3 Reasons You Should Never Underestimate The Power Of TikTok

3 ways TikTok can revolutionise your digital marketing

If you were among the crowds who sighed, rolled their eyes and muttered ‘another social media platform?’ When TikTok started to grow in downloads, you’re not alone. Amongst a sea of platforms requiring constant brand attention (including Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter), understanding how to embrace another platform with its own set of rules and nuanced algorithmic tweaks felt like a task that was all too much for many marketers and small business owners.

Cut to the present day and failing to acknowledge TikTok’s monumental potential is equivalent to leaving a huge reach opportunity on the table each and every day. With over 2.6 billion downloads worldwide as of December 2020, 62 million downloads in January 2021 alone, and more than 1 billion monthly active users, it’s high time to pay attention to the TikTok bandwagon if you’re yet to join the party. 

Compare these numbers to Facebook’s 2.9 billion monthly users, YouTube’s 2.2 billion monthly users, Instagram’s 1.4 billion monthly users and Pinterest’s 480 million monthly users, and you’ve got an urgent opportunity on your hands.

Here’s the good news: TikTok is not your average social media platform. Shaped by a user group who are less about polish and all about authenticity, this platform offers brands of all shapes and sizes a remarkable opportunity to connect with their user base (and grow a new audience) in a way that’s surprising, authentic and, dare we say it, even fun.

Here’s three reasons why you shouldn’t underestimate the power of TikTok as we head into 2022.

1. TikTok’s demographics are not as young as assumed

One of the common misconceptions when TikTok started to gain prominence was the belief that it was overrun by a young user base. While its audience is young by comparison to, say, a Facebook demographic, TikTok’s users by age show a broad spread of demographic and associated opportunities for meaningful, ongoing connection. ComScore highlighted the percentage of U.S.-based TikTok users by age in late 2020 as: 10-19 - 32.5%, 20-29 - 29.5%, 30-39 - 16.4%, 40-49 - 13.9%, 50+ - 7.1%. 

The TikTok user base is continuing to diversify in its age demographics - but it doesn’t take a mathematical genius to point out that a 40–49-year-old demographic at 13.9% of 2.6 billion users is 338 million users. No matter the age group your products or services are most likely to offer direct value to, TikTok has a direct line of connection to them. 

2. TikTok embraces an everyday user, not a perfect influencer

Have you ever felt the pressure of needing your Instagram posts to look polished and perfect? 

TikTok is almost in direct opposition to the Instagram laws of old, with users who are instead more interested in honest, genuine connection than they are in heavily polished or stylised content. A recent Nielsen study found that ‘users around the globe find TikTok content to be authentic, genuine, unfiltered and trendsetting. At the same time, when looking specifically at advertising content, users still associated terms such as authentic and genuine, while adding honest, real, unique and fun.’ 

You only need to spend a few minutes scrolling through TikTok content to get a sense of this unfiltered playfulness. The short-form video content as a format finds itself well fitted to comedic, laugh-out-loud and surprising content, and users are rewarded for capturing their audience’s attention through these elements of surprise or irreverence in a way that Instagram and Facebook simply aren’t known for. 

Perhaps most telling was the finding that 56^ of users feel more positive about a brand after seeing it on TikTok and that ads on the platform are more ‘creative and original’ than comparative ads on other digital platforms (as found in TikTok’s ‘Authenticity, Happiness and Joy’ research, conducted by Flamingo Group and GroupM [1]). 

The same study found that 73% of users leave TikTok feeling positive and emotionally uplifted. For brands looking to meet their audience base in a space that’s known for its positive emotions, TikTok offers a powerful new avenue for connection. 

3. In-built opportunities for virality

All kinds of brands have found themselves (and their products!) going viral on TikTok. Often, videos that show authentic elements of the brand or product in action - such as a behind-the-scenes look at the product creation process, dancing TikTok trends with company employees, small business owners sharing their journeys to create their work - are more impactful than polished visuals more often associated with online marketing and advertising.

One example is found in Little Moons, a mochi ice cream brand who achieved a 700% sales surge at Tesco stores after a number of their videos went viral. They achieved this through a simple and, in hindsight, obvious method - by creating ASMR videos that showed off their mochi balls and which directly appealed to TikTok’s #asmr niche. This loyal audience core turned up with thousands of views in the early days of Little Moons posting, giving Little Moons an audience base they could continue to utilise. They leveraged this interest by creating viral, original sounds that instructed audience members on how to buy and eat their mochi balls. The simplicity of the trend led to major uptake, and within a short period of time, #littlemoons had over 300 million views, with #littlemoonsmochi sitting at over 190 million views.