Why you shouldn't ignore TikTok in your media mix

Who is TikTok? Which users are addressed?

TikTok users are mainly millennials and the gender distribution worldwide is roughly balanced - women dominate in Germany with 60 percent, as well as in France (67 percent), Italy (68 percent) and Spain (69%).1 As the global volume is much smaller than the reach of Facebook or Instagram, TikTok should be considered a specialized network - a fast-growing niche for advertisers, especially in the FMCG, beauty, retail and entertainment sectors, targeting 15 to 20-year-olds.

What type of content? Which users? Which developments?

Five years ago, we could have made a simple comparison of social networks - but today they are so specialized that comparing their global user bases would make little sense. For example, Facebook has 2 billion active users every month, while TikTok has 560 million and Snapchat 210 million.

However, let's not necessarily look at the largest target group, but the one you need at any given time. In the case of TikTok, the majority are super active "Gen Z" - these are definitely interesting for advertisers as they are their potential future customers. So it's more the steady growth of the network that interests agencies and advertisers.

If you want to take a closer look at the networks for millennials, it is not easy, as many users reveal little information about themselves. However, an educated guess can be made that Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram are the three most important networks for this target group. TikTok also stands out at this level: according to a study by App Annie, the network has a partially exclusive audience that consumes neither Instagram (47%) nor Snapchat (30%).

1 Source: Onlinepunks (TikTok Bible for Influencers & Creators), 2020

The values represent the percentage of users who cannot be reached daily on other platforms.

Let us also focus not only on the composition of the users, but above all on their behavior.

Snapchat, for example, is an instant network where content has a shorter lifespan and where users interact a lot with content created by professionals (mainly brands and media). On TikTok, content is produced exclusively by the users themselves and has a longer lifespan. The other feature that makes TikTok a major challenger among advertisers is the platform's average usage time of 310 seconds per session, which is the highest among all networks combined. By taking these two aspects into account, advertisers benefit from an authentic environment in which challenging goals are easy to achieve.

Why should you include TikTok in your media mix? What are the benefits? How much scope do you have? What development opportunities?

The big advantage is that TikTok combines all the elements that make up this generation: the network offers spontaneity, authenticity, entertainment, sharing and interaction - all in a highly creative environment where each user can have their own moment of fame (which is much harder to achieve on Instagram, for example). TikTok fulfills the need for personal recognition,
that these users have and that few other networks can offer them. Its strength also lies in its content creation tools, which are certainly the most advanced - and at the same time very easy to use. You can produce professional quality content in a matter of seconds. It is therefore not surprising that TikTok users are starting to become professional in editing and storytelling, like Gil Croes, who has reached 22 million followers in 3 years. We are seeing a clear development in the quality of content.

In addition, this network has the advantage of influencing short, medium and long-term purchasing behavior and buying intentions. The aspect of influencing users in a social network is certainly a controversial topic, as is the case with Twitter and Instagram, to name but a few. As far as TikTok is concerned, communities are built and rebuilt from one day to the next. You can choose to participate in a community and actually become influential as part of a #Challenge. This is certainly what makes TikTok such a powerful network with amazing development.

For this reason, we advise our advertisers to invest in TikTok. A vibrant community is a good springboard to get people to discover, order and buy products - as long as the brand knows how to position itself skillfully and in compliance with the guidelines. In other words, there is a great chance that a brand can go viral on TikTok. The #Challenge is just one good example of the imitation brands are looking for on TikTok, and it's a good supplier of earned media. In other words, there is great potential for free reach by users voluntarily sharing branded content.

Another reason why we recommend using TikTok is the impact we can achieve through special formats such as Top View or Brand Takeover. They offer our advertisers high visibility and an almost exclusive reach over a certain period of time.

Brand Takeover is a full-screen ad that appears when the user opens TikTok. The format can be a three-second image or a three to five second video. It is scheduled for different categories each day, allowing a particular brand to take over a category for 24 hours and exclusively for their vertical to achieve a 100 percent share of voice. In combination with the Top View format, advertisers can reach users in the same way, but with a 15-second video format.

Ultimately, TikTok should not be seen as an isolated network within the ecosystem. Some brands are creating connections between networks, such as Clarins redirecting Instagram users to TikTok to take part in a #Challenge. This clearly shows the ecosystem of social networks among millennials: there is no longer a separation between Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

Case study: figures and concrete examples.

Arnaud Marro's team has implemented several campaigns for a client specializing in the manufacture of watches for the mass market. Here are the first observations:

• CPMs are relatively high for a new platform and are around €7, which is more expensive than the CPMs that are common on average in the Facebook family of apps (around €3 to €5), and significantly more expensive than Snapchat (€2 to €3). However, with the upcoming launch of the self-serve platform, advertisers can benefit from CPMs of around €0.70, which is a much more competitive bidding level.
• The CPCs are around EUR 0.75 and thus correspond to the average value of what we know from the competitor Facebook/Instagram.
• On the other hand, the interaction rate of around 4 percent is very good and above what we expect for the same content on Facebook (generally around 1 to 2 percent). In addition, there is a higher number of likes for our advertising content (60,000 in a four-week campaign), which shows that TikTok users do not shy away from advertising as long as it is well communicated and complies with the guidelines. It is therefore beneficial to pay a little more so that we get a higher level of interaction.
• Our first instinct is to use TikTok as a lever for branding. This fits with the solutions we have available. With our branding videos, we are achieving referral rates to the website of around one percent, which is a good result when you consider that these average values for the Facebook app family are around 0.30 percent to 0.50 percent.
• Finally, the completion rate, which is the KPI that our advertising clients pay the most attention to, is around 15 to 20 percent, which is in line with the average figures we receive from competing networks.
• Of course, these results were achieved thanks to clear storytelling, driven by creative content in line with the community's expectations. Short and dynamic lifestyle content, catchy and modern music and an inspiring universe: the considerations should be based on these creative foundations.

Using this medium with the same content as the other networks would not correspond to the community and would not bring the desired success.