What’s TikTok: Full Platform Information for 2023

What’s TikTok?

TikTok is a video-sharing social media platform the place you’ll be able to create, edit, share, uncover and watch quick, vertical movies—from just some seconds lengthy, all the way in which as much as 10 minutes.

And it’s constantly altering. Whereas TikTok made a reputation as a lip-syncing app, it’s change into rather more. “TikTok as we know it today didn’t exist five years ago, and we anticipate the TikTok of 2027 to look similarly unique. TikTok has been a disruptor in so many ways, so the biggest opportunity for brands at that point in time probably doesn’t exist yet. However, building a strong network and community around your brand will help serve as a foundation for what’s next,” TikTok instructed us.

When was TikTok created?

Whereas the identify TikTok has gained familiarity previously few years, the premise of the app has been round for some time. It originated as an app generally known as Musical.ly in 2014, earlier than being acquired by ByteDance in 2017, a tech firm based mostly in Beijing who already had an app named TikTok. Musical.ly and TikTok formally merged platforms in 2018.

Who created TikTok?

Half of TikTok, the aforementioned Musical.ly, was created by Chinese language entrepreneurs Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang. And TikTok’s authentic type was created by ByteDance—the corporate that owns the platform right now.

Who owns TikTok?

TikTok is owned by tech firm, ByteDance. ByteDance already owned TikTok—referred to as Douyin in China—and merged it with Musical.y after buying it in 2017 to create the wildly widespread platform we all know now.

How does TikTok work?

On TikTok, customers can customise their movies with filters, stickers and background music, then share them with the TikTok neighborhood. As soon as shared, folks can like, touch upon, obtain or share a video. Content material is discovered by customers in three feeds: The Pals Tab, Following Feed and the For You Web page, the place the TikTok algorithm recommends content material based mostly on what you want.

TikTok makes video content material creation straightforward with numerous regularly-enhanced instruments. Listed below are a few of these options:

1. Create movies

Customers can create TikTok movies by recording them immediately within the app, or by importing movies from outdoors the app. The video recorder helps you to select how lengthy you need your video to be, with a max size of 10 minutes.

2. Add music

Music is the cornerstone of the TikTok platform. Customers may even uncover new content material by clicking on a observe hyperlink and conducting a search of clips that use the tune. So including a preferred tune in your video will improve your possibilities of trending in the neighborhood.

3. Co-create content material utilizing duets

TikTok additionally boasts options like duet, which helps nurture engagement throughout the neighborhood. This characteristic does precisely what the identify suggests—it helps you to create a video with one other creator and can cut up the display in half to indicate each cameras. Most use this characteristic to sing or dance to the identical tune, or they develop corresponding movies very similar to comedy shorts.

4. Add filters and results

It’s straightforward for customers to edit their movies with totally different filters and results. You may even add stickers, emojis, textual content, transitions, GIFs and time results to make your movies extra compelling.

5. Reside stream

TikTok additionally comes with a characteristic that permits you to stream stay video broadcasts. However notice that this characteristic is just accessible for choose customers with not less than 1,000 followers.

Who makes use of TikTok?

Whereas TikTok is understood for its recognition with youthful customers (47% within the US are between 10 and 29 years outdated), it’s getting older up, with 42% of customers aged 30-49 and 20% between 40 and 49. This makes it an awesome place to achieve a large viewers.

Supply: Statista

As of January 2022, TikTok’s consumer base skewed 57% feminine and 43% male—though these reported numbers aren’t inclusive of all genders. And the platform’s consumer base is extraordinarily energetic, watching round 24 hours of content material on the app each month.

A lot of the app’s customers are from the US, with 136.5 million customers as of April 2022. Indonesia is available in second with about 99 million customers and Brazil lands in third with 74 million. TikTok’s widespread and rising recognition makes it a beneficial app to make use of you probably have a global viewers.

Why is TikTok so widespread?

Most of us hadn’t heard of TikTok till a few years in the past. Since then, it’s change into a family identify, launched the careers of recent celebrities, and is a go-to platform for favourite celebrities and types to create viral moments.

