Let’s face it, Millennials are tough to market to – especially on social media. They use Instagram differently than people over 25, and they don’t use Facebook… like, at all.
But they’re all over a new-ish social media platform called TikTok.
If Millennials are in your target market, you need to take a look at TikTok.
How the latest social media platform, TikTok, works
To start, let’s talk about the basics. TikTok – which included the app formerly known as Musical.ly – started out as a social media site for amateur lip synch and mini-music videos. But that all changed in 2017, when the app broke out of its mould and became a more widespread video platform. There’s still an artsy bent to a lot of the posts, with Millennials showing off everything from their dancing to their pranking skills.
“But isn’t that just YouTube or Vine all over again?”
Yes and no.
Like YouTube and Vine, users create accounts and upload or shoot videos. Then other users give “hearts” (AKA likes), comment, and connect over the videos. The big difference between TikTok and those other sites is that the users are almost exclusively under 25 and that the videos are no more than 15 seconds.
How do you make this new social media platform work for your company?
TikTok gives you a way of directly marketing to Millennials. The trick is to not use marketing techniques that are too blunt. Since the platform is still new-ish, it still feels authentic. That means any marketing needs to be subtle.
Because of that, we’d suggest working with young influencers who are already popular on the app. Their content bank makes sure that their audiences feel like it’s not about the money, money, money.
Once you have the right partner to team up with, go for some subtle product placement. This isn’t too hard to do since you’re dealing with videos. The trick is just to keep things subtle. Make the product feel like part of the video instead of creating a video about the product. Not sure how to do that? This is where working with a social media marketing agency can help. Talk to the experts about strategies that’ll work for your company and product.
Is this the next BIG social media platform?
Friends and clients of Legendary have heard our founder, Erin, talk for several years about how a THE new social media platform would be coming soon. She predicted a video-based platform that is far more user-friendly that YouTube. TikTok ticks those boxes.
It’s like a mix of YouTube and Instagram, with a sprinkle of Snapchat.
So… is TikTok the next big thing in social media? Erin’s not calling it yet, but it does feel like TikTok will stick around and has at least some clout in the social media landscape… unless it gets bought out by Facebook. That would end its explosive growth trajectory – fast.
