The TikTok revolution is transforming online commerce, giving brands several clear pathways to direct engagement – and mad growth.
If companies are serious about promoting their brands with measurable results, they need to connect with the online consumers that have formed unique communities with diverse needs. The bonus for businesses who do this is that they can engage directly with potential customers, while these consumers inspire their communities to follow their lead. Digital platforms, specifically TikTok, enable brands to truly engage with these communities, fulfil their needs, and see real-world business impact.
For some perspective on why TikTok has mushroomed into a marketplace for business that’s hard to beat, here’s a few interesting stats: TikTok has over one billion monthly active users and, according to research conducted by Walnut Unlimited, 74% of users say the platform inspired them to find out more about a brand or a product, while 67% said the platform inspired them to shop, even when they weren’t looking to do so.
How did we get here?
Over the past 20 years, we have seen key changes in the dissemination and consumption of content. Prior to the 2000s, content followed a context graph in which we would get served whatever publishers, broadcasters or agencies shared.
From 2000 to 2010, we saw the growth of the knowledge graph – driven by search engines and streaming platforms – where content was served on demand. We have since moved to the social graph, where content served is based on the people and groups followed. But the true revolution started around 2020, with the birth of the content graph, which shares content based on what we like.
This united people in online communities based on common interests, where they could share stories and converse. This phenomenon, dubbed the ‘digital campfire’, is best seen in action under hashtags such as #SmallBusinessTok. In fact, hashtags ending in ‘Tok’ saw a 70% increase in monthly video views from August 2020 to August 2021, according to TikTok internal data.
Consumers have morphed into ‘prosumers’
TikTok has been key in enabling these cultural shifts, giving communities the platform and tools to communicate and inspire each other. As such, people have evolved from consumers to prosumers: those who actively participate in creating and transforming content that is relevant to them and their needs.
In 2023, these online communities will become more powerful than ever, collectively shaping culture and trends.
To communicate effectively and impactfully with audiences, it’s crucial for brands to truly understand the key cultural movements driving these communities’ behaviour and, ultimately, driving sales.
An ever-evolving business expansion tool
Millions are familiar with the early beginnings of TikTok as a short-form video platform and have had lots of fun creating their own personal content. Content captures the audience’s attention and trust when it is created based on what viewers find entertaining. Trust is also based on who’s making the content; viewers are more likely to show an interest in a video from a creator they find relatable, or from a subject matter expert.
Some businesses still find it hard to understand how this traditionally entertainment-based app can become a serious business booster. With prosumers both consuming and creating content that is relevant to them and their followers, brands can immediately assess whether they fit into those needs, and provide targeted communities what they want through their brand offerings.
The 5 key streams of commerce transformation
- Live commerce features livestreaming hosts presenting products while interacting with the community in real time. This is growing in popularity, with top streamers selling hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of products every year.
- Native commerce allows consumers to enjoy a seamless shopping experience on an e-commerce website or a brand’s dedicated online store or app. TikTok has enabled this with Shopify integrations.
- Gamification of commerce is evolving one-way communication into two-way interaction with viewers, rewarding an action with a reaction. For example, creating an in-app rewards page where users can complete tasks to collect points and unlock a coupon or QR code, which can then be redeemed digitally or in-store.
- Conversational commerce has also gained traction, leveraging chatting platforms to create a direct one-to-one conversation between the brand and the consumer, wherein users can purchase products directly from the messaging app.
- Community commerce has seen dramatic uptake. It encourages audiences to create entertaining, compelling content that just so happens to feature brands. It empowers brands to form genuine connections with people in a way that drives awareness, favourability and sales. This organic kind of marketing has been designed by prosumers themselves – and it’s a whole new way for brands to sell out products, sometimes literally overnight.
Listening is key to providing an appropriate offering
A significant factor to consider when engaging with prosumers is to develop the art of listening. Creators and their audiences are developing a significant focus on joy, self-care and wellbeing as a means of overcoming personal problems and harsh realities. This strategy can reflect directly on a company’s bottom line: four in 10 TikTok users say ‘lifting their spirits’ is key in motivating them to make a purchase, according to a study by Material.
Memes are one way of bringing joy – people bond over humour – while also attracting millions and even billions of views. Life hacks, too, offer ways for viewers to learn interesting new things, from skincare to how to be a digital nomad. A little luxury lets people reward themselves with whatever makes them feel happy – whether it’s a fancy candle or a mud mask.
Tailored marketing for unique communities
More people are moving away from one-size-fits-all ideals of how to live their lives, and are instead embracing different values and interests – and they are looking to peers and role models who have achieved this.
People are turning to online communities to ask questions and find unique answers to satisfy their curiosity. In fact, according to research by Marketcast, TikTok users are 1.3 times more likely to say that entertaining ads on the platform teach them something new, compared to other video platforms.
Users are learning that there are infinite possibilities to achieve success on their own terms. Brands can tap into this desire to pursue personal growth, which is evident in the popularity of TikTok hashtags like #GrowthMindset (1.3 billion lifetime views) and #Advice (27.3 billion lifetime views).
And then there’s ‘Bestie Behaviour’, which involves videos showing a creator doing everyday activities like shopping, eating and testing new products. Viewers are often motivated to emulate the creator by doing the same activity or buying a new product.
Harnessing TikTok’s commercial power
TikTok’s ‘What’s Next Report 2023’ shows how brands can penetrate these markets and fully utilise the opportunities of actionable entertainment. The company shares three ways in which brands can accomplish this.
- Show, don’t sell. This is the principle behind the massive popularity of hashtags like #Storytime and #POV on TikTok, which have garnered 277 billion and 686 billion lifetime views, respectively. Brands can opt to partner with creators who make tutorials featuring personal stories and fun storytelling styles, driving the impact of their message.
- Investigative content has also been gaining popularity, as users seek to uncover truths and debunk myths; this builds credibility and trust between creators and their viewers. For example, a nutritionist who challenges dubious dietary advice will build a strong bond with their audience.
- Customer-to-creator pipeline is a way for brands to use the principle that creators make recommendations of products and services. Sixty-five percent of TikTok users say they always rely on online reviews and creator recommendations to decide what to buy online, according to research by Material. This shows the potential for brands to leverage this pipeline to boost organic content from existing fans into influential ads, thus helping to build genuine sponsorships.
To conclude, in 2023, successful brands will be those that listen to their customers to understand how their wants and needs are changing – and place this understanding at the core of their marketing strategy.
Harnessing the purchasing power of prosumers via TikTok is certainly a business strategy to consider going forward.
Greg Bailie is agency partner, Global Business Solutions, Sub-Saharan Africa for TikTok for Business.
