TikTok: A One Stop Shop for Paid Social?
TikTok has grown from teen dance routine sensation to a major player in paid social within two years since it ramped up. What does it offer advertisers now, and how will it measure up this Black Friday?
Growing its ad offering almost daily, and bolstering its tech with new integrations, it is now leading the charge with younger generations for location and idea search, and for life inspiration. With proper use and strategy it is driving consideration and conversions at an ever increasing rate.
This article will review some recent changes to the platform, and how we can expect to see this channel perform in the coming months.
Not Just Videos But Photos Too
The most recent, potentially game changing addition to TikTok’s offering is the inclusion of a photo mode for ‘stills’ - aka image posts - that can be singular or in swipeable carousels (with more than a slight resemblance to Instagram). These will be TikTok-ified by the potential addition of trending viral soundbytes to increase excitement and engagement, and by the use of Snapchat-style filters that originally helped contribute to TikTok’s fame.
Breaking down this video-only barrier may potentially represent the final frontier for TikTok’s creation of a platform that covers the full suite of social marketing options.
TikTok As Search Platform
Two new platform trends are opening out the platform for advertisers. The first is that the demographics of TikTok now reach far beyond its original younger skew. The second is that for its younger users it has become much more of a search and discovery platform. In fact Google themselves report that 40% of young people use TikTok for search.
As a potential response to the platform being used more for search terms and keywords, TikTok has been rolling out longer post descriptions - up to 2,200 characters - a significant increase from the initial 300 limit.
These user-focused platform changes come combined with technical changes on the ads and integration side of the platform. TikTok have launched new bidding and optimisation strategy tools; and are increasing the number of tech partner integrations, the freshest being through Referral Traffic giant, Linktree.
Hype and Black Friday
These changes are coming at a time of increased hype around the platform, with this Black Friday set to be stronger than ever - all encompassed in the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt.
Brands are releasing TikTok Trending edits of products. Anything from 90s haircuts, to beauty tools (the world domination of the Gua-Sha) to restaurants (read: anything truffle) can reach viral heights once they catch on with the TikTok popularity machine.
Key stats around TikTok conversion paths last Black Friday:
67% of users were influenced to learn about brands they had never heard of
4 in 5 TikTok users report that the platform played a role in their purchase decisions during Black Friday
The stage is set for a bigger than ever peak period for TikTok. Using TikTok strategically during peak is going to be a big topic for clients here at Kinase during the coming months - so watch this space on how our teams are harnessing the potential of TikTok, and to find out how TikTok as a whole measures up against expectations.
How should advertisers respond to TikTok’s inexorable rise? Read our how to guide.
By Becky Clark, Head of Social
