TikTok's brand building abilities

With the worldwide pandemic affecting us all, lockdown brought us closer than ever to technology with TikTok downloads skyrocketing and reaching an estimated 800 million monthly active users. The one thought on everyone’s minds now though; will the usage of the video platform die down with the world returning to normality? According to the latest figures, TikTok is only going to get stronger.

TikTok recently posted a survey of 500 UK TikTok users, with 54% of users saying that they will maintain their usage of the TikTok platform over the next six months, whilst 33% of users claimed they will increase theirs. Just 13% of the platform’s users said that their TikTok usage would reduce, this can be due to many circumstances such as returning to full-time work after furlough or starting a new role (check out the results in Attest’s interactive dashboard).

The video platform has now become an important place for consumers to discover new brands, with 79% of respondents agreeing that they have found and explored new businesses through TikTok, 54% have purchased from a brand after finding them via the TikTok app.

The influence TikTok holds to drive a purchase was seen to peak earlier this year, with the release of Little Moons Japanese Mochi Ice Cream Balls sending users wild across the UK. With the craze being talked about outside of the TikTok community and even reaching publishers on a variety of online platforms, taking a trip to Tesco in search of Little Moons caused a huge push in sales by more than 1,000%.

So why are brands waiting to get in on the TikTok act? It comes with a need for uniqueness and an effort to resonate with TikTok’s particular audience, do you think your brand’s got what it takes?

TikTok’s Stats of Unique Demographics

The first thought that comes to mind when talking about TikTok’s users are Generation Z, but what brands may not realise is the app’s not exclusively for youngsters; 43% of survey respondents were aged over 25. What interests us, in particular, is that this sector of App Users is showing the biggest growth potential from the range of TikTok’s audiences.

With 92% of people in the older age group planning to maintain or even increase their usage of the app in the next six months, just 84% of respondents aged 18 to 25 plan to maintain their platform usage.

The two demographics strongly believe that TikTok helps them find and explore new brands, yet it is the younger bracket of users who claim to be highly engaged with brands on the App itself. The majority of TikTok users aged 18 to 25 stated that they follow brands on the platform and just over 59% of respondents say they’ve gone on to buy from brands after seeing their products across their content. A smaller percentage of users aged 26 and over follow brands on TikTok and 46% have made a purchase. 

When dividing the data established from the survey, you can see a similar difference in engagement with women being found to be more interested in brands on TikTok than men are. Almost 62% of female users follow brands on the platform, whilst just 52% of males take the same action. As you can see from the data, there’s a large gap between the genders of who’s being driven to create a conversion with a brand; 65.5% of women state they’ve purchased a brand they’ve been exposed to on TikTok versus just 41% of men.

Produce Innovative Content 

Wanting to leave a mark on TikTok? Then you need to be sure to put your highest efforts into creating innovative, creative content. TikTok has got you covered when it comes to distinctive filters, stickers and music that render videos made for the platform easily identifiable. The platform is also known for its homemade, authentic style, which even the most well-known brands will have to be on board with to get into their consumer’s For You Page (FYP).

When it comes to the users themselves, they want to escape and enjoy their time scrolling through their FYP, looking at content that makes them feel a certain emotion, whether it’s funny, exciting or even heart-felt content; there’s an audience for everyone. One of the strongest examples of a brand that’s found success through the platform is Ryanair, they’ve done this by finding themselves on the humorous side of TikTok with their content often focusing on trending memes and formats, bringing them over 23.8 Million likes across their page.

The second-highest ranking type of content is tutorials. With the trend of ‘As seen on TikTok’ spreading the platform like wildfire, whether it's learning the latest trending dance routine to the newest TikTok hits or how to make the perfect roast potato on PotatoTok. Some brands have an easier adaptation to this style of content, with the likes of MAC Cosmetics giving its viewers the How-To format of using their products on “all ages, all races, all genders”.

One of the main content innovations that kept the nation smiling at the start of lockdown was the number of dance challenges and iconic lip-syncing scenes that sparked up across TikTok - and users are known to like it when brands either join in on the fun themselves or even start their own challenges! And it’s not just the younger audience looking up to the likes of Charli D’amelio, 41% of those aged 26 and over like to see a dance routine spark up on their FYP, compared to just 36.5% of those aged 18 to 25 entertained by these pieces of content.

The magic that comes with starting a lip-sync or dance challenge is that, if it goes viral across the platform, brands can bring in masses of user-generated content. A great example of this is to look at E.l.f. Cosmetics as they created a viral dance challenge #EyesLipsFace which resulted in the curation of 3 million user-generated videos and literally billions of views.

Who’s Smashing It?

One of the biggest brands on TikTok, holding 1.6 million followers to date, Nike curates some of the most innovative content on the platform. With their huge following and presence also known away from the app, their page has become a great place to find your favourite sports stars having their fair share of TikTok challenges and trends thrown to them. 

Their most recent trending hashtag #BreakItDown has brought to light the stars hidden behind the screens of TikTok. In doing so, Nike encourages users to post their own unique sporting skills and share the behind the scenes on how to accomplish them. This style of user-generated content is the perfect format to reshare to your brand’s page, especially when it becomes a How-To form of video along with it being relatable and educational, this challenge has brought in over 2.6 million views to the Nike TikTok Page.

With a whopping 9.2 million likes across their TikTok page, the UK fast-fashion brand Pretty Little Thing (PLT) is doing pretty well on the platform as they have gained over 763 thousand followers. With a feed that reflects their eye-catching colourful brand identity, PLT uses a mixed style of content such as giveaways and product spotlight videos to reach and engage their followers. 

Through innovative, interactive content on their page, Pretty Little Thing encourages their TikTok followers to tag friends in their video’s comments, share their content across other platforms and also ask to see their follower’s outfits/try-on hauls too! This allows PLT to keep existing followers interested in the brand through the content they’re producing, whilst simultaneously expanding their reach beyond their immediate followers.

Hop-On The Trend

Using TikTok as part of your marketing strategy allows your brand to show another side of the business to your followers and future customers, you can build a niche community, and target a younger generation of buyers too!

With TikTok becoming one of the biggest video content platforms in the app marketplace, you can enjoy creating and experimenting with video, and with the right strategy for your business, you can use TikTok to grow from there!

If you're interested in finding out how Glass can help you build your TikTok brand, contact the team.