TikTok: A Creative Guide

50+ ideas for your influencer campaigns on TikTok

Stéphane BOUILLET, - INFLUENCE4YOU

• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9782322417926
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Pubblicità
• Index: Business

TikTok has grown into a staple of the social mediascape. Brands are slightly unsettled but quickly won over by this new video-sharing platform, with more and more seeing the opportunity for influencer marketing tailored to a new audience. By offering creative "formats" that match TikTok's unique style, this guide aims to inspire you to create equally unique content with your influencer. Familiarize yourself with these new rules, be creative and take the leap - TikTok is here to stay!

SECTION 1 - Introduction

TikTok: the rise of a new social media staple

If we’re so interested in TikTok to the extent that we’re dedicating an entire guide to it, it’s because never before has a social networking platform been so popular in such a short period of time.

It all began with Musical.ly. The Chinese application launched in 2014 was acquired in 2017 by Bytedance LTD and turned it into the Chinese platform, Douyin, to create, edit and post short videos under 60 seconds. For the rest of the world, it became known as TikTok.

Thanks to the inventiveness and boundless energy of its users, TikTok is now at the heart of digital creative trends. An entertainment rather than a lifestyle platform, its tone is fun and the result is addictive. By allowing people to express their creativity directly from their cell phones, TikTok has reached a worldwide stage, and its audience continues to grow and diversify each and every day.

How it works: the “For You” page

Each social network has its own flagship role. On TikTok, it's all about entertainment and discovery. The app will do everything in its power to generate content and push you to consume it!

On most social networks, the first step is to build a network. On TikTok, it's the content that counts – indeed, the user here is called the "creator". Whereas on Facebook your news feed is empty at the beginning and fills up as you add connections, on TikTok everything starts with infinite content suggestions that adapt to you over time without the need to have friends on the platform. Instead, TikTok encourages you to move from one group to another, from trend to trend, from temporary friend to temporary friend. Feedback is instantaneous and can go viral. Like a dating app, you swipe vertically to move from one video to the next, regardless of whether the creator is a friend or a stranger, because it's your reaction to the video that matters.

The first thing that appears on your screen when you open TikTok is its famous "For You" page filled with videos the algorithm has selected for your benefit specifically – based on the content you like to watch and create – that never fail to amaze, entertain, and inform. Getting your content onto this "For You" page has therefore become the major challenge for brands and creators on TikTok, and a key success factor for the platform. Brands are looking to increase their exposure on TikTok, as there is no need to be a subscriber to an account to see their videos.

Key figures to keep in mind

The list of companies active on TikTok is increasing each day. This is not very surprising, as it's a social network with exponential growth! Who wouldn’t be tempted to reach a constantly growing, highly engaged audience?

• 3 billion downloads

It's the most popular app on the App Store since 2019. The words "TikTok" and "Tik Tok" are the third most searched in the YouTube search bar.

• 689 million monthly active users worldwide

What took Instagram 6 years, TikTok achieved in 3. This puts TikTok in 7^th place among social networks, ahead of Snapchat, Pinterest, and Twitter which have been around for much longer. TikTok benefited from the lockdown effect: in less than a year, the platform doubled its number of users in Europe and tripled its MAU (Monthly Average Users) in France! Moreover, France is the second country (after the UK) with the largest number of users in Europe.

• 52 minutes on average spent on TikTok daily.

And in France this figure rises to 68 minutes. This is probably due to the fact that 90% of users go on TikTok several times a day (12 times on average for the French), and spend about 8 minutes each time they open the application! A study shows that over a month's use, 68% of users view other creators' content, and 55% create their own videos (Globalwebindex, 2019). More than 1 billion videos are viewed every day on the platform.

• 45% exclusive audience with Instagram

And 36% with Snapchat. In France, 70% of users are over 18 (that is, 10 million) and 6 million are over 25.

• 15 billion impressions

That's the number Ocean Spray got in less than a month after their product was featured by skateboarder Nathan Apodaca (@420doggface208) – and all completely spontaneously, without Ocean Spray even asking!

Why TikTok?

