What’s TikTok and the way does it work? Properly, have you ever ever come throughout a TikTok video despite the fact that you’re not on the platform? Odds are you’ve in all probability seen no less than one viral lip-syncing TikTok, or screencaps on Instagram or Twitter of meme-worthy TikToks.
One nice instance of any such pattern spreading throughout social media is the “It’s Corn” viral pattern.
Right here’s an instance of a video that repurposes the music with new, on-brand visuals on Twitter:
This meme originated on TikTok, the place songwriter and TikTok person @Schmoyoho remixed the already-viral corn-heavy interview from the Recess Remedy account into an excellent larger hit. On the time this text was being written, the music has been utilized in greater than 1.2 million TikTok movies and has greater than 10 million likes.
That’s the facility TikTok has within the present social media panorama. As entrepreneurs see memes and tendencies take off, it stands to cause that with the correct content material, the platform might help you attain hundreds of thousands of individuals and make your model go viral.
However what is that this app? How does TikTok work? And may you truly use it to achieve your audience? By the top of this text, you’ll have a deeper understanding of the platform, and whether or not or not it’s proper on your model. Be at liberty to leap to the sections you most wish to discover:
What’s TikTok?
TikTok is a video-sharing social media platform the place you may create, edit, share, uncover and watch brief, vertical movies—from just some seconds lengthy, all the best way as much as 10 minutes.
And it’s constantly altering. Whereas TikTok made a reputation as a lip-syncing app, it’s develop into way more. “TikTok as we all know it at this time didn’t exist 5 years in the past, and we anticipate the TikTok of 2027 to look equally distinctive. TikTok has been a disruptor in so some ways, so the largest alternative for manufacturers at that cut-off date in all probability doesn’t exist but. Nevertheless, constructing a robust community and group round your model will assist function a basis for what’s subsequent,” TikTok informed us.
When was TikTok created?
Whereas the identify TikTok has gained familiarity up to now few years, the idea of the app has been round for some time. It originated as an app often called Musical.ly in 2014, earlier than being acquired by ByteDance in 2017, a tech firm primarily based in Beijing who already had an app named TikTok. Musical.ly and TikTok formally merged platforms in 2018.
Who created TikTok?
Half of TikTok, the aforementioned Musical.ly, was created by Chinese language entrepreneurs Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang. And TikTok’s authentic type was created by ByteDance—the corporate that owns the platform at this time.
Who owns TikTok?
TikTok is owned by tech firm, ByteDance. ByteDance already owned TikTok—referred to as Douyin in China—and merged it with Musical.y after buying it in 2017 to create the wildly well-liked platform we all know now.
How does TikTok work?
On TikTok, customers can customise their movies with filters, stickers and background music, then share them with the TikTok group. As soon as shared, individuals can like, touch upon, obtain or share a video. Content material is discovered by customers in three feeds: The Buddies Tab, Following Feed and the For You Web page, the place the TikTok algorithm recommends content material primarily based on what you want.
TikTok makes video content material creation simple with a variety of regularly-enhanced instruments. Listed here are a few of these options:
1. Create movies
Customers can create TikTok movies by recording them straight within the app, or by importing movies from exterior the app. The video recorder helps you to select how lengthy you need your video to be, with a max size of 10 minutes.
2. Add music
Music is the cornerstone of the TikTok platform. Customers may even uncover new content material by clicking on a observe hyperlink and conducting a search of clips that use the music. So including a well-liked music in your video will improve your probabilities of trending locally.
3. Co-create content material utilizing duets
TikTok additionally boasts options like duet, which helps nurture engagement inside the group. This characteristic does precisely what the identify suggests—it helps you to create a video with one other creator and can cut up the display in half to indicate each cameras. Most use this characteristic to sing or dance to the identical music, or they develop corresponding movies very like comedy shorts.
4. Add filters and results
It’s simple for customers to edit their movies with totally different filters and results. You may even add stickers, emojis, textual content, transitions, GIFs and time results to make your movies extra compelling.
5. Reside stream
TikTok additionally comes with a characteristic that allows you to stream reside video broadcasts. However be aware that this characteristic is simply out there for choose customers with no less than 1,000 followers.
Who makes use of TikTok?
Whereas TikTok is understood for its reputation with youthful customers (47% within the US are between 10 and 29 years previous), it’s getting old up, with 42% of customers aged 30-49 and 20% between 40 and 49. This makes it an amazing place to achieve a large viewers.
