Tik Tok is a mobile app where users post short videos, around 15 seconds long, producing what is known as fast entertainment. The app is extremely popular with all ages and genders, from kids, teenagers to middle-aged people. COVID-19 meant less face-to-face contact, but people still craved social interactions and was a catalyst for the success of Tik Tok, which had 315 million downloads in the first three months of 2020. The global app and its Chinese version, called Douyin, have accumulated over 2 billion downloads on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
There are several reasons behind the huge phenomenon of Tik Tok: it’s based on a very powerful consumption trend; it’s short and simple to use; it makes video editing easy for anyone. Additionally, it enables content discovery beyond the accounts a user follows and it breaks geographical borders.
Easy to use is definitely one of the biggest advantages of Tik Tok, but more than that, the diversification of content is another feature of Tik Tok. Everyone likes to watch something different and creative from time to time and Tik Tok short videos cater to that perfectly. Useful information can be found in an interesting form, regardless of whether the information itself is boring or fun. Every day billions of videos are being viewed. Naturally, various brands have seen it as a great platform for marketing. Brands create dynamic and original videos that will entertain and well deliver key brand messages. This is the first step to amplify a campaign on Tik Tok: find a very creative way to present the products and integrate them in a way that doesn’t make users skip your content. At the same time, Tik Tok is making video content more accessible through its real-time editing tools. Keeping an eye on trends and brand authenticity are key points for online brand communication and presence, and so is the sound-on experience, which is largely ignored on Facebook, for example.
As mentioned above, the Chinese version of Tik Tok is called Douyin. Both are made by Bytedance, a Beijing-based internet company. Douyin also experienced user rocketing during the COVID-19 period, is now the leading short video platform in China with a total of more than 400 Million DAU(daily active users). Though it remains broadly similar to TikTok, Douyin has become more advanced than its global counterpart, particularly with respect to e-commerce. With three taps on Douyin, you can buy a product featured in a video; you can book a stay at a hotel after watching a video shot there; you can take virtual tours of a city’s stores and restaurants, get coupons for those establishments, and later post geo-tagged video reviews. Therefore, to some extent, Douyin is even a better marketing platform for brands compared to Tik Tok.
Similar to Tik Tok, the major users of Douyin is milennials and generation-Z. Threfore, it’s naturally reasonable that brands that cater to the likings of them would be a perfect fit on Douyin, such as fashionable products, special and highly-recognizable products and practical products for young professionals who just start career. In addition to that, brands need to pay more attention to their communication strategies and analyse the platforms they already use to communicate with their audience. Content creation will be tailored for every platform and its users, there are more than 45 Million new videos being uploaded on Douyin everyday, to stand out from millions of contents, brands need deep understanding of the platform algorithm, audience, competitors, etc,,
Are you interested to know more about marketing on Douyin? We are here to help, contact us at marketing@atmall.com
