TikTok Fundamentals

Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

What is TikTok?

TikTok is a short-form video platform used by marketers to engage audiences via authentic, vertical video formats. Users can create and upload a video incorporating music with filters and editing effects, or showing the user lip-synching or dancing to a song.

TikTok began as an app called Musical.ly in 2014, a platform on which users created and shared short lip-sync videos. In 2016, Chinese tech company ByteDance launched a version of Musical.ly known as Douyin to the Chinese market before introducing it overseas as TikTok in 2017.

TikTok as a marketing channel

It is a unique marketing channel, creating viral potential that has never been there before! You can use TikTok to show off product tutorials and use cases, join challenges, jump on trends, make your audience laugh and more.

You can also:

• Sell products
• Increase brand awareness
• Generate leads
• Recruit through TikTok

TikTok accounts

TikTok offers three different types of account:

• Personal Account: This is a standard TikTok account for users to create videos and share with their friends and followers. It is suitable for average users.
• Creator Account: This is an account that offers more functionality and analytics to users who create a lot of content and have a lot of followers. It is mainly used by influencers, public figures, and artists. This is a Pro account.
• Business Account: You can use a business account to drive business results with additional resources. This account enables you to use paid advertising, for example. It is mostly used by brands and businesses looking to promote their products and offering to TikTok users. This is also a Pro account.

You can update your TikTok account to a Pro account (Creator or Business) in the Manage Account area of TikTok.

Account restrictions

If you are using a Business Account, you need to be aware of some restrictions. For example, you should use only using music that’s available from the Commercial Music Library. Also, you must adhere to strict community guidelines around content – such as no alcohol, gambling, and so on.

TikTok key features

Here are some of the key features specific to TikTok:

• For You Page (FYP): This is your personalized feed on TikTok. It showcases videos recommended specifically for each user, based on their preferences and interactions.
• Duet: This feature allows users to create a split-screen video by collaborating with another TikToker’s video.
• Stitch: This feature enables users to incorporate a segment of another user’s video into their own.
• Hashtag Challenges: These are when users create and participate in challenges associated with a specific hashtag. They are often initiated by brands or influencers.*
• Sounds: These are the audio clips, music, or dialogue used in TikTok videos. Users can select from a vast library of sounds or upload their own.
• Effects: TikTok Effects include visual and audio filters, stickers, and special effects that users can apply to their videos to enhance creativity and engagement.

* A great example of a Hashtag Challenge is Fenty Beauty created by Rihanna, which launched ‘The Next Fenty Face’ campaign contest on TikTok to mark its fifth anniversary. The contest encouraged people to follow the brand on TikTok, post a video and tag the brand.

The campaign resulted in over 37 million views on the #thenextfentyface page. It also drove brand awareness with the winner modeling in the brand’s 2023 campaign, attending Fenty events, and receiving Fenty products for a year.