Every few years, a new app shows up and takes over the world. In 2018, that was the case with TikTok – a video-sharing social media platform that is currently the most popular app on the planet. With content catering to all audiences – from super-simple recipes to shopping hauls – that was no surprise.
How it all started
Musical.ly was a popular short-form (15 seconds) video streaming app, with over 100 million users, which ran up until August 2018. However, a Chinese business, ByteDance, took over, and its user accounts were immediately moved to the new TikTok app. The user base and unified brand allowed for a rapid rise in popularity. At the beginning of 2018, TikTok overcame Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube to become the most downloaded app on the Apple App Store. In total, TikTok has had over 500 million installs in the Google Play Store as of July 2019.
For those over 25, TikTok is still unfamiliar territory. This app which is hugely popular among Gen Z, and it provides a window into what it’s like to grow up in the hyperconnected world of today. Facebook users nowadays tend to be older than 40, and Instagram users tend to be younger, between the ages of 20 and 40. Some of the most popular creators on TikTok now are Addison Rae, Charlie d’Amelio, and Khabane Lame – all under the age of 23.
TikTok Statistics You Need to Know in 2024
- TikTok users spend more than 850 Minutes a month on the app
- TikTok now has over 1 Billion monthly active users (September 2022)
- 60 percent of TikTok users are between the ages of 16 and 24
- Children aged 4-15 Average 75 minutes per day on TikTok
- TikTok has the highest social media engagement rates per post
- Entertainment is the most popular category on TikTok by hashtag views
Who uses TikTok?
Over 250 million people worldwide use TikTok. The app is named TikTok throughout the rest of the globe and is accessible in 154 nations, whereas some have carbon-copy platforms. For example, in China, the app is named Douyin. Here are the countries with the largest TikTok audience as of April 2022:
What can you do on TikTok?
- Watch and make videos: The core of the TikTok experience is videos. The stop and start recording buttons, timers, and other features may be used to upload clips or create them within the program. You can explore other users’ videos and sounds that are trending on TikTok to find inspiration. Live streaming is also an option.
- Add Music: TikTok outperforms all other social media platforms because of its huge music catalog and compatibility with Apple Music. Through playlists, videos, and other tools, creators may add, modify, save, and find music and sounds.
- Discover feed: Trending TikTok hashtags are the focus of the Discover feed, but users may also look for keywords, people, videos, and sound effects. By typing in their username or scanning their specific TikCode, users may add their friends and new contacts.
- TikTok Trends: Often known as TikTok Challenges, trends are memes that frequently reference a well-known song or hashtag. Users are encouraged to try out dance moves or develop their own variations on themes by popular songs and hashtags such as #savagechallenge and #renegade.
- TikTok Duets: Duets on TikTok are a well-liked collaborative feature that let users sample another person’s video and add their own spin to it. The types of duets include real collaborations, remixes, parodies, and more. The concept has been embraced by many popular artists, including Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, and Doja Cat to promote tracks and engage with fans.
How to Use TikTok for Marketing?
TikTok is a strong mixture of psychological tricks used by marketers on a regular basis. It’s an opportunity to transform your life and an outlet for many strong feelings. The TikTok app’s popularity has skyrocketed since its release. It was the top downloaded picture and video sharing app overall in the Apple store in October 2018. The app now has over 500 million active monthly users, with the US being the most popular region with over 80 million downloads. Here are some suggestions on how to use TikTok for your marketing:
- The focus is back on content
TikTok, unlike Instagram, is primarily focused on content. It has the potential to increase your marketing output. TikTok users appreciate it if you avoid making advertisements and instead focus on entertaining people. As a result, you should ideally discover what excites the viewers and select content that best meets their needs. Once your content has viral elements, it will appear on users’ For You page, increasing the visibility of your brand.
- Hashtag Challenges
In order for your video to go viral, you need to use viral hashtags. On the TikTok Creative Center, you can discover what’s buzzing on TikTok and get the scoop on the most popular hashtags, songs, creators, and videos that can help you boost your videos on the app. Check out the new Hashtag Challenges and react to them by filming a TikTok that can go viral.
- For example, #improvisewithJUKE
Nissan Australia needed to raise awareness for the launch of their sporty new crossover car, the JUKE. They provided users with music and challenged them to make their own car commercial voiceover, with a prize of actually being featured in a JUKE commercial on TV. The results were impressive: more than 34,000 created videos meant that the campaign sped past 129 million video views. (Source: TikTok For Business)
- Partner up with other creators through TikTok marketing campaigns
Similar to Instagram, TikTok has its own list of hugely successful influencers. To put this in perspective, more than 40 TikTok celebrities have fanbases of over 10 million. Even if you might not be able to collaborate with such well-known figures, search for TikTok users who have thousands of followers. With these “micro-influencers,” influencer marketing is still worthwhile.
- Include your brand name in the hashtag
This provides the views on the videos produced by the challenge an additional layer of brand identification, enabling the TikTok community to more closely support your business and build a relationship.
Conclusion
TikTok is more than just a platform for teenagers to go viral. The wildly popular app shows no signs of slowing down and will be a major focal point for brands in almost every industry in the upcoming period.
While TikTok has become noisier over time, and the algorithm is constantly changing, the fundamentals of TikTok marketing and brand building remain consistent: aspire for authenticity, post frequently, actively engage with your community, and make high-quality posts.
TikTok can help your brand at every stage of the marketing funnel, from awareness to loyalty and sales. Quality content, as with any social media channel, is essential. At the end of the day, users come to be entertained, not to see advertisements.
Within the strategy for each client, our social media team at Hybrid Digital creates a detailed market analysis and selects the most popular networks depending on where the client’s target audience is located. Due to the growing popularity of TikTok, more and more businesses are starting to use this network. If you want to dominate the popular TikTok application, contact us and we will be happy to help you!