In Q1 2022, TikTok was probably the most downloaded app worldwide, and surpassed Google as the most well-liked internet area. In Q3 2022, TikTok broke data once more because the world’s highest-grossing app.

Let’s get into some options that gas its recognition:

Supply: SensorTower

Fueling viral tendencies

One of many causes TikTok is so sticky is as a result of it’s a discovery machine. It’s usually the place tendencies begin, as TikTok tendencies are incessantly unfold to different platforms, and into widespread tradition.

If you happen to’re questioning find out how to go viral on TikTok, there are just a few distinctive parts on the app that gas tendencies and consumer loyalty:

TikTok Sounds

TikTok sounds are a key a part of the platform expertise—a lot in order that TikToks with sound carry out 2.2x higher than these with out. Individuals can use songs and sounds of their movies by deciding on them from TikTok’s library, or saving them from different movies.

Once you use a tune or sound that’s trending, you enhance your possibilities of going viral. The songs or sounds that take off can spark new memes, create a billboard hit, encourage cross-platform content material or just change into a part of the bigger dialog.

Like we talked about—tendencies usually begin on TikTok. If certainly one of your TikTok movies performs properly on the app, repurposing that very same content material elsewhere can assist you discover success on different platforms, as properly. We printed the above video on TikTok to leap on the viral “It’s Corn” tune, but in addition printed the video on Instagram to maintain using the development wave on one other platform.

However a phrase of warning: in case your video makes use of a tune, keep away from copyright points and double examine that you simply’re legally allowed to make use of that tune on different platforms.

Utilizing a software could make repurposing content material simpler by reducing out the necessity to runaround to every social platform.

With Sprout’s TikTok integration, you’ll be able to publish a TikTok video solely on TikTok, or publish one video throughout a number of platforms with the contact of a button.

Hashtags

Hashtags are a key a part of viral tendencies and challenges. Utilizing the suitable ones can provide you a serious visibility enhance.

They’re additionally a good way to seek out your neighborhood on the platform. #BookTok is a superb instance. This hashtag connects you to movies about e book suggestions, bookstores and extra. Tags like this could foster area of interest communities and change into extraordinarily widespread amongst them—the BookTok hashtag has over 80.9 billion views.

Collaborative instruments

TikTok is all about connecting along with your neighborhood and your folks. Their current transfer to change the Uncover feed with a Pals Solely feed helps that.

Collaboration is constructed proper into their video creation instruments. TikTok stitching, for instance, permits you to add your individual commentary or response to present clips, together with viral clips. TikTok consumer Hank Inexperienced usually makes use of this to reply questions or clarify the science behind widespread movies.

Studying find out how to sew on TikTok can assist you get began on the platform by piggybacking off of present content material earlier than creating your individual.

Challenges

Customers and types alike provide you with challenges that ultimately go viral and encourage consumer participation. These challenges are additionally extremely efficient for attractive non-users to affix the platform.

A viral video of TikToker Nathan Apodaca (aka Doggface208) skateboarding whereas consuming Ocean Spray cranberry juice impressed the model to create a problem, encouraging individuals to recreate the video. #DreamsChallenge now has 21.1 million views.

We might point out extra. However TikTok strikes so rapidly that by the point you learn this text, there’ll seemingly be completely new ones.

Video format

Put merely, TikTok has the kind of content material that customers need: bite-sized movies. The truth is, 66% of shoppers say that short-form video is probably the most partaking kind of content material.

TikTok popularized this format to the purpose that different platforms added their very own quick video feeds, like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Appropriately, we’ll go away this part quick and candy.

Video downloads gas extra shares

Customers on the platform can freely obtain movies from different customers and share them to different social media platforms to achieve extra folks. That is maybe one purpose why the platform has gained a lot recognition so rapidly.

Since every video has a TikTok watermark and the username of the unique creator, it leaves little room for plagiarism. It provides due credit score and when folks watch these downloaded movies on different platforms, they’ll know precisely who to comply with for extra.

Methods to use TikTok for enterprise

With tendencies like #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, and 49% of customers saying TikTok helped them make buy selections, the app is a chief place to achieve new shoppers.

