Is TikTok the right platform for brands?

A dig into the ins and outs of using TikTok for marketing and engagement. Is it right for some brands and not others? Fabienne, from our Client Services team, investigates.

Whether you’re miming a scene from your favourite film or dancing to Blinding Lights by The Weeknd, TikTok has become the ultimate meme machine, with over 800 million monthly active users. In fact, the app has become even more popular within recent weeks due to everyone having more spare time on their hands because of lockdown. 

Clients often ask us, “Is TikTok right for our brand?”

Yes, probably… Well, it depends. With millennials and Gen Z making up the majority of their user base, TikTok isn’t an easy platform to conquer. This generation can spot an ad quicker than a vegan telling you they’re a vegan. 

Let’s talk about the content. People come here for comedic escapism and most of the time it’s all about the trends. Take the guy who took 1000 gummy bears and turned them into a choir singing to Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’, or the person who got the nation singing ‘somebody come get eeerrr she’s dancing like a streeepeerrrrrrrrrr’, or when Ollie Murs took the Pringles can and…. actually, no, let’s not talk about that one. 

The Mexican Grill fast food chain, Chipotle, created their very own choir with tortilla crisps. It’s a 10 second short form content that’s a relevant social trend to the platform, and still on brand. 

Nike have also been quite successful on TikTok. They gained 1M followers in three months and crafted their channel to show off sleek skills from young athletes. They’ve used TikTok influencers heavily, whether that be recreating an impressive slam dunk or scoring quarantine goals from their back garden. Nike nailed three things: audience, relevancy, trends.

Even though the majority of the content that sits on TikTok is comedic, people also use this to show off hidden talents…whether that be dancing, juggling or balancing a bottle of hot sauce on your chin. 

So, if you’re going to do it, and do it well; make sure the content is relevant to the “Gen Z” of the world. Oh, and please – don’t put a print ad on TikTok. 

Want to find out more about brands, influencers and TikTok? Watch this space.

Follow me on TikTok if you like Gavin and Stacey: @fabiennetyler

No vegans were harmed in the writing of this blog post; we love all our vegan, veggie and omnivore team.

 
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