Page 268 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

Sharing Video on TikTok

Looking for something new in social media? Are you a brand hoping to attract
attention from a teen audience? If so, you may want to check out TikTok. In 2017
ByteDance, a Chinese Internet company, introduced a new social media video-
sharing app called TikTok. In 2018 ByteDance bought Musical.ly that had a sub-
stantial U.S. based audience and merged it with TikTok and is gaining a presence
among Americans. Forty-one percent of TikTok’s audience is between the ages of
16 and 24 (Global Web Index, 2018).

Getting in on the action

Although the platform may be new to you, TikTok was the most downloaded app
in the Apple App Store in the first half of 2018 — one billion downloads (CNBC
Sensor/Tower) worldwide, which surpasses downloads of platforms such as
Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Currently, it has more than five hundred
million monthly active users.
Interested in exploring the app? You can download it free from the App
Store (https://apps.apple.com/ro/app/tiktok-make-your-day/id835599320)
and at Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.
zhiliaoapp.musically&hl=en_US). You’ll want to look around and see the types
of content that are successful.

So, what is TikTok? It’s a video sharing app on which users create fifteen-second
videos that play on a loop with music tracks. The videos are largely made up of
lip-synching, stunts, pets doing tricks, and other humorous music-backed
content. The app supplies tools to create something unique and fun.

Experimenting with TikTok

If you think that major companies aren’t interested in an app such as TikTok, you
forget that five hundred million monthly users are a lot of eyeballs. Companies
like Guess, Chipotle, and even the Washington Post are experimenting with this
new social media app.
Of particular interest to brands is the Challenges tab. Companies are trying out
challenges that relate to their products. A challenge asks the reader to participate
in a themed action. For example, in 2018, Guess (https://shop.guess.com/en/)
a fashion brand, partnered with TikTok to create TikTok’s first branded content
challenge using the hashtag #InMyDenim, as shown in Figure 16-7.

252 PART 3 Reaching Your Audience via Mainstream Social Platforms