The new world of TikTok – How the social media platform is taking over the SMM sector

The ability to run an effective marketing strategy, successfully utilising the possibilities presented by the massive presence of social media across society, eludes many companies trying to grow their brand.

The broad range of platforms available and the regular emergence of new ones allow for the constant expansion and, therefore, the limitless outreach of the brand. The popularity and demographics of the platform dictate how successful the advertising campaign will be. Despite still being the largest and most used platform, Facebook has lost some of its influence and is now secondary to TikTok in some areas.

The explosion of TikTok with its 2.6 billion downloads has been a godsend to the world’s marketing departments. With its rapid growth, most major brands have looked at how they would be able to utilise it, a trend which was then followed by small and medium-sized companies.

TikTok carries a variety of benefits that give it an edge over the previously used marketing tools.

To understand the recent successes of TikTok in the marketing world, it is fundamental to look at the costs of sustaining an advertising campaign on TikTok compared to other platforms.

Marketing is an area that has become an increasing expenditure for companies, highlighting its importance and demonstrating the requirement for a financially sound strategy that allows the brand to reach its goals in terms of exposure. In terms of CPM (Cost-Per-Impressions)

TikTok comparatively charges less than Facebook and Instagram, which sit at $7.19 and $6.70 per 1000 views, compared to TikTok, which charges $5.45. In such a competitive market where exposure is key to brand reputation and general awareness of the product or service being sold, a lower costing plan of action will allow for more CPM, thus making TikTok more appealing for the business.

TikTok differentiates itself from its competitors in several ways, the main one being its user interface.

The constant content creates somewhat of an unending series of entertainment for the consumer, bringing them in and keeping hold of them as they scroll away through the endless videos.

TikTok, like many other social media platforms, effectively uses the consumers’ data; the set of videos that appear on the consumers ‘For You Page’ are carefully selected by the algorithm and exhibit features that would appeal to the persons’ interests. This cycle of the consumer watching the videos and TikTok receiving this information means that the algorithm is kept up to date on all the changing interests, and it seamlessly adapts to it.

TikTok holds enormous power over the consumer in that sense that it has complete control over what is presented on the ‘For You Page. Furthermore, the instant gratification received from each post which is limited to one minute, means that the lure is set for the person to scroll through hundreds of videos in one sitting. Advertisement, therefore, is exceptionally effective in this structure.

The constant swiping through videos allows the advertisement to be placed within the ‘For You Page’ discreetly, making it seem more like entertainment for the user rather than advertising.

The platform gives the company the chance to place their advertising between videos allows them to enhance and fill their profile with entertaining TikToks. This is seen through companies such as Ryanair, which have mastered the application and were able to generate a large following through their videos with the comedic appeal. This advertising method comes with no direct costs from TikTok and is instead an opportunity for cost-free advertising and building a relationship with potential customers.

The opportunity here extends beyond the limits of not being a massive corporation and allows for medium, small-sized businesses and even individuals involved in the arts to develop a platform for free and receive mass exposure. There have been instances where companies had tried advertising through TikTok and ended up selling out their stock within 24 hours, which showcases the true power and potential that TikTok holds in terms of marketing a product.

TikTok is hugely versatile in its advertising; the client is presented with a multitude of strategies that they can use to reach their marketing goals.

Overall, TikTok presents 6 options when it comes to advertising; the difference between the 6 is lies in the actual way it comes upon a user’s screen, as well as price and exposure.

The most prominent form of advertising is a 3-5 second video that covers the entirety of the screen; the brand takeover style is built for more major brands and allows for an effective platform that reaches at least 6 million people.

Welcome to the world of TikTok marketing.

Bigger companies can utilise the creation of brand lenses that are up for ten days and allow for the user to use these filters/lenses. This method draws in the initial consumer through the actual use of the filter and then expands to more consumers when the user posts a video with the filter. Additionally, this allows the advertising to take on its course of action spreading through TikTok and going viral due to people posting their videos.

Hashtag challenges are also methods that can be used within a company’s marketing campaign on TikTok. However, this method carries more of a risk purely on the basis that the challenge may fail. Despite TikTok pushing the videos with the hashtags through to peoples ‘For You Pages,’ the challenge’s success is dictated by what is trendy.

TikTok offers an effective platform on which targets can be achieved through different methods and fit the demands of all companies looking to engage in a marketing campaign on the app.

No central social media platform is complete without its army of influencers ready to take up their phones and create videos that will gain millions of likes. If lined with rhetoric, it can act as a highly effective form of marketing.

It is no surprise then that companies recruit these hordes of influencers to give their brand more of a platform and create this idea in the heads of the influencers’ fans that the product is used by their favourite TikTok star and therefore should be used by them. However, the reach that these influencers have can often be outweighed by the influence that is held by influencers on other apps. This comes down to how the platform is structured as it is developed to be extremely easy to scroll through, and therefore, there is the possibility for more significant amounts of posts to be viewed.

The basis of the posts is to entertain; each video tells some sort of story or joke, creating a feeling for the user that they are engaging on more of a personal level than they would be on platforms such as Instagram, which fail to achieve the same effect due to the lack of interaction. Companies have understood this and have been able to exploit this, seen through examples such as ‘RYSE’ that have recruited a multitude of influencers and, through this, we’re able to build a brand on the basis that people trust what their influencers say and subsequently sell. 

In conclusion, it can be said that TikTok has to a degree, been a revolutionary platform in terms of the potential within the field of advertising and marketing that it presents.

The variety in choice of forms of advertising and how easily accessible it is are at the heart of why the world’s marketers have now chosen to flood TikTok with their campaigns.

It can also be said that TikTok is a game-changing platform as the amount of money spent by companies on a marketing campaign does not necessarily correlate with how successful the campaign will be. The lack of funding within another does not have to equate to a poor result either. This expands the opportunity that TikTok presents, as it creates a marketing sphere in which all companies can stay competitive and have a chance to build a mass platform.

As TikTok continues to grow, its place and impact within the marketing world will also grow as the exposure of the ads placed on the platform increases. This, however, will not mean the demise of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in terms of their use as marketing tools.

Each platform offers a different demographic, and therefore the ad campaigns will span across the platforms rather than focusing on individual ones. Nevertheless, it is hard to eliminate the possibility that TikTok will be at the forefront of many marketing campaigns in the future, overshadowing parts of the impact that other platforms have had in terms of outreach.

What is your take on TikTok? Is it turning into an unstoppable SMM machine?

Are you ready to embrace TikTok marketing?