As we continue our look at social media platforms, let's turn to one of the newer platforms that have seen incredible growth in the past few years, TikTok. Unlike some of the other social media platforms we've looked at, TikTok didn't originate in the US. It was created in 2012 in China as a lipsyncing app known as Douyin, and it's owned by a company named ByteDance. In an effort to expand globally, in 2018, the company that owned Douyin acquired a US app called Musical.ly, a short video music focused app. They rebranded it and TikTok was born. Since 2018, TikTok has been one of the fastest growing platforms in the world, with over 800 million users. 90% of users access TikTok everyday. Users are overwhelmingly from generation Z. In fact, 69% of TikTok users are between 13 and 24, and millennial usage is growing. But what is TikTok? TikTok is an app that features content in the form of short videos. Think YouTube, but with 15 to 60 seconds clips. While the app's original focus was singing, dancing, and lipsyncing and comedy, now videos go as far as users imagination can take them. Parody videos, memes, cooking clips, tutorials, skits, and short films, challenges, storytelling, and more. As with all the social media platforms, TikTok has its celebrities, not just celebrities who use TikTok to post their own videos like Alicia Keys or J.Lo or The Rock, but its own homegrown celebrities who have gained fame through the platform. TikTok launched dancer Charli D'Amelio's career and she's now the most followed account on TikTok. The second most followed TikToker is Zach King who posts edited magic videos. And the song Old Town Road was unknown before it was uploaded to TikTok where the song went viral through yeehaw challenge meme, in which people transform into cowboys while dancing to the Old Town Road song, like in this video. [MUSIC] Above all, TikTok is about individuality. Videos usually features someone speaking to or performing for the camera. [MUSIC] TikTok is also informal and fun. When it first launched, the New York Times called it the only truly pleasant social network in existence. And as we'll see, this informality provides a unique opportunity for businesses as well into rethinking how they provide content. Let's take a look at how everyday users can interact with the world through TikTok. It's incredibly easy to get started with TikTok. Simply download the app and start watching, no account needed. Set up an account to start following users, curating your home screen, an creating your own unique content. Let's take a tour of TikTok. Tap on the Home button on the bottom nav bar to immediately access videos. There's no scrolling through options and picking the videos you want to watch, instead, videos launch immediately, drawing you into a never ending scroll. The home screen offers two options, following for videos from user you follow and for you, which shows videos that are suggested for you based on accounts you follow and videos you like and share. When a video plays, you'll see information at the bottom, including the account's name, a caption, and any relevant hashtags. Hashtags are a way in which users categorized the content. The hashtags followed by a keyword indicate what a content relates to and makes it searchable for users. On the side, tap the account's photo to follow, tap the heart to like, or tap the comment bubble to write something back. You can also share the video or save it. Head to the next video by swiping up. You'll also notice a spinning records in the bottom right corner because TikTok has its roots in music, every video can have a soundtrack chosen from TikTok's massive song library. Tap on the Record to find other videos that have used this song or saved the song to your favorites. Tap on the Discover button to see what videos are trending. You'll find videos collected on the various hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter or #homechef. #TikTokanimals, #rarethings and more. Click on a video to start that stream. You can also follow hashtags and videos with that hashtag will appear in your following stream. TikTok also has its famous hashtag challenges where users create their own videos based on the hashtag and share it mentioning the hashtag in the caption. Usually the challenge is something that's easy to replicate but general enough to put your own spin on it. It could be something like doing a dance under #distancedancechallenge, or featuring your own comedic twist, like in hashtag chaotic energy. There are no winners in these challenges, but it helps to create more visibility for your profile. Hootsuite reports that 35% of users have participated in hashtag challenges. Your inbox is where you'll find notifications, likes, and comments. Finally, the Me button is where you'll find your profile and all the videos that you've created. And for anyone familiar with Instagram, you'll see that a navigation layout is exactly the same. To create a video, simply tap on the plus button. You can record a video that's 15 seconds long or 60 seconds long. If you're not sure where to start, TikTok provides templates where you can upload photos into a slideshow. Similar to Snapchat, you can set a filter for your video, add colors, characters, backgrounds, or interactive games. Tap on the word sounds at the top to add a soundtrack to your video, tap to record, and tap again to pause the recording. Tap again to restart the recording. This allows you to build scenes into your videos. Not happy with the last segment? You can delete the most recent clip by tapping on the delete button. Once you're done, tap the checkbox. You'll then have the opportunity to add text, visual effects, stickers and more. You can also edit your video, add a voiceover and change the voice effects. Finally, add your caption, add relevant hashtags, decide if your video will be public or private and post. Not sure what to post? Creative expression is key on TikTok. Post a video of you doing a dance or a funny scene you rolled and act it out. Talk about a book you love, add your take on one of the means like the wipe it down challenge or choose your fighter. Or just share your personal story on the best of the day or black voices or my pride for instance. Tik Tok is about everyday users posting unique, authentic, fun videos. Next, we'll see how that can be an opportunity for businesses. There are many different ways businesses can leverage their brand on TikTok, both to creating fun organic content and through advertising. Above all, brands need to be aware of the unique personality of TikTok. Short, informal, personal videos and tailor their marketing efforts to fit into that culture. One of the best ways businesses will be able to connect with users is to get personal and fun. Because TikTok videos are based around individual users connecting with their audience, businesses need to think about how they can lift curtain on their branding to show the people behind it. Let's take a look at a few examples. The Washington Post, one of the most highly respected and premier newspapers in the USA, has decided on a very fun way to interact with users on TikTok. While they post news clips and stories, most of their content revolves around their social media guide dif. Acting out fun skits that relate to current events, defining words for the audience or playing dumb to educate himself. This way the Washington Post is able to engage users in informal, funny, but extremely relevant ways. Another business that has personalized its interaction on TikTok is Lush, a hands made cosmetics company. The Lush TikTok account features videos of users using their products, but they have a little fun as well and have posted videos of their store reps dancing their products, dancing or acting out skits. And even participating in TikTok hashtag challenges as a brand. They've even built connections around the hashtag Lush community. Chipotle is another example of businesses using Tik Tok in innovative ways. They not only post their own Videos but share videos from their followers, including users posting videos on how to make different meal combos or hacks from the Chipotle app. These videos have hundreds of thousands of likes each. Chipotle also provided fun filters for users to use on their videos. Businesses can also create hashtags to raise awareness of their brands. Or get users to participate in posting content related to the brand. For guesses in MyDenim campaign, for instance, users were simply asked to post a picture of themselves in their jeans. Which helped raise brand awareness. Businesses can also work with TikTok influencers to raise awareness for their brands. Businesses can purchase advertising on TikTok in a few different forms. TikTok offers in feed ads where, like with Twitter or Pinterest, a user would see a video similar in content to others on their feed, except it would be sponsored. TikTok also offers what's called a branded takeover, where a business's ad would show on users screens as soon as they open TikTok. Businesses can also offer branded filters and lenses to their users. TikTok is an entertaining way for users all over the world to connect to one another in fun visual ways. Challenge one another through fun games and memes and showcase their own individual creativity. Businesses are also using TikTok to connect to their audiences on playful personal levels that go beyond traditional advertising. Go download TikTok so you can experience some of this yourself. Next, let's look at another Gen Z favorite, Snapchat.
