In this series of articles, we will talk more about popular traffic sources and their prominent features. You will find useful information about the creative guidelines and regulations you must adhere to, tips for best-performing campaigns, and the statistical background of these platforms. Our first guest is the king of short videos — TikTok!
General info
TikTok is an overwhelmingly popular social app that features millions of short videos and acts as a non-stop meme-making machine that sucks users in for hours at a time. In its present form, TikTok appeared in 2018 and immediately became a hit with 15-second entertaining videos.
A very prominent feature of this platform is its trendiness — users can perform all sorts of weird acts and challenges to get into the trending recommendations. If the content is catchy enough to attract some people, the platform’s algorithm will promote it to millions of users. TikTok is a creative hub where anything is possible if your content is crazy enough to be likable.
Audience and reach
TikTok ventured out as an “app for teenagers” and its reputation still hasn’t recovered from this label. Still, over the years the audience has greatly diversified and included more mature consumers. TikTok hit 1.1 billion active global users by early 2021 and became the most downloadable app, thus overthrowing Facebook. Let us take a quick look at some stats provided by Wallaroomedia and Hootsuite:
- Available in over 150 countries
- Over 1 billion users and over 3 billion downloads worldwide
- Audience age from 13 to 60, with 7.1% of users 50+ y.o.
- 13 y.o. is the minimum allowed user age (it’s 16 y.o. for Ireland)
- TikTok has a fairly even distribution of male/female users
- An average user opens TikTok 8 times a day and spends an average of 52 minutes on the platform
- 83% of TikTok users have posted a video
- 8 new users join TikTok every second, 650,000 join daily
Tools and formats
The main TikTok format is a short 15-second video, in the latest update, the platform also added 60-second and 3-minute formats. It is possible to post pictures with text overlay in a short video. The main marketing tool on the platform is the TikTok Ads Manager. TikTok ad price ranges from $5 per day for self-serve campaigns to thousands of dollars for influencer collaborations.
In-Feed ads — they look like one of the posts and are seamlessly embedded into the feed and the general user experience. These videos appear every 3 posts and are similar in style to user-generated content and have a native vibe except for the For You label on top.
TopView ads — these videos appear once a day at the top of the feed once the app is launched. The max length is 60 seconds. You can add a CTA (call to action) button on such posts.
Branded Hashtag Challenge — viral challenges of all kinds are an integral part of TikTok, and this format allows using challenges for campaign promotion. Users participate in the challenge and post videos with this hashtag, thus adding to the popularity of the brand/idea behind it.
Branded Effects — video effects and filters created by brands or in collaboration with them. These can be static like stickers or animated, interactive like mini-games, or even AR.
Do’s and don’ts
✓ The most important tip is to make TikToks, not just ads. You need to be in tune with the overall vibe of the platform.
Authenticity is important for both influencer campaigns and the content you post. It is essential to put yourself (or your design team) in your audience’s shoes to understand their tastes and needs. Also, follow the trends and fashionable takes on the content, popular sounds and filters — TikTok is all about being trendy.
✓ In you are working with influencers, pay more attention to delivery than to the number of followers. The tone and approach mean much more for promoting a product and creating the right vibe than millions of followers who will still be uninterested. Humor and keeping things down to earth help too.
✓ Post frequently, the audience and the TikTok algorithm love stability. However, don’t post random things for the sake of posting, the quality of content matters, you want to engage your audience not repel them.
✗ Don’t be pushy or aggressive in your approaches. TikTok is popular because it offers entertainment and relaxation. Focus your creatives on being engaging, relatable, or even funny.
✗ Don’t go against the platform’s guidelines. It may be a bit obvious, but a lack of visible moderation does not mean that there isn’t one. TikTok is known for being patient but merciless when it comes to the end of its tether. Whole offer verticals got banned from the platform, so better stick to the rules.
✗ Don’t use generic content and hashtags. This will allow your posts to stand out, and therefore you will waste a lot of money on promotion while still staying invisible to your audience.
Conclusion
TikTok is a great traffic source for such verticals as nutra, e-commerce, finance, and iGaming. You will have to find the best approaches for every one of them by trial and error, and when you do — you’ll know that it was worth it. This social platform covers a vast audience and delivers entertaining content all over the globe. It is even possible to run campaigns without paid promotion if you are patient and are ready to flex your creativity muscles. Good luck!
If you want to reach new GEOs and audiences, maybe it is all waiting for you on Telegram? We’ve prepared some material about Telegram audiences. What are the messenger’s users like this year? How old they are, what they do, and what they are interested in!
