Imagine having the ability to connect to anyone in the world who looks, sings, dances, creates, and believes differently than you. Sure, this power has been harnessed with the rise of social media, but TikTok as an individual platform has thrown gallons and gallons of gasoline on this connection fire. Creating video content that is funny, educational, inspiring, and impactful has become an essential tool in a business' branding belt; here is how a single app is stirring up the social media industry.
Digitally Farming Your Audience. On the consumer and producer end, TikTok works for you, bringing the content that is produced to the audience that will consume it. Through the infamous "algorithm," the app works to learn about a users likes, dislikes, personality, and beliefs. These characteristics will eventually help the app connect your content to the people that will stay to watch your videos, seek to learn more about you a brand, and eventually, hopefully, become a purchasing customer.
"[Tiktok] is constantly learning from you [as the consumer] and, over time, builds a presumably complex but opaque model of what you tend to watch, and shows you more of that, or things like that, or things related to that, or, honestly, who knows, but it seems to work." -NY Times
With the help of the magic TikTok machine, you are able to connect with the people who will most appreciate your content. And with such a wide range of demographics among TikTok users, finding your niche is something that is reasonably attainable (and you don't have to do those silly dances to do so).
Emotions Sell. It's amazing how much the emotions you generate within your audience can influence the sales you experience after each interaction. It's a simple notion that can become pretty complex and interesting when you get down into the psychology of it all. According to SocialMediaToday, emotional campaigns that take place across various social media platforms are more likely to generate a rise in sales versus a rational campaign. The most common emotions that result in a point of sale are awe, laughter, amusement, and joy. With the help of TikTok, we as content creators are able to draw on these emotions by creating short, fun videos that demonstrate the benefit of your product or service with the use of humor or hopping on the ever popular trends that run rampant across the app (the NFL's TikTok account is a great example of this).
"The combination of TikTok’s innovative content preference delivery and short-form sound-on video format appeal to consumers at a deeper emotional level." -TikTok
Like TV, but better. Because of TikTok's short-form videos and ability to nourish an emotionally-moving brand, there is no better platform to at least build content that can be used to promote your product. Each video and post serves as a "commercial" that is then shared out to a carefully selected demographic that will appreciate what you have to offer, as compared to television, which statistically does not leave nearly as much of an impression on a consumer's memory. Once a business gets up and going on TikTok, the app's support team provides a wide array of formats that can be used to create easy and effective content (see this article by StoreYaBlog to learn about all the different formats that are available). And the bow on top- videos that are created on TikTok can easily be shared across multiple other social media platforms to then be used as video content on a business' account. Your "commercials" are now in a format that is emotionally charged, easy to consume, and translatable onto multiple platforms. Everyone wins!
The assumption might be that TikTok is only used by teenagers that are participating in mindless dance challenges to get a few likes from their friends, but that is really only the tip of the content iceberg. As has been established by much demographic research (linked in the beginning of this article), there are so many other meaningful audiences on the app that can become your next point of sale. As someone who actively consumes TikTok content, I can personally promise that there is a way for a mature brand to become active and successful on the platform, and believe that there is no harm in throwing your business into the blend. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and create!
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