Nonetheless, entrepreneurs are nonetheless not using TikTok to its full potential. Our newest Sprout Social Index™ discovered that solely 39% of entrepreneurs have been utilizing TikTok.

Many entrepreneurs are nonetheless within the technique of understanding how TikTok works and the way it matches into their social media content material technique, social media advertising technique and bigger advertising campaigns.

Listed below are just a few widespread methods manufacturers use TikTok to assist get you impressed:

Launch a branded hashtag problem

We’ve already talked about how utilizing viral trending hashtags can lengthen your attain. However it’s also possible to create your individual tendencies. TikTok challenges are campaigns or tendencies that encourage folks to take part by performing duties like demonstrating a expertise, exhibiting how you utilize a product, utilizing a filter, lip syncing and extra.

In Vogue’s #MakeItVogue problem, Vogue partnered with TikTok to launch a marketing campaign impressed by the Met’s About Time exhibit. It inspired folks to have fun trend historical past by posting movies recreating trend of the Nineteenth-century utilizing on a regular basis objects. To this point, the hashtag has 3.6 billion views, and the problem introduced Vogue from 0 to 128K followers.

Vogue additionally launched a much less formal problem with the hashtag #ifeelstrong. This problem encourages folks to submit movies of themselves doing one thing that makes them really feel highly effective. This problem hashtag has amassed 565.3K views.

There are just a few methods to advertise a branded hashtag problem on TikTok. Formally partnering with TikTok on a branded problem is costly, however partnering with creators on the platform or creating a contest can assist enhance your hashtag. Simply make sure you comply with copyright legal guidelines.

Work with influential content material creators

Influential content material creators on TikTok have hundreds of thousands of followers and drive tons of engagement that manufacturers can leverage to amplify their efforts. Manufacturers can collaborate with creators on quite a lot of campaigns, from content material that includes their services or products to jumpstarting a branded hashtag problem and extra.

For Common Footage, TikTok influencers performed a serious function within the promotion of their film, “The House with a Clock in its Walls”. They partnered with 10 influencers who every created ‘magical’ tales utilizing the hashtag #FindYourMagic. These movies garnered a complete of 1.3 million likes and even resulted in 19k+ extra movies from different customers.

The model additionally gained 11k+ new followers in simply six days. To this point, the hashtag has amassed over 80 million views on the platform.

Don’t be afraid to experiment

The fantastic thing about TikTok’s quick tempo is that if one video flops, you’ll be able to transfer on and take a look at once more. Bari, social media supervisor for Auntie Anne’s, recommends reusing outdated content material with new sounds in her TikTok Bootcamp.

TikTok’s standing as a fast-moving development incubator means experimentation is rewarded, and plenty of manufacturers are cementing their TikTok presence by testing new ways on the platform.

Analyze your checks by utilizing TikTok analytics to establish which of your posts are most profitable and ought to be recreated. Whereas TikTok solely saves your knowledge for 60 days, Sprout’s Reporting and Analytics instruments don’t put an expiration date in your submit efficiency knowledge. You may measure how your TikTok content material performs over time, and even towards the content material in your different platforms.

Interact, have interaction, have interaction

Responding to feedback and questions on TikTok is simply as necessary as responding to them on different platforms. Monitor your feedback and reply—even a easy response or “like” can imply the distinction between gaining a fan, and shedding one.

You may even reply to feedback with a brand new TikTok video. That is an revolutionary and ultra-interactive method of partaking along with your neighborhood, and filling out your content material calendar.

It’s all too straightforward to lose observe of TikTok feedback while you’re monitoring conversations throughout a number of channels. That is the place utilizing a social media administration software to streamline feedback from all your platforms into one hub is useful.

Remaining ideas: Is TikTok a great match for you?

TikTok advertising might be extraordinarily highly effective when executed strategically. Opposite to widespread perception, the app is house to a widespread, numerous set of customers and types—from B2C to B2B and nonprofits.

For any model contemplating getting began with TikTok, it pays to begin with analysis. Validate that your core viewers, or the brand new audiences you hope to achieve, are on the platform. Then, develop a short-term plan for content material testing and iteration.

To be taught extra about bringing TikTok into your advertising fold, try our important TikTok for enterprise article to begin crafting your plan.