TikTok, here’s what’s new for April

In 2018, Musica.ly, a platform for sharing short videos with music themes, was bought by Chinese technology giant Bytedance and absorbed by new app launched by the latter, TikTok.

It all started from a social networking platform where users could share very short clips following the music trends of the moment, including dancing and playback. Today, TikTok has become a true creative hub, with very varied content.

After the merger, the TikTok’s catchment area actually grew 800%gathering under it more than one billion global users among users and companies that use the platform to Reach Millennials and Gen Z Potential Customers.

In this article, we will see what’s latest on TikTok and if marketing on this platform is really for you.

Should You Invest in a Social Media Strategy on TikTok?

Since starting its exponential growth in 2020, TikTok has become a social media marketing tool quite common among brands, especially those that cater to the youngest. With the growth of the coverage area, there was in fact an increase in the number of advertising spots, from 19% in 2020 to 37% in 2021.

A Kantar report revealed that TikTok did takes first place in the ranking of advertising platforms with the highest ROIsurpassing Amazon, Instagram, Google and Twitter, holding that position for two consecutive years.

At the expense of these statistics, however, some professionals are still skeptical about using TikTok for their advertising campaigns. According to a recent study, a large number of marketers see the platform as an instrument with high innovative potential, but still incredibly volatile.

As such, many prefer to continue using proven platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. From the consumer’s point of view, Genuine content is searched a lot more on TikTok with regard to promotions.

According to a 2020 Nielsen study – conducted through surveys of TikTok users – 59% of respondents said they use TikTok mainly for community sentiment perceived compared to other platforms. Which leads 85% of users to be attracted to new content shared in the app.

The result is that promotion on TikTok tends to they have a more informal and creative attitude than a commercial one. In fact, 68% of TikTok users think that ads on the platform are very different from those on other social networks.

So while TikTok is an excellent platform with a huge catchment area, It’s good to consider whether advertising on this social network is really for you. You’ll need to thoroughly analyze your brand’s goals and style and see if it aligns with TikTok’s guidelines.

In case you are still determined to implement an advertising campaign on TikTok, here are the latest news that will allow you to stay up to date and get maximum results!

Stories on Social Media also come to TikTok

TikTok is expanding its content offering: today, You can publish Stories, just like on Instagram. Already announced in summer 2021, this new feature was only recently introduced.

Just like an Instagram story, stories on TikTok only last for 24 hours before being automatically deleted and can be viewed by visiting a specific profile or on the For You page.

As a creator, you will be able to check the number of people who saw the story but not those who saw it. However, you can like a story and leave a public commentwhile on Instagram users can only reply by private message.

To publish a story, select the “Create” button in the center of the app’s navigation bar, then go to the camera mode that will allow record a video on the spot or post an already created one.

The stories have same customization features, and will allow you to reply to comments, use filters and enter all possible changes with a regular video on TikTok.

From Social Media to your home: TikTok and home deliveries

TikTok is also gearing up to launch a new service that will make videos an advertising medium for edibles to be ordered directly at home. Thanks to the partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts and Grubhub, TikTok will open the doors of its own “TikTok Kitchen”.

For now, the service is only active in the United States and will allow users to order home deliveries directly from the app and the videos that sponsor them. To date, about 300 American locations with 1,000 restaurants are already taking advantage of the service, which if successful will soon expand to other countries as well.

The idea arises from the phenomenon by which some dishes have gone “viral” in recent monthssuch as baked pasta with feta cheese, a vegan burger and fries. In 2021, the recipe for the famous feta dish was the most searched on Google after the success on TikTok.

So TikTok Kitchen will be a ‘excellent opportunity for local restaurants to surf the wave on the popular Chinese platform, and offer your own personal menu, aligning it with the most popular trends.

Founded in 2018, Virtual Dining Concepts operates several channels of home deliveries from virtual restaurants he has a partnership with, also collaborating with quite famous influencers like MrBeast, Guy Fieri, Steve Harvey, Mariah Carey, Tyga and many others.

This has caught the attention of several lenders, raising 20 million in a single year to implement new technologies and provide an increasingly satisfying and memorable experience to its users. That’s why TikTok decided to join the trend.

The Chinese platform is also notoriously famous for its trends in the food sector, and contributed to the popularization of recipes in 30 seconds, which are also shared on other platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

So it’s not surprising that the Chinese giant grabbed the ball and studied a method to give even more importance to the creators of the food sector and at the same time collaborate with a share of the market hitherto unknownor rather, food delivery.

Your Advertising Is Safe on TikTok: Social Networking Increases Security Systems

Another novelty in the TikTok area is the partnership with Zefr to ensure greater security for brands that implement advertising campaigns on the platform. Which means that TikTok will have an extra weapon to prevent content considered offensive from monetizing in advertising campaigns.

Using the Zefr dashboard made available by TikTok, you will be able to access insights in the context of the Global Alliance for the Responsible Use of New Media, check specifically that your ads don’t end up in content categories that are considered risky.

Marketers will be confident that their advertising campaigns are not associated with objectionable content.

“This solution will provide advertisers with yet another tool to ensure brand reputation security during TikTok campaigns. Thanks to dedicated insights, those who invest in advertising on TikTok will be assured that their content will be accompanied by appropriate organic content, protecting their reputation and mitigating the risks arising from advertising on offensive content.”- Kevin Mayer, CEO of TikTok

Zefr technology is based on an advanced artificial intelligence that analyzes in detail frame-by-frame audio, text and visuals, plus additional professional verification to determine whether content is appropriate for advertising or not.

This takes into account the fact that some trends and challenges on TikTok often approach dangerous territory in terms of offense and health risks. Thanks to new technologies to ensure the safety of brands that implement advertising campaigns, the risk will be significantly mitigated.

Of course, the chances of success won’t come close to 100%, because it’s still an artificial intelligence-based system, and as such, it could be wrong. For example, one of the most recent challenges, the “Caixa de Leite”, is started out as an innocent trend but later gave rise to extremely risky behavior and caused several accidents.

Many other challenges have seen a similar story – and it is precisely for this reason that TikTok is hiding itself by striking as many deals as possible with security agencies like Zefr, which offer cutting-edge systems.

It is expected that in the future, thanks to the TikTok grant, the Zefr system will see the implementation of more and more additional functions executing to prevent public relations catastrophes before they happen or, in any case, within a reasonable reaction time.

This is a significant step forward that demonstrates TikTok’s willingness to reach levels of supply in the field of advertising campaigns increasingly similar to those of Instagram and Facebook. So far, the system is already available in Italy!

TikTok and predictions for the future on the popular social network

TikTok is a platform that has seen a exponential growth from 2020 to today, and this shows no signs of abating in the foreseeable future. It is a behemoth that has even surpassed Facebook and Instagram in some metrics.

However, the platform’s features still seem rudimentary compared to those offered by platforms like Meta, which is why TikTok is starting to experimenting with new features designed to stand out from its main competitors and, at the same time, continue to attract more and more audiences.

TikTok’s success comes fromvery high sharing potential offered by the short video formatand it’s no wonder that Instagram, Facebook and YouTube have also implemented new features that let you take advantage of it.

Therefore, it is almost certain that TikTok it’s not a meteor like other platforms – for example ClubHouse – and that the Chinese giant is here to stay. If you intend to invest in a social strategy, you should always be up to date on the latest news.

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