With 500 million active users, TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform in 2019,  its mobile app has already garnered over a billion downloads, and users spend an average of 52 minutes on the app every day!

With such stats, it’s not something you want to push aside as a fad. I’ll bring you through what the app is about and suggest considerations you should take note of before deciding on the feasibility of the platform for your brand.

The numbers are impressive, but what exactly is TikTok?

Originally called Musical.ly, it was acquired and subsequently re-branded by Chinese company ByteDance in 2017. TikTok is a video-based social platform where users share video clips limited to 60 seconds of pretty much anything. From lip-syncing, duets to challenges, it’s an incredibly fun and engaging platform, and videos on TikTok are usually raw and unpolished.

You can be anything you want to be on TikTok, dancer, singer, mime artist or even drama queen!

TikTok’s Unique Selling Point

Facebook, Instagram and YouTube enable users to share content they created (outside of the social network) and build a following, TikTok goes a step further by providing the necessary tools to create the content.

Users get access to a massive library of music, filters, special effects, stickers and a plethora of options to create their videos. With such an arsenal available, anyone with a smart device can become a creator. No talent is needed – just creativity mixed with boldness and immunity to embarrassment.

Should your brand be on TikTok? Here are four key considerations.

1. You are looking to build an audience among Gen Zs

The majority of TikTok users are between 16 – 24 (Gen Z) and they might not be your primary target audience, but if engaging Gen Z audiences is part of your long term strategy, then building a presence on TikTok should be a key consideration.

2. You don’t have to justify sales ROI (yet)

TikTok consists of mainly Gen Zs without much spending power (yet). Furthermore, being a relatively new platform, measuring performance and mapping it to your user journey might not be as straightforward.

3. You are ready to experiment

If your brand is willing to experiment and have fun, TikTok could be the perfect playground! There are a million things you can do with the functions, music, transitions and effects, and the sky’s the limit with TikTok.

@drharang, a chiropractor from Korea, entertainingly shares simple chiropractic exercises, and he has over 261K followers!

4. You are ready to entertain

If you have been browsing the videos on TikTok, one common theme among all the videos is PURE MINDLESS ENTERTAINMENT! To be successful, you’ll have to be in it to entertain your audience.

When it comes to entertainment, Red Bull never fails to excite their audiences!

I’m not quite ready but I would still like to explore

Did you tick the boxes of all four considerations? If yes, then you’re ready to step into a brave new world. If not, don’t fret; here are ways you can still get involved.

Advertising on TikTok

Like most social media platform, TikTok monetises through their ad products. You can run a couple of sponsored content to determine how well your ads perform. Visit TikTok’s advertising page for more information.

Influencers

Not ready to start building a brand presence? You can always tap on influencers who have already amassed a substantial following. Compared to influencers on other platforms, TikTok influencers are relatively cheaper as it is still an untapped platform for brands. i.e. not many brands have jumped onto this bandwagon yet.

Collaboration between Uniqlo and @cloudtalk