15/09/2021
How TikTok Became the Face of Social Media and What Marketers Can Learn From It
According to a Forbes report, TikTok is the most downloaded app in the second quarter of 2021. From 340 million users since its first year in app stores, TikTok has significantly grown and now has over one billion users worldwide.
These numbers prove that TikTok has come a very long way since it started in 2006. Today, TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms, along with Facebook and Instagram. But have you ever wondered why TikTok suddenly became popular?
The Highs and Lows of TikTok
In September 2020, Donald Trump announced that TikTok and several other Chinese-owned apps would no longer be available in the app stores. This announcement brought panic to the public, causing them to download the app as soon as possible.
Flappy Bird, the online game that became a craze in 2013, was also removed from the app stores because it was “too addictive.” Many were saddened by this move as they didn’t have the chance to install the game ahead of time.
Most TikTok users don’t want to miss out on a fun app, just like what happened with Flappy Bird, which is why they quickly heeded Trump’s announcement and downloaded the app immediately.
It’s safe to say that Trump’s announcement created a sense of urgency among many and caused them to download the app. TikTok was still infamous during this time, and Trump’s plan of deleting it made everyone curious about the app.
Fortunately, TikTok was never removed from app stores because its developer was able to find American investors to ensure that the app remained available online. The app continued to gain traction, especially among teens, and had 850 million users by the end of 2020.
What Does This Mean for Marketers?
The popularity of TikTok can teach us several things in marketing. For one, it shows that people, in general, will act on an offer if they know something is available to them for a limited time only. When we translate this into marketing, we can advertise limited-time offers to encourage our target audience to buy from us and patronize our business.
One example of a limited-time offer is advertising-free shipping for a short period of time. For instance, if our business sells products online, we can advertise through our website that we’re offering free shipping when customers place their orders for the first week of the month. Because they know that the offer will expire soon, our customers will find the urgency to act upon our advertisement and place an order through our website right away.
Creating urgency-driven popups is also a great way to install a sense of urgency in our target audience. We can come up with eye-catching and non-intrusive popups with details about our limited-time offers as this can motivate our online visitors to take action ASAP.
Even if we don’t have the widespread platform of Donald Trump, we can always create promotional offers available only for a limited time. Our offerings don’t have to be exclusive, but how we market it should encourage our customers to act immediately.
Don’t Stop Learning
Marketing trends in the business industry are changing, which is why we should be curious and remain adaptable. It’ll be easier for us to succeed as marketers when we’re aware of the happenings around us and use these circumstances as our learning curves.