Most of us know TikTok as a video-sharing platform that encourages short-form content. Today, the popularity of TikTok is such that most major brands are contemplating adding it to their marketing strategies. The strategies are usually planned in a way to attract more followers. In TikTok, a 1% increase in followers results in a 0.65% improvement in the average views per post. This results in a significant improvement in sales and leads to better conversions.
However, the journey of TikTok to its present position has been dramatic. TikTok is a product of ByteDance, an Asian IT company. In 2017, the firm acquired Musical.ly, a platform that was popular for lip-syncing videos. The following year, they launched TikTok, a global platform that amplified the original offerings of Musical.ly.
In less than a year, TikTok achieved the milestone of a billion application downloads. Since then, the growth of TikTok has been exemplary.
Reasons for the Popularity of TikTok
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Today, genres like Food, Tech, and Gaming get the maximum number of TikTok views. The maximum number of TikTok users are people in the age group of 18 to 24 years. Here are the top reasons that have contributed to the growth of TikTok.
Allows Common Man to Be Famous
Traditionally, celebrities were the only people who got an opportunity to be in the spotlight. Considering the nepotism in the world of entertainment, most ordinary people could not dream of getting famous. TikTok provided the common man an opportunity to display their entertaining skills and become famous.
With over 50% of TikTok users being less than 35 years old, popular personalities in this platform were held in high respect. Not only did such influencers gain popularity, but many of them also make good money from this platform.
Source of Entertainment
An average TikTok user spends more than an hour on the platform every day. During the COVID pandemic, these figures were significantly higher for people in certain geographic areas. The social distancing norms and subsequent isolation led people to come up with innovative ways of using TikTok.
Creating TikTok content, reviewing and sharing videos are some of how people spread joy through TikTok. This is a major contributor to the steady growth of TikTok from 2016 to 2019.
Emerging As a Marketing Platform
Advertising on commercial platforms like television requires monetary investment. Not all small businesses can afford it. TikTok allows small brands to create promotional content and reach their target audience.
Since TikTok rewards authenticity, content creators can focus on their content without worrying about editing and fine-tuning. Such trends have established TikTok as a preferred marketing transfer.
Getting Popular on TikTok
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With TokTok penetration increasing by the day, content creators are keen on getting popular in this medium. Here are some ways in which you can plan your TikTok content for maximum reach.
Work on the Visual Appeal
While TikTok promotes authentic talent, focussing on the visual appeal of your content will help it get popular. There are several filters and transitions that you can explore to give your videos a perfect look. You can rely on music to set the mood for your video content or to complement it. Over 80% of the videos in TikTok have some form of background music,
Make the Most of Hashtags
If you want your TikTok videos to reach the appropriate target audience, make sure that you use the appropriate hashtags. According to the Invideo.io latest marketing report, 87.3% of TikTok videos use hashtags. You need not restrict yourself to the use of a single hashtag. Some of the most popular videos on TikTok have an average of 3.26 hashtags.
Keep a Tab on Analytics
If you are keen on improving your content, you need to understand which of your videos perform well. Study the points at which maximum viewers drop off and come up with ways to improvise. Considering that 100 views on TikTok generate 12 engagements, your focus should be on getting maximum people to watch your video.
Focussing on Value Capture
As the popularity sees a steady rise, you must be curious about how the developers make money. Broadly, the value capture can be categorized as below.
Virtual Coins Revenue
Source:teilo.org
Virtual coins are an interesting concept of TikTok. Here, the users buy virtual coins by paying money to TikTok. These virtual coins can then be used to support one’s favorite influencers. While this initiative encourages influencers to focus on their creative pursuits, it is a money-making venture for TikTok.
Advertising Revenue
As a platform, TikTok encourages paid promotion. Brands can go for in-feed ads, brand takeovers, branded hashtags, branded filters, and TopView ads. Some of these paid promotions may be expensive. For example, a branded takeover of TikTok for a day begins at $50,000. With thousands of brands keen on using TikTok to expand their reach, paid promotions to give TikTok thousands of dollars of profit every month.
Establish ByteDance’s Popularity
TikTok is the most popular product of its parent company, ByteDance. As the platform gains popularity in over 150 counties, it helps to establish ByteDance’s global reach. TikTok is available in more than 75 languages thus proving the inclusive and diverse culture of ByteDance.
Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Source:neotizen.news
Having understood the basic business model of TikTok, you must be curious to understand how AI fits in the picture. In recent days, AI has taken over every aspect of TikTok content creation.
Consumer Side
With the help of AI, TikTok analyses an individual’s past behavior in the platform. AI tools allow TikTok to get a sizeable database of user preferences. Armed with this data, TikTok shows viewers only those videos that they are likely to enjoy. When the viewers are shown enjoyable content without having to spell out their preferences, it improves their experience with TikTok.
Product Side
Latest developments in AI allow content creators on TikTok to work on creating virtual videos. Multiple AI-based tools allow auto-selection of music, filters, and background enhancements. That way, you can come with quality videos with minimal effort.
These can then be uploaded to TikTok and shared for maximum reach. Recent examples of videos where TikTok leverages the latest AI technology to mimic controlled rain are good examples in this regard.
The future of TikTok looks promising. The platform has the potential to go beyond being a video creation platform. In the coming days, we can see TikTok taking giant strides in the payment industry, food delivery sector, the world of online shopping, and several other sectors. As AI and other technologies make giant strides, the applications are expected to show up in the world of TikTok.
