers. TikTok has become an almost vital resource for brands to utilise such a wide audience in one convenient location. Learning how to management is the way forward.
References:
Iqbal, M. 2020, 'TikTok usage and Statistics', Business of Apps, 2020
Schall, J, 2019, 'The Bang Energy Effect'
Singh, V. 2019, 'How to advertise on TikTok', 'Social Media Examiner'
Commentaires