#YearOnTikTok: Celebrating the brands that entertained and created joy amongst the community
In 2021, TikTok For Business was inspired and humbled to see trends and culture come to life through the platform’s community. More than one billion people turned to TikTok last year to be entertained and a large proportion of the content that drew interest and generated curiosity came from brands.
It’s no secret that TikTok has firmly positioned itself amongst the top rank of apps for popularity, having seen incredible growth since its inception. But the true power of TikTok came to the fore in 2021 as the platform not only showcased its commercial importance but also opened up many avenues for brands to shake up their traditional marketing strategies, functioning as a utility to engage with consumers in an unequaled way.
This month, TikTok for Business in South Africa is celebrating the brands that embraced authenticity to reach new audiences, tapped into and started new trends with the TikTok community and unlocked real-world opportunities for commerce through the power of discovery.
“Brands in South Africa brought us joy and encouraged us to get creative,” says Scott Thwaites, head of emerging markets at TikTok Global Business Solutions, “and they reminded us of the importance of being authentic when connecting with the community and being able to connect with a highly engaged audience. 2021 was the year that TikTok became a launchpad for must-have brands and products that the community loves.”
Shortly after TikTok For Business launched in South Africa in the middle of last year, brands quickly cottoned on to the fact that the platform offers a very unique place for culture, community and commerce to come together, not only to inspire a creative community, that spends a movie’s worth of time consuming content every day, but to also improve their bottom line and share of voice.
One such brand that saw great success on TikTok in 2021 was Garnier. They managed to capture the attention of their consumers and saw a 37% uplift in product awareness and a strong increase in purchase intent.
“Garnier set out to drive product awareness and consideration for their Pure Active 3-in-1 face wash,” explains Thwaites, “and they did this by bringing the product to life, via 11 TikTok creators who showcased the product’s uses in a genuine and personal way. The results spoke for themselves with a 27% uplift in recommendation and a 23% rise in spontaneous awareness, making it clear that the South African TikTok community embraced Garnier’s creative approach.”
Another brand that harnessed the power of community last year was L’Oréal’s Dark n Lovely, who launched a new waterless cleanser hair product with the help of TikTok. Through promoted creator content, Dark n Lovely managed to raise their brand familiarity by 36%, lift their product purchase intent by 17% and uplift brand performance by 18%.
“Not only did Dark n Lovely achieve stellar results,” adds Thwaites, “but they were also able to bring together the #darkandlovely community through the power of their consumer brand familiarity.”
But it wasn’t only skin and haircare brands that hit it big on TikTok in 2021. Ever popular chip brand Doritos gained mass awareness and engagement by launching South Africa’s first hashtag challenge #DoritosFlaminHotDuets.
“In an effort to drive awareness of their Flamin’ Hot flavour, Doritos created a flaming branded effect that encouraged fans to show off their creative dance moves,” explains Thwaites, “and the results were outstanding.”
#DoritosFlaminHotDuets reached over two million unique users in only six days, notched up an engagement rate of 10.9% and saw a 7% lift in brand perception.
“What becomes very clear in these impressive results is that the potential reach that TikTok has is incomparable,” Thwaites says, “and it’s so exciting to see so many brands engaging with our community. I’m looking forward to the remarkable ways they’ll continue to connect with our community in 2022 because the opportunity for new and innovative content on TikTok knows no bounds, and the community can’t wait to see how brands will look to these moments to define this year’s biggest conversations.”
About TikTok
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok has global offices including Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Seoul, and Tokyo. www.tiktok.com.
