The Rise of Tik Tok and its Advertising Potential

Angelina Umbri - October 20, 2021

The popular app “TikTok” is a video-sharing social media platform that grew to fame during the Covid-19 pandemic. With more people spending time on social media, the app gained a tremendous following, especially among millennials. TikTok has created a huge fanbase for its quick videos and creative outlet. In Q1 2020, they had 315 million installs which set the record for the most out of any social media platforms in a single quarter.

Why is there so much buzz around advertising on this platform? Marketers love TikTok for the sole reason of being able to connect creatively with the younger generation. Since each video is so quick (15 to 60 seconds) they can keep engagement levels extremely high, which is even more impressive given the predominant age on the app. Users are drawn into this app and are highly engaged, both creating their own “TikTok’s” as well as watching other users’ content.

Since it is a younger audience, many ads on TikTok are much more informal in nature and advertisers typically do not have as large ad budgets here as on other channels. There are many ways to advertise on the platform including hashtag challenges and running banners within the app’s homepage. Another key benefit is that the app is still new so not as saturated with advertisers as Instagram or Facebook. This leaves opportunity for those who are quick to act or willing to test.

One example of a successful TikTok ad campaign is the World Health Organization (WHO). They were able to reach a targeted (young) audience to spread their safety messages around Covid-19 by creating ads on TikTok – targeting almost 3 million followers. There are many creative ways to leverage Tiktok for a variety of brands, but obviously given the primary audience being targeted, it may not be right for every organization.