Supply: Statista
As of January 2022, TikTok’s person base skewed 57% feminine and 43% male—though these reported numbers usually are not inclusive of all genders. And the platform’s person base is extraordinarily energetic, watching round 24 hours of content material on the app each month.
Many of the app’s customers are from america, with 136.5 million customers as of April 2022. Indonesia is available in second with about 99 million customers and Brazil lands in third with 74 million. TikTok’s widespread and rising reputation makes it a beneficial app to make use of if in case you have a world viewers.
Why is TikTok so well-liked?
Most of us hadn’t heard of TikTok till a few years in the past. Since then, it’s develop into a family identify, launched the careers of recent celebrities, and is a go-to platform for favourite celebrities and types to create viral moments.
In Q1 2022, TikTok was essentially the most downloaded app worldwide, and surpassed Google as the preferred internet area. In Q3 2022, TikTok broke data once more because the world’s highest-grossing app.
Let’s get into some options that gas its reputation:
Supply: SensorTower
Fueling viral tendencies
One of many causes TikTok is so sticky is as a result of it’s a discovery machine. It’s typically the place tendencies begin, as TikTok tendencies are regularly unfold to different platforms, and into well-liked tradition.
If you happen to’re questioning the way to go viral on TikTok, there are a couple of distinctive parts on the app that gas tendencies and person loyalty:
TikTok Sounds
TikTok sounds are a key a part of the platform expertise—a lot in order that TikToks with sound carry out 2.2x higher than these with out. Folks can use songs and sounds of their movies by choosing them from TikTok’s library, or saving them from different movies.
Once you use a music or sound that’s trending, you enhance your probabilities of going viral. The songs or sounds that take off can spark new memes, create a billboard hit, encourage cross-platform content material or just develop into a part of the bigger dialog.
Like we talked about—tendencies typically begin on TikTok. If one in every of your TikTok movies performs effectively on the app, repurposing that very same content material elsewhere might help you discover success on different platforms, as effectively. We printed the above video on TikTok to leap on the viral “It’s Corn” music, but in addition printed the video on Instagram to maintain driving the pattern wave on one other platform.
However a phrase of warning: in case your video makes use of a music, keep away from copyright points and double verify that you just’re legally allowed to make use of that music on different platforms.
Utilizing a software could make repurposing content material simpler by reducing out the necessity to runaround to every social platform.
With Sprout’s TikTok integration, you may publish a TikTok video solely on TikTok, or publish one video throughout a number of platforms with the contact of a button.
Hashtags
Hashtags are a key a part of viral tendencies and challenges. Utilizing the correct ones can provide you a significant visibility enhance.
They’re additionally an effective way to search out your group on the platform. #BookTok is a superb instance. This hashtag connects you to movies about guide suggestions, bookstores and extra. Tags like this could foster area of interest communities and develop into extraordinarily well-liked amongst them—the BookTok hashtag has over 80.9 billion views.
Collaborative instruments
TikTok is all about connecting together with your group and your folks. Their current transfer to substitute the Uncover feed with a Buddies Solely feed helps that.
Collaboration is constructed proper into their video creation instruments. TikTok stitching, for instance, permits you to add your individual commentary or response to current clips, together with viral clips. TikTok person Hank Inexperienced typically makes use of this to reply questions or clarify the science behind well-liked movies.
Studying the way to sew on TikTok might help you get began on the platform by piggybacking off of current content material earlier than creating your individual.
Challenges
Customers and types alike provide you with challenges that ultimately go viral and encourage person participation. These challenges are additionally extremely efficient for engaging non-users to hitch the platform.
A viral video of TikToker Nathan Apodaca (aka Doggface208) skateboarding whereas consuming Ocean Spray cranberry juice impressed the model to create a problem, encouraging individuals to recreate the video. #DreamsChallenge now has 21.1 million views.
We may point out extra. However TikTok strikes so rapidly that by the point you learn this text, there’ll probably be fully new ones.
Video format
Put merely, TikTok has the kind of content material that customers need: bite-sized movies. In reality, 66% of customers say that short-form video is essentially the most partaking sort of content material.
TikTok popularized this format to the purpose that different platforms added their very own brief video feeds, like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Appropriately, we’ll depart this part brief and candy.
Video downloads gas extra shares
Customers on the platform can freely obtain movies from different customers and share them to different social media platforms to achieve extra individuals. That is maybe one cause why the platform has gained a lot reputation so rapidly.
Since every video has a TikTok watermark and the username of the unique creator, it leaves little room for plagiarism. It provides due credit score and when individuals watch these downloaded movies on different platforms, they’ll know precisely who to observe for extra.
