TikTok | Transforming Video Sharing

Welcome to my second blog post for MKTG 290 – Digital Marketing and Communication. I will be sharing my learning experience on the topic Photo/Video-based social media – TikTok.

The Incredible Rise of TikTok

Firstly, in today’s digital age, images and videos are essential to convey ideas and captivate audiences. That said, TikTok is a social media platform for creating, sharing, and discovering short videos.

The app was launched in 2016 by the Chinese technology company ByteDance as A.me; it was rebranded a few months later and is known there as Douyin. TikTok first appeared under its current name in 2017, but it became known as the fast-growing social media platform when it acquired a rival lip-syncing app, Musical.ly, in 2018. It had about one billion active monthly users worldwide by 2021.

New Beginnings - My TikTok Journey

Secondly, TikTok is a new social media phenomenon, and this lecture was the perfect opportunity to finally jump on this popular bandwagon. As a new user, this video tutorial taught me how to get started:

It had an easy-to-use interface: a screen where you can watch the videos and different tabs to upload or create videos, set up your profile, see your notifications and messages, and connect with friends on the app.

I enjoyed exploring the infinite stream of videos about animals, cooking, and beauty tips and I had fun exploring my creative side with the editing features. Take a look at the first video I created:

Some of the Best Ways to use TikTok

Thirdly, in my opinion, these are some of the best ways to use TikTok:

Personal Use

• Unleash your imagination by creating and uploading videos using filters, stickers, voiceovers, sound effects, and background music, which fosters self-expression and cultivates technical skills. 
• Monetize your account through subscriptions or gifts and promote products and services for companies/brands to earn revenue.
• Be entertained by an endless range of diverse content in short videos, whereby its algorithm ensures that the content aligns with your interest for a personalized experience.
• Discover informative content such as new brands and products, tips, tutorials, advice, DIY projects, current events, trends, and news.
• Participate in fun challenges and trends, collaborate with others, and share feedback, which enables you to connect with people across the globe and even form friendships.

Business Purposes

Business owners can create a business account to access an e-commerce storefront, add a website link to their profile, and promote or advertise their products and services, which will enable them to:

• Increase brand awareness.
• Enhance brand identity.
• Build an engaging community.
• Get feedback from customers.
• Provide customer service.
• Measure results and analytics.
• Partner with influencers.
• Leverage user-generated content.

It's evident that TikTok's unique features disrupted traditional platforms. Its short-form videos, access to thousands of popular free music, hundreds of free emojis, stickers, and filters, built-in free and easy-to-use video editing tool, tons of free videos, the global community, challenges, duets, and the powerful and personalized algorithm make it stand out from other platforms.

Angelina Ankai.