To seize the opportunity of the TikTok era, these 3 principles can understand the people and platfo

Author |Edited by Zeng Qiao |Zhang Yucheng, Zeng Wenjing.

If you don't grasp these three principles, you will see the "opportunities of the times", and you may not be able to grasp them

Principle 1:

Gain insight into what users love, satisfy and spark "curiosity".

First of all, let's talk about why the first trend in the report is "the most curious", which actually reveals a very important change in user behavior and brand behavior principle. It turned out to be inAmazon, eBay bothIt's people looking for goods, but on TikTok, the user's purpose is to come for the "content", which is the most essential difference. One of the reasons why it is important for them to make purchases is that they are "converted" through content, and the purchase path is more biased towards finding people with goods. Content that has a relevant point of view with users is more likely to be recognized by users, resulting in purchase behavior. A topic can be extended here: how powerful is curiosity?In the lives of ordinary people, most of them reflect "people will be curious about what their friends are doing?".What are strangers doing?How do people in different countries live differently?What's the hot stalk you're talking about now?What's trending right now?Based on this attribute, there are two trend signals related to "curiosity" on TikTok, which are very worthy of brand owners' attention in 2024:1.Pay attention to search and discovery, and most of the user's infinite exploration of hobbies and interesting things is ** in these two sections. Newfinds and TikTok taughtme hot topics are always enduring to endure. According to statistics, the number of TikToks has increased by 10 times year-on-year. These phenomena also verify that users on TikTok are full of curiosity, and their curiosity is always stimulated and satisfied. They expect people who have the desire to create and share to be able to validate something for themselves on their behalf, allowing them to indirectly complete some interesting experiences. To summarize briefly, the approximate user path is:Users swipe TikTok every day to search and discover interesting and novel contentPeople can constantly "search" and "discover" to find and share new niche interests and hobbiesThen get involved in some active communitiesAnd in the community, users can continue to find unexpected inspiration. Here's a brand case study of how it leverages the curiosity of users to achieve brand communication. The following picture is 3 TikTok** made by the luxury brand Burberry**, both sides of the ** are simple fabric displays, or product displays, with about 60,000 likes, but in the middle**, it is used to create a life scene, using wool material to make a very mini kettle small shape, and even the details to the steam after hot water boiling are displayed, to express the texture and delicacy of the fabric, this felt +Becoming smaller, to a certain extent, brings a new visual impact, which is very interesting, thus inducing the consumer's hunting mentality, and finally gaining a lot of likes and **,The number of likes is directly more than 10 times higher than that of ordinary displays.

2.Without borders and with the world as close neighbors, users will be curious about the living conditions of people in different countries. There are users from all over the world on TikTok, and everyone is curious to explore not only some interesting products and things, but also enthusiasm for exploring different cultures around the world. Nowadays,TikTok has bridged the gap between sports, merchandise, fashion, travel and beauty, facilitating the global reach and penetration of pop culture on an unprecedented scale and scope, and they are breaking down geographical barriers to become a new entertainment and cultural influence. With this kind of open-mindedness, brands can actually be more "open". For example, in different regional markets, engage in user culture co-creation activities, so that the entire marketing campaign forms a big topic heat. Women's exclusive dating pan-entertainment mobile social platform lespark is inVietnam Pride MonthInitiatedThe topics of foryourpride and tuhaodasao attracted 8 billion large-scale topic interactions.

Based on the above-mentioned "curiosity", overseas brands can "leverage" to land their curiosity on consumers' real and absurd imagination of life, so as to plant a seed in the hearts of potential consumers, and at the same time dig deep into the unique personality and value of the brand, proudly highlight their own value and culture, break regional or cultural differences with TikTok, resonate with TikTok's diverse audiences, successfully connect brand fans, and finally create one TikTok community after another with entertainment and rich content. Fall to the specific approach,Brands can first think deeply about these two questions: 1. What content arouses the curiosity of your target users?2. Do you know which subcultural trends are most relevant to your brand?Then,Dive into the communities and subcultures that TikTok users love, and join them to create grass-roots content that satisfies your audience's needs and curiosity as seeds that inspire people to take action. It is worth noting that in terms of creative solutions, it is necessary to pursue consumer resonance. ** Often can penetrate cultural and regional barriers, so TikTok for Business recommendsShow the brand personality through ** and sound. The TikTok Commercial Music Library is a global license that advertisers can use for free on their advertising or corporate account content. In addition, brands can try to reach out to a diverse group of creators and tell their story from their own unique perspectives. Good ideas need good communication. When a user searches with curiosity, it's only fitting that brands can use search ads to find curious users. For example, Clinique, a skincare brand, unleashed the magic of TikTok in its end-to-end marketing strategy, leveraging the platform's exploration, creativity, and community power to attract attention and customers. Clinique increased its conversion rate by 441% by expanding the reach of its ads to high-intent users who were looking for brand-related information with the Search Ads Toggle product.

