After a year of quarantine boredom spurring people to download “that dance app,” TikTok has quickly solidified itself as one of the social media powerhouses—and has emerged as a brand go-to for creator and influencer marketing.
The Chinese-owned app had a tumultuous start in the U.S. due to a push by the Trump administration to have the company sell off its U.S. business. But with the political scrutiny behind it, TikTok has gotten to work on its advertising offerings, creator courting, and agency partnerships. In the first half of this year, TikTok became the most downloaded non-Facebook, non-gaming app globally, topping 3 million downloads. While some brands might be hesitant or unsure of where their brand fits into the app, those who have taken the plunge have often been rewarded (even if fleetingly).
Below, Ad Age has compiled what advertisers should know about TikTok creators, e-commerce opportunities and more.
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How brands and marketers can work with creators
TikTok, of course, is nothing without its user-generated content. Over the past few months, the platform has taken steps to balance the interest of creators and the brands that want to work with them.
This includes introducing new product features like TikTok Jump, which allows creators to add links to their videos leading to additional content built into the app, such as recipes, quizzes, flashcards, movie reviews and beauty tutorials. The integration is similar to the mini apps in Snapchat, which launched Snap Minis in July 2020. So far, TikTok’s version is different in that the experience isn’t centered on e-commerce, at least not yet.