TikTok Thoughts For People, Businesses, & Agencies
Thoughts on TikTok, divided into what sticks out from a People and Brands/Agency perspective, written while drinking one pot of coffee.
Doubt anything that you’re about to read hasn’t been said before. But wanted to get my main thoughts down before I forget them in the shower.
People
Ice Bucket Principles & Social Currency Are Core To Its Functionality
Dances, tricks, challenges — they pop up all the time on the platform, allowing a regular couple in Stouffville to act like J-Lo & A-Rod.
It’s the Ice Bucket Challenge all the time and participation has its rewards: likes, comments, followers, but probably more important IRL conversations focused on what you did, how it looked, and the new level of awesome you’ve now achieved thanks to your hip thrusting to Romeo & Juliet.
Our Filters Of Choice Are Evolving.
Lo-Fi, Nashville, Lark, AR lenses — they’re not cutting it anymore when it comes to making moments look like they mattered.
We can’t just take a photo of the food, the night, the trip and add a filter or alter our face. We need to record them and set them to a whimsical song with a voice over reminding the viewer that we all deserve to be the hero in the story of our life.
Cliff jumps and dog moments hit different on TikTok.
1:1:1 Options (Create:Follow:Both)
No need to follow back. So you can focus on what you want to create.
No need to create. So you can focus on watching what’s made and become the amplifiers of the creations through shares and IRL conversations.
Sure, be a power user. But you don’t have to be to get something out of the platform, making it easier to join.
Brands/Agencies
Living On The Fringes Makes It A Culture Source
As stated by Rachel Mercer and Nayantara Dutta in their presentation The Dark Arts of Trends, “Over time, the cultural edge becomes the new position of the mainstream.” And TikTok is a great place to spot the edges.
Just looking at the Discover feature of the app right now I have many questions: #AltTikTok? Cloud Bread? MiPan? Manifestation as a serious concept?
The Algorithm
This thing is fast and intricate.
I’ve liked a single spike ball video and been served up three more the next time I went onto the app. (Yes, I went back on the app, like, seven minutes after I went off it.)
I’ve liked a single Daily Show video of them interviewing Trump Supporters and the next time I was on the platform — like, five minutes after I closed it — was delivered left and right leaning political content so the app could clarify where I stand so what came next kept me on the app.
The Creative
All the “How to make creative for the mobile world” tutorials Facebook and its agency teams provide have started to pay off. Just on TikTok.
TV ads seem to look better in a repurposed manner on TikTok.
And the ad units are immersive and, probably much more important, way more “shopable” in their feel than an Instagram ad.
BIG FINISH
Can’t see people leaving TikTok. It’s “cool factor” gains momentum every day. And I can’t remember a time where an app and what happens in it intertwines so easily with IRL conversations — an ideal recipe for FOMO induced behaviour.
Business and agencies need to figure out how they can use the app tomorrow. There are legit brand safety concerns but if consumer understanding isn’t incorporating Tiktok’s communities, well, that should be another concern.
Thanks for reading.
Kyle
