TIKTOK LATEST FEATURES ROUND-UP
We shared a primer on TikTok in 2020 (see updated version here), but it’s a platform on the cusp of a new wave of change with a host of new features centered around education of creators, vendors and marketers alike, ensuring on-boarding TikTok is as seamless as possible. It’s been called a tactical push to cement TikTok alongside Google, Facebook and Amazon as the titans of the internet, and the new features certainly hint towards the next round of announcements we can expect from TikTok this year. Read on for our thoughts, taking points and predictions.
Image: @ravennavera
1. Creator Portal
What is it?
Ultimately, it’s a collection of best practices for creating videos, adding effects/sound, unlocking creativity and community, story-telling, grow your account, use analytics and get paid.
While Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest obviously have their own best practices for creators to get the most from the platform, there is still an air of mystery that pervades around how they function and why content is served. Unfortunately this means that misinformation can be spread (even when platforms go on the record). TikTok have taken a different perspective with their latest release, trying to actively demystify and help creators to create native content.
While we cannot pretend that TikTok isn’t a space to make money, so motivating creators to create native content is hardly altruistic, it’s the same sense of open-source sharing that much of the content on the platform epitomises.
What are the features?
The Creator Portal is broken down into the following features:
· Getting started on TikTok
· TikTok creation essentials
· TikTok foundations for success
· TikTok content strategy
· Community guidelines and safety
· Getting paid to create
What are the requirements?
All creators can use the Portal, but creators must be 18+ to join and use the Creator Marketplace, which allows brands to approach with campaigns.
What are the benefits?
· Strategy direct from the brand
· Details on current features and new releases
· Connecting with authorised brands on sponsorship opportunities
· Online collaboration tools
· Official support from TikTok on brand campaigns
· Tips on creating advertiser-friendly videos
TikTok has been able to observe the evolution of other forms of social media as established platforms that have integrated creative tools and e-commerce capabilities before them, and let the learnings lead their strategy.
1. The Creator Fund
One of TikTok’s most discussed announcements has been the Creator Fund, which proposed to let creators earn from the platform directly proportionate to how their content performs.
To be eligible, creators have to be US-based, 18 years +, have 10,000 followers, and have earned 10,000+ views in the last 30 days. We have been told that the ‘piece of the pie’ an individual stands to earn changes daily based on video performance and video published, as well as the way that the platform and each person’s videos performs, as well as video engagement, views from real accounts and the region of the views (amongst other factors).
While the Creator Fund hasn’t been the windfall that many creators hoped it to be, the integration of remunerating talent for the content’s performance directly through TikTok is a fascinating step in the company’s journey, and a vital means they could leverage in the future to motivate users to keep creating. (That’s if they can iron out the kinks.)
2. Progress towards an Integrated Self-Serve Influencer Marketing Capacity
Influencer marketing partnerships can currently be run almost wholesale through the Creator Marketplace: creators can set their rates, brands can view engagement metrics and audience demographics, then invite TikTokers to create paid content to brief, all within the app. Contracts currently need to be settled and content approved directly, but the fact that this ecosystem already exists indicates a trend to bring influencer marketing completely in-app. We would predict more extensive software that allows brands to dig into the data available through TikTok so they can search in more detail, rather the fairly broad categories available currently. With this, TikTok can continue to position themselves as the go-to destination to source advertisers the best talent to work with, given that their data will be the most accurate, compared to external influencer marketing auditing tools.
3. Integrated Affiliate Marketing Capabilities
According to the Financial Times, TikTok are planning to roll out integrated affiliate marketing capacity amongst the new suite of features. Despite the current lack of a specific ‘Swipe up to shop’-type function, affiliate marketing is still amongst the ways that creators have been able to earn from their content on TIkTok.
As on Instagram or Facebook, when linking externally with affiliate networks like rewardStyle, TikTokers don’t currently have to be approved to earn commission from posting about a brand – we will be interested to see if this is something that TikTok approaches, given that they are connected with over 1,000,000 retailers through their collaboration with Shopify. Which brings us onto the next feature…
4. Shopify-backed E-commerce Rollout
This was announced in October 2020, but 2021 will be the year to see whether TikTok can assail Amazon’s colossal presence with the help of Shopify. With the news that President Biden would be suspending legal proceedings against TIkTok’s US operations, the door is wide open for TikTok to establish themselves as a powerful sales destination in a crowded retail landscape. With more sales than ever migrating online as shoppers continue the habits formed during the pandemic, TikTok users could come to view the platform as their preferred destination for making purchases.
While big retailers will naturally integrate TikTok into their e-commerce offering, small businesses may also find it to be a hospitable environment, in the same way that Instagram became a key tool for many fledgling brands to grow their followings, create ads, and sell product. (Indeed, the TikTok Shop Seller University, a training hub currently being tested in select territories, would hint that businesses of all sizes will be receiving the same considerations when e-commerce capabilities are being formulated.) If TikTok also chooses to roll out the ‘live-stream’ shopping that the FT has also reported on, we will see talent taking a direct sales approach, showcasing the products that followers can then buy in real time, without leaving the app. (Nothing like ‘Have it Oeuf’, hopefully.)
We’re going to be keeping an eye on which of these features and capabilities are rolled out globally, and we’re excited to see how TikTok can continue to mature as a platform. According to TikTok itself, the company says that 40 per cent of people on TikTok do not have a Facebook account and that 63 per cent are not on Twitter. So, while marketers may still be hesitant to commit large budgets to the platform, the spending power of the unicorn social media audience that TikTok holds the key to may prove too tempting to resist in the near future.