Principle 2:

Ditch the usual creative constraints and learn to co-create with "users".

I have just shared the trend of "the most curious", which will give you an analysis of the second trend, "creative disruption". How to understand?Users on TikTok are no longer just passively consuming content, but are deeply involved in creating subversive storylines and new creative openings, allowing everyone to weave unexpected stories together. The result is to create a story that makes the audience unable to ** the plot, and through its unique personality, users can't help but pay attention to the development of the story, and then attract more TikTok users. For example, TikTok creator Octopusslover8 is open to letting his community control over what he posts. Produce skits based on user (and brand) reviews, and the co-created content in collaboration with eyewear brand Warby Parker in the picture below is designed to allow users to participate together, and often such content will also trigger a stronger desire for users to interact.

For example, an interesting phenomenon of co-creation, a culture rooted in community and fans, has made delulu (a pop culture that has been popular since the K-pop fan circle to engage in delusional stories with one's favorite idol characters) the latest way of thinking and storytelling in the TikTok community. It is the result of the fusion of fantasy and performance, and this kind of "fantasy and reality" and "delusional madness" content allows users to seek solace on the platform through a shared fantasy, and achieve a moment of escape from reality. "Remember, TikTok is not TV, it's culture!This means that brands are stepping into the creator's space, and brands must create such an original image and feel. Once the brand wants to follow the script, it's all over."Ashley Rudder, Chief Creative Officer of WHALAR, the world's leading creator company, shares. This sentence of Ashley Rudder undoubtedly gave the brand a good inspiration. Therefore, brands should dare to experiment, abandon the conventional creative limitations, and completely subvert the traditional format through co-creation of content, and resonate with it with a relaxed style. Brands can also mobilize platform users and engage them to shape the brand story together. In this way, brands can not only join the discussion of brand fans, but also integrate user suggestions and comments into subsequent marketing strategies, and invite users to co-create. Based on these trends, brands now need to ask the question: "Are you actively working with users and creators on the platform to create a brand-building position?"How can your brand provide solace to users when they need a moment to escape the stresses of life?This echoes the words of Chris Jackson, director of global content and social strategy at lululemon: ".Every piece of content we create, if we don't let itUsers, laughing, or smiling, it shouldn't be posted”。Specifically, what can brands do"?What should I focus on?First, focus on narrative structure. From a scientific point of view, there is one data in the Report that is very noteworthyBrands should guide viewers through the first few seconds of the ad with a playful narrative structure, as these creative materials that spark the user's curiosity can delay the user's time4 times. Indeed, as time passes, the narrative techniques of various advertising films have become more and more old-fashioned in terms of structure and color, and the relevance is very low, and the same, conformist stories are more and more likely to be ignored by users. Second, pay attention to what users are saying. The uniqueness of TikTok content is that it is not static, and it can be reinterpreted and co-created. According to the report, "Compared with traditional social networking**, users find TikTok easier (13 times) for users to co-create and collide with inspiration". "The brand is no longer completely in our hands, but in the hands of us and our fans, we are just stakeholders in the brand. We are willing to work closely with our fans.", shared Matt Ian, an executive at Deutsch La Advertising Agency. Give an example of how to play with users and stimulate user interaction. IGG's SLG game Viking Rise will be launched globally in 2023, and will be promoted in many countries and regions through TikTok. First of all, Viking Rise has attracted attention through the TopView opening screen + R&F information flow, and the enterprise account operation + brand challenge. The diverse creative content and gameplay fully mobilize the user's enthusiasm for creation and interaction, making Viking Rise truly "play" with players, and making players look forward to this new game. In order to get a head start in the early days of the game's launch,IGG launched the Vikingrise Brand Challenge on the TikTok platform, with custom roulette stickers to simulate the gacha experience and enhance the excitement of interaction；Dynamic** strengthens the Viking culture and deepens the player's impression of the game. As soon as the challenge was launched, it set off a round of submissions on the TikTok platform, and reaped significant drainage effects in the continuous fermentation. In the end, nearly 400 million users around the world were reached during the event.

At the advertising level, perhaps we can focus on the script generator provided by TikTok for Business to generate creative stories. The Script Generator can automatically generate ad scripts, as well as provide a virtual creative assistant, which can complete the generation of creative ideas to scripts. At the same time, brands can use Creative Center to get inspired by high-performing ads. In addition, at the communication level, brands can use the strong native style of Spark Ads as advertising creatives to achieve good interaction with sincere content that is more in line with user preferences.

