Everyone’s raving about TikTok, the social media platform that took the world by storm in 2018 and has been growing in popularity ever since. Let’s discuss how the app works, some interesting statistics, and how your business can grow if you decide to be on TikTok.

The Basics

TikTok is an app for making and sharing short videos that are usually between 1-3 minutes long, but with recent updates they can even extend to 10 minutes. The videos are tall, and you navigate through videos by scrolling up or down on the app like a feed, not by tapping or swiping side to side. You can view videos on three different feeds: “Following” shows you videos from the users you follow, “Friends” shows you videos from users that follow you back, and “For You” is where TikTok uses their algorithm to show you videos they think you would enjoy.

Creators have a variety of tools at their disposal, including filters and sound searching, to record and edit videos on the app. Users are also strongly encouraged to engage with other users, which can be done through response videos to comments or duets with other users’ videos. Hashtags are surprisingly important on TikTok as well. While they exist to organize videos by trends or repeating jokes, users tend to use them on all their videos to gain exposure.

Interesting Statistics

Statistics sourced from https://www.yellowhead.com/blog/tiktok-facts-and-stats/.

TikTok is used by more than one billion users around the world, and this is huge, because other apps usually take more than four years to reach the billion-user mark. TikTok was able to accomplish this feat in around three years and is still among the fastest growing brands in the world.

TikTok also is the most popular app among U.S. teens and young adults, with 70% of teens across the U.S. using TikTok. It is most popular among teens, but people between 20 and 29 are the second biggest age group, followed by those 30-39. By marketing on TikTok, advertisers can target the important 18-34 age group, which tends to be more willing to try out new things. 

TikTok’s engagement rate is significantly higher than other major networks including Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Its usage per day also continues to grow; it was 62 minutes in 2020 and rose to 68 minutes per day as of 2022. 

How You Can Grow

Since TikTok has such a high engagement rate and is popular with the age group that’s more innovative than others, your business can thrive on TikTok. Being on TikTok offers you multiple ways to spread the word about your brand, promote your products without it feeling salesy, and attract new customers by building strong relationships with your audience. To do this, your business should create unique and relevant content that means something to your audience while also staying true to your brand. That being said, there is a lot of work that goes into creating content for TikTok, including finding ideas or trends to use for videos, recording videos, and editing videos. Your business should decide whether you have the capacity to create meaningful content often enough to gain traction on TikTok and thrive on the platform. If not, there’s no harm in being off TikTok, but it is something to keep in mind for the future!

Have questions about TikTok or whether your business should make an account? Feel free to comment below or email [email protected]!