The new must have social network

TikTok has become the creative El Dorado for digital natives. The platform has earned the trust of its users, giving them a space for authentic, raw and effective self-expression. Thanks to its unusual, highly impactful and extremely varied formats, the platform embodied by creative profiles is reinventing and democratizing communication on social networks. This user base represents a massive and unique audience. Although it is still the younger generations that spend the most time and generate the most volume in terms of video creation, Gen Z now represents only a third of an audience that has dramatically grown, especially during the lockdowns. In fact, the March 2021 statistics for platform usage in the United States show that while younger generations remain the most active, the audience is unique and varied: 25% of users are between 10-19 years old, 22% between 20 and 29, 11% over 50 years old...

On TikTok, there are no good or bad profiles, no closed-contact lists. TikTok offers endless possibilities and challenges everyone's freedom of expression. You can create content alone, in pairs, by copying and adding to an existing video, for your friends, or in response to your friends, join a challenge or act out a hashtag or a song, use effects, create effects. The diversity of content is dazzling. Far gone is the time when we could only find Lip Syncs, musical performances made by teenagers. You’ll see dance and music, yes, but also humor, art, cooking, beauty, sports, tech, travel, education... The types of campaigns are numerous and varied and can be mediated with great success. This book is a guide to help you navigate the maze of possibilities offered by TikTok.

The TikTok style

TikTok is an ecosystem for creation, with its own forms and a very "native" style. A breath of fresh air with a good-natured tone. But its specificities mean that what works for this platform does not work for others and vice versa. The success of a video on TikTok is based on its respect of the TikTok style and framework. Thus, you will have to understand the style of the platform to make an appropriate video, so what you have published on other networks may not work here!

"Real people, real videos", reads TikTok’s slogan. TikTok demands we show ourselves as we are, with no artificiality. Unlike other platforms, we show ourselves as we are, without any artificiality, in the middle of our living room, in our bedroom or kitchen, in leggings or even in pajamas. Completely in the spirit of viral content, TikTok asks for originality, naturalness, and spontaneity. This doesn't mean distorting your brand identity but most likely adopting a lighter tone to increase your exposure if you target a younger audience. We’re far from the glamour of Instagram or Facebook photos in idyllic environments…

The specificities

Our user manual:

• Creative content: content content content... we can't say it enough. On TikTok, it’s the content that takes precedence over the creator. The platform does not highlight the videos of users with the most subscribers but instead the content created, which must be short, funny, original, and punchy.
• Music: apart from the format, music is the other key element that defines TikTok. In Musical.ly's DNA, the image is designed around the sound, whether it's a trendy song or a humorous soundtrack from a movie, a skit, or a TikTok video gone viral.
• Dynamic of re-production and transformation: TikTok has taken over from Vine and has become the platform best suited to making and re-working memes. With the opportunity of making videos in pairs (called "duets"), the customization of videos, the use of music, the appropriation of existing videos, and the possibility of exporting them to other platforms, TikTok is part of this memetic logic that makes its potential viral and trendsetting. Users are inspired to reproduce and transform the videos of other users, adding their own touch to make the videos their own.
• Transitions and quirky humor: TikTok videos have rhythm, they create an expectation that ends with a sudden and unexpected turn. The element of surprise and rapid transformations, (self)mockery and raw authenticity are part of the platform's unique tone. TikTok has incorporated these into its filters, which are of vital importance to its users. Without them, the videos would lose their charm...
• Snackable content: Every second counts! You have a maximum of 60 seconds to focus a user's attention on a specific topic and succeed in creating a buzz. It’s thanks to this speedy format that the platform is so successful in grabbing our attention.

TikTok and influence marketing

“Make TikToks, not ads”: TikTok pushes the advertiser to adopt a more human and sincere approach that leaves room for ordinary people and everyday scenarios rather than the glamorous advertising world, with its models and extraordinary actors. Whether it's with influencers, micro or nano-influencers, this playful and "no makeup" spirit brings a closeness that engages with the audience. An influencer marketing campaign on TikTok therefore requires embracing one's difference, to dare to bring out one's creativity and authenticity, as well as an element of surprise, while still respecting your brand’s message and image.

• TikTok influencers: they’re not the same as on other platforms! More niche, more "micro", often more creative and closer to their audience, they have the potential to reach your target in a more direct and sincere way.
• Very niche content: there are influencers in all fields on TikTok, all brands are sure to find what best suits them!
• Viral potential thanks to User Generated Content (UGC): Influencers' content is often picked up by their community. By directly involving its users, the brand benefits from content created for free by TikTokers and gain...