Principle 3:"Trust" comes from active listening, and with the audienceGrowThere is a very interesting phenomenonToday's consumers actually want to break through the "transactional relationship" with brands。Because there is too much fragmented information now, there is a new purchase decision every time, which is actually a very distressing thing, in order to buy a certain product, you need to query a lot of information, so now we are more willing to support those brands that can lead the consumer trend, have high transparency, and communicate very sincerely, for example, your product ingredient list is simple, and it may win directly. In fact, a closer look will find that this is also due to the change in the relationship between brands and consumers, in the past, the trust construction of brands and consumers originated from the "strong endorsement of authority", and now, under the logic of fragmentation, real-time communication and user-ledness, the trust construction system between brands and consumers has become complex. On the one hand, it is becoming more and more difficult for brands to gain consumer trust, and the repurchase rate has become a difficult problem for most advertisers to overcomeOn the other hand, many brands are unsure of how to meet consumers' growing expectations for trust and transparency. Back to the platform features. On TikTok, brands have established an open channel of communication with consumers and communitiesAmong them,Creators, in particular, become a bridge of communication. Every marketing pronged and branded content is an opportunity to share, listen, and learn, all helping to collectively build brand trust and values, which in turn builds a deeper level of loyalty both on and off the platform. In such a new environment, what can brands do to rebuild trust on TikTok?The point isBreak through the shallow "transactional relationship" with consumers, establish long-term two-way dialogue, and build deeper loyalty in the form of sincerity. Keep thinking, "How do you connect TikTok's unique language to your products and marketing campaigns?"What kind of reliable information is provided to the target audience?”First of all, the brand can be in the same "language" withUsersDialogue to strengthen trust. It's easy for brands to feel like they'll never be able to keep up with the rhythm of internet culture or the latest trends, and TikTok is the birthplace of contemporary internet culture memes that reinvent traditional definitions. Specifically, TikTok users have their own discourse system, which then permeates the user's daily life。TikTok, for example, is redefining traditional vocabularies and reinventing them into new aesthetics. For example, "luxury" has become quietluxury (low-key luxury) and affordableluxury (petty bourgeoisie) on TikTok, while Girlmath directly subverts women's "consumption concept" and rationalizes daily expenses with the logic of fun. Marketers are aware that brands need to understand and adapt to TikTok's unique "language" and use these definitions of freedom to resonate with users, letting users know that "brands are not just 'buying and selling', but integrating into their own community culture." Second, the premise of building trust is to boldly expose the true side of the brand and let users know the behind-the-scenes story of the brand. This form of open publication fosters a natural dialogue with the fan community that is difficult to achieve on other platforms. Users are often suspicious of brands that go to great lengths to make money and display flashy messages. The trust that users place in TikTok stems from a culture where the community is willing to share and accept feedback, and this kind of open and honest community conversation is rare in other channels. There is a statistic in the report that illustrates: ".After seeing an ad on TikTok that opens the comment section, the audience's trust in the brand increased by 15 timesvs. before seeing an ad on TikTok that opens the comment section).From this, marketers are worth notingBrands can focus on partnering with creators who align with their brand values, not promoting products with distorted and sophisticated influencer content, but instead engaging everyday consumers to honestly share their brand experiences that resonate and build impact. We can see a huge increase in pregnancy-related content on TikTok in 2023, with creators sharing their real-life experiences, answering questions, and exchanging tips with other expectant families.

In terms of implementation, you can also leverage TikTok for Business tools, such as at the creative level, through the trend section on Creative Center, to continuously track the increasing hot topics, songs, and creators in real time to stimulate creative inspiration. You can also use Keyword Insights to browse top keywords and phrases by industry, region, and marketing objective to see how keywords are used in TikTok creatives. and new collaborations with more creators through the TikTok Creator Marketplace (TTCM). This includes using Video Insights to analyze your brand's creative performance, carefully analyze audience interactions, uncover new creative directions, and more. Finally, the establishment of trust can continue to precipitate on the enterprise account, establish a natural image of the brand, and effectively practice the "trust recommendation mechanism". Brands can try to operate Branded Mission, which allows brands to collaborate with creators through crowdsourcing to resonate and gain trust with authentic, natural, and native creatives. In fact, the above series of initiatives just confirm the view of Ashley Rudder, Chief Creative Officer of WhalarA one-off marketing campaign is cool, but it doesn't get the radiant impact or brand loyalty that creator co-creation can bring

Conclusion:Have the courage to try and break the inherent cognition and logicIncorporate new marketing principlesFor some advertisers, the success of the platform has given them a new impetus to move forward, while others have stalled in the face of changing trends. If brands don't try to get past the barrier, they may be discouraged and miss out on TikTok marketing opportunities.

In this regard, if you really want to seize the platform dividend, you must first start with "having the courage to try and boldly break the game".

Then,Bravely trying is far more than just saying "starting TikTok's platform action", but according to the new logic, to subvert their own perception of users, break the conventional creative logic, and rebuild the new trust system, and fully integrate these concepts into daily marketing strategies and operations, and continue to deepen the cultivation.

At the end, I summarized with a picture how brands can seize the opportunities of the TikTok era in four steps.

1. Integrate the native content of the community;

2. Call on users to participate in co-creation;

3. Participate in large-scale platform activities, or initiate activities;

4. Operate the brand content ecology.

And these are about engaging users, subverting creativity, and rebuilding trust.