How TikTok is Changing Content Consumption

You’ve probably heard the cool kids say something along the lines of: “TikTok this, TikTok that”. But, what is TikTok and why has it become so popular?
In its simplest form, TikTok is a social media app which allows users to create short video clips, often with pre-recorded audio over the top.

TikTok killed the TV Star

With every age demographic in the UK, bar 65+, watching less and less television as time goes by, marketers need to understand where people are getting their entertainment from.

The TikTok Explosion

TikTok is now one of the most (non-gaming) downloaded apps in the world, with 39m Android downloads and 14m iOS downloads in June 2020 alone.
In the UK, active users who account for around 90% of TikTok’s accounts spend, on average, over 40 minutes per day being entertained by the content on their TikTok app.
It’s highly addictive, you can either believe me or try downloading it yourself. You won’t need to sign up to see the masses of content, but I do warn you, approach with caution as, like me, you’ll be sucked into TikTok content in a matter of minutes, only to look up at the clock an hour later and think ‘where did that time go’.

Core Demographic

With the app creators choosing to target those under 18 years of age as their preferred market, it’s no surprise that over 40% of its users are aged between 16-25. As a marketer, you’re probably thinking to yourself now ‘that’s not my target market, I don’t need to invest time in TikTok’. I’m guessing you also said that about Instagram, and maybe Facebook at one point as well, right? How did that work out for you?

TikTok Content

Content creators are at the core of TikTok users’ video consumption habits, with the platform hosting around 1 million video views every day. These creators are now mini-celebrities in their own right, and the TikTok craze has also spread to A-listers such as Drake, who has created a song specifically designed for success on the TikTok platform.
Content creators have even teamed up to start living together in what’s known as TikTok Houses. One such example is ‘thehypehouse’,which has nearly 500 million likes on the platform. International artists are now becoming savvy to the fact that if your song gets turned into a TikTok dance, you’re more likely to get into the Top Ten.
Jason Derulo has even created a TikTok music video, which has had over 4 million YouTube views in a matter of weeks.

TikTok Funding

TikTok knows that their creators are at the heart of their success, and to keep this momentum up they’ve just announced $200 million in funding for their users over the coming years. This shows us that there are no signs of the platform slowing down any time soon, however many times Trump tries to ban the Chinese app.

Your TikTok Strategy

So what does all this mean to marketers? Well, I’m glad you asked… Okay, I asked but you were thinking about it, right?
As marketers, we need to become savvy about the sheer size of TikTok’s impact on the everyday lives of our younger generation. We already know marketing changes at a fast pace, but, ‘are our digital strategies set up to be super reactive?‘ is the question we need to start asking ourselves.
Here at Hallam, we’ve identified an innovative niche in the digital marketing landscape, which is applicable to any business and any sector. It’s called ‘Owned Communities’.

Owned Communities

An owned community is an engaging, entertaining, and often user-generated space on social media which allows your key audiences to come together to talk about the things they love within a specific sector. Whilst it’s not used for product amplification at the start, once the community is up and running, your business owns that space, and you can start tailoring specific messages to the already engaged community to drive conversions.