11.1 A small introduction to TikTok
TikTok started off not as ‘TikTok’, but Musical.ly which you may have heard of. Basically, it was a video sharing social media app that allowed you to upload and stream up to 15 seconds videos. It focused on trending audio and capitalized mainly on video features. It started to grow significantly after ByteDance, a notable Chinese tech giant purchased the 100 million base initial user platform and repackaged Musical.ly as TikTok that we know today. It became the fastest growing social media platform since 2018 - and it still is today.
Gen Z remains to become a large target for brands due to their spending power, with around US$ 140 billion. This generation also grew up with online platforms while forming their own language and way of communicating with peers and brands alike along the way. With these stats and facts, brands with youngsters as their target audiences began to flock to the app in their effort to bring their name into the surface and let more Gen Z know about their brand in an authentic way. This enthusiasm is resulting in more brands with Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers target audiences also joining and embracing TikTok as well.
Seeing all that, have you ever wondered where TikTok wants to go from here?
Before you start developing your brand’s marketing strategy with TikTok, let's take notes on these info about their user stats:
Who is on TikTok?
- More than 1 billion monthly active users around the world.
- More than 70 million daily active users in the US alone, and is projected to reach nearly 90 million by 2023.
- The app is used in 141 of 155 countries with 39 languages.
- 47% of TikTok users are under 30 and 11% users are over the age of 50.
- TikTok has more male users with 51%, and female users are at 49%.
source: backlinko.com
Top Trends on TikTok based on hashtags:
- #HowTo: Literally the tutorials and explanations on ‘how to’ just about anything.
- #ZoomMeeting: As the pandemic hit, this hashtag filled up with videos of meeting fails, hacks, and more funny ones.
- #PetsofTikTok: This one is so addicting. Bunch of cute and funny animals videos here.
- #TrickShot: Full of creativity and nearly impossible shots that will leave you in awe.
source: brand24.com
Where is TikTok headed in 2022?
- TikTok is projected to grow an additional 15% in 2022 after its 40.8% year-over-year growth in 2021.
- TikTok became the world's 3rd largest social media network after Facebook and Instagram.
- TikTok is still growing in terms of overall social media market share. This year, it is projected that TikTok will surpass 20% of all social media users for the first time and approach 25% by 2024.
