By Kel Fabie
I have a confession to make. As a person who doesn’t like always following what’s popular, I’ve avoided Tiktok this whole time. I’m familiar with the platform, I know what goes on there, but I personally am not there.
As a person, that’s fine, really. Individually, I am not a fan of Tiktok for a few reasons we don’t need to discuss, but ultimately, my personal stance does not always coincide with my professional opinion - because in my professional opinion, Tiktok is important to brands. That distinction is also why I don’t have a personal Tiktok account - I do not market myself or who I am as a brand (anymore). If I still did, there’s a good chance I’d be on Tiktok right now, because being an exception to the rule is way harder than simply working with facts everyone is already aware of.
And yes, given the Philippine context, Tiktok’s rise to prominence does not mean that Facebook is gone - the Philippines is still the Facebook capital of the world. Despite that, there are just some things about Tiktok we can’t possibly ignore, and if you’re a brand trying to find a foothold online, you simply ignore this platform at your own peril. Here are just a few reasons why:
3. The level of engagement on Tiktok is incredibly high.
As internet speed goes up, video becomes more and more viable, and Filipinos engage a whole lot with Tiktok. Worldwide, that engagement is measurably higher, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see eventual Philippine studies reflecting similar data.
It makes sense when you think about it, really. While on YouTube, video content truly is king, Tiktok takes that visual aspect and forces people to be concise with their content. This short-form content is designed to be bite-sized so that someone can lose hours seeing one snappy video after the other, never staying on long enough to get bored. Even those with the shortest attention spans can stay engrossed when videos tend to be just a minute or less.
There is value to longer forms of content, of course. But if you’re looking for rapid-fire input, Tiktok really broke the code, and kept people engaged while at it. This engagement is the kind of thing brands long for all the time - and Tiktok is right there for the picking for brands looking for exactly that.
2. Tiktok democratized content. Again.
YouTube used to be a place where anyone can be a video savant, and with minimal production values, come up with content that captures the imagination of people for a fraction of the costs. And then the arms race for better and better content began, resulting in an overall rise of production values on the platform. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it once again highlights the differences between the haves and the have-nots on the platform.
Tiktok, given its shorter content and emphasis on meme culture lets content creators produce content at their comfort level. Production values aren’t as much of an issue when the content is so short, which works for attracting more and more people to the platform - and this is where brands come in.
It’s perfectly understandable that a huge social media budget might not be on the radar for a lot of brands, but a sufficient Tiktok content budget would simply be a fraction of the budget you can expect if you wanted to get similar results on YouTube or even Instagram to an extent. Combine that with the higher amount of engagement you can expect with quality content on Tiktok, and it becomes more cost-efficient to invest in producing content for the platform. The possibility of user-generated content adding to your online presence is just gravy on top - think of all the brands that ended up becoming memes and in turn, household names.
1. Tiktok bridges the gap between your brand and the younger generations like never before.
Think of how Facebook has often been a platform for feedback from your customers. Twitter has of course been more of the same, while Instagram has given opportunities for brands to shine from user-generated content that highlights them from time to time. Now imagine all of those possibilities multiplied by the exponential growth Tiktok is enjoying at present. Branded content on
Got a question, a comment, or maybe looking for advice on digital? Drop me a line at kel@1459dsi.com!ated Instagram feeds or immaculate Facebook timelines.
Look at it this way: as Tiktok grows, other brands will inevitably jump on the bandwagon and try to create noise there. Would you want to be one of the late adopters who now have to find out if being on the tailend of Tiktok’s still-ongoing boom will yield the same results those who were quick to jump aboard already are reaping? Of course not. In an ever-speeding up social media arena, first mover advantage becomes more and more important, and there has been more than enough proof that not only is Tiktok the platform to be, it’s already headed there.
The bottomline:
There is a certain vulnerability to someone dancing a meme dance on Tiktok that isn’t quite there when hidden behind great production values or amazing special effects. When you have to catch someone’s eye in seconds, the importance of creating useful and fun content that synergizes well with your brand identity becomes more and more paramount. And while we can all turn up our noses at the latest fad and think it will pass, we have to do so at our own risk - while other brands reap the benefits of jumping aboard Tiktok and enhancing their online presence through it, do we want to be one of those who will decidedly not benefit because we’re nowhere to be found on the platform?
Ultimately, people and brands are free to make their choices. But market trends are market trends, and 14:59 as a Digital Marketing Agency would be doing an injustice to itself and its industry if it discounted the importance of Tiktok in 2023 for the sake of being contrarian and different.
Got a question, a comment, or maybe looking for advice on digital? Drop me a line at kel@1459dsi.com!
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