How one can use TikTok for enterprise
With tendencies like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, and 49% of customers saying TikTok helped them make buy choices, the app is a primary place to achieve new customers.
Nevertheless, entrepreneurs are nonetheless not using TikTok to its full potential. Our newest Sprout Social Index™ discovered that solely 39% of entrepreneurs had been utilizing TikTok.
Many entrepreneurs are nonetheless within the means of understanding how TikTok works and the way it matches into their social media content material technique, social media advertising and marketing technique and bigger advertising and marketing campaigns.
Listed here are a couple of well-liked methods manufacturers use TikTok to assist get you impressed:
Launch a branded hashtag problem
We’ve already talked about how utilizing viral trending hashtags can lengthen your attain. However you may also create your individual tendencies. TikTok challenges are campaigns or tendencies that encourage individuals to take part by performing duties like demonstrating a expertise, exhibiting how you employ a product, utilizing a filter, lip syncing and extra.
In Vogue’s #MakeItVogue problem, Vogue partnered with TikTok to launch a marketing campaign impressed by the Met’s About Time exhibit. It inspired individuals to rejoice style historical past by posting movies recreating style of the Nineteenth-century utilizing on a regular basis objects. Up to now, the hashtag has 3.6 billion views, and the problem introduced Vogue from 0 to 128K followers.
Vogue additionally launched a much less formal problem with the hashtag #ifeelstrong. This problem encourages individuals to submit movies of themselves doing one thing that makes them really feel highly effective. This problem hashtag has amassed 565.3K views.
There are a couple of methods to advertise a branded hashtag problem on TikTok. Formally partnering with TikTok on a branded problem is expensive, however partnering with creators on the platform or creating a contest might help enhance your hashtag. Simply make sure you observe copyright legal guidelines.
Work with influential content material creators
Influential content material creators on TikTok have hundreds of thousands of followers and drive tons of engagement that manufacturers can leverage to amplify their efforts. Manufacturers can collaborate with creators on a wide range of campaigns, from content material that includes their services or products to jumpstarting a branded hashtag problem and extra.
For Common Photos, TikTok influencers performed a significant position within the promotion of their film, “The Home with a Clock in its Partitions”. They partnered with 10 influencers who every created ‘magical’ tales utilizing the hashtag #FindYourMagic. These movies garnered a complete of 1.3 million likes and even resulted in 19k+ extra movies from different customers.
The model additionally gained 11k+ new followers in simply six days. Up to now, the hashtag has amassed over 80 million views on the platform.
Don’t be afraid to experiment
The great thing about TikTok’s quick tempo is that if one video flops, you may transfer on and check out once more. Bari, social media supervisor for Auntie Anne’s, recommends reusing previous content material with new sounds in her TikTok Bootcamp.
TikTok’s standing as a fast-moving pattern incubator means experimentation is rewarded, and plenty of manufacturers are cementing their TikTok presence by testing new techniques on the platform.
Analyze your exams by utilizing TikTok analytics to determine which of your posts are most profitable and ought to be recreated. Whereas TikTok solely saves your knowledge for 60 days, Sprout’s Reporting and Analytics instruments don’t put an expiration date in your submit efficiency knowledge. You may measure how your TikTok content material performs over time, and even towards the content material in your different platforms.
Have interaction, have interaction, have interaction
Responding to feedback and questions on TikTok is simply as vital as responding to them on different platforms. Monitor your feedback and reply—even a easy response or “like” can imply the distinction between gaining a fan, and dropping one.
You may even reply to feedback with a brand new TikTok video. That is an revolutionary and ultra-interactive approach of partaking together with your group, and filling out your content material calendar.
It’s all too simple to lose observe of TikTok feedback whenever you’re monitoring conversations throughout a number of channels. That is the place utilizing a social media administration software to streamline feedback from all your platforms into one hub is useful.
Last ideas: Is TikTok a very good match for you?
TikTok advertising and marketing will be extraordinarily highly effective when executed strategically. Opposite to well-liked perception, the app is dwelling to a widespread, numerous set of customers and types—from B2C to B2B and nonprofits.
For any model contemplating getting began with TikTok, it pays to start out with analysis. Validate that your core viewers, or the brand new audiences you hope to achieve, are on the platform. Then, develop a short-term plan for content material testing and iteration.
To be taught extra about bringing TikTok into your advertising and marketing fold, try our important TikTok for enterprise article to start out crafting your plan.
