Illustrating similar popularity, an October 2019 newsletter from Apptopia noted that as of September 2019, 48% of TikTok’s active mobile user base in the US was 20 and younger, a higher rate than Snapchat (44.5%) and even Instagram (43.5%).
Brands looking to target TikTok’s core young audience should determine if and how they fit into the platform’s ecosystem. “The brands that are bold enough to want to invest in TikTok are also creatively bold enough to know that they have to come up with an idea or an activation that makes sense for that platform,” said Liz Cole, vice president and group director for social strategy at Digitas. “Because it’s a more emerging platform, not many brands have activated on it yet. It feels fresh. There’s a lot of opportunity to be the first to try an idea.”
To advertise effectively, brands must know their audience and the platform as well as “understand what role the brand is going to play,” according to Haley Paas, senior vice president and head of strategy and insights at Carat USA. “Otherwise you could open yourself up to a lot of criticism on the platform, given that it’s mainly user-generated content.”
It’s true; TikTok users are highly engaged as content creators—more than one-third (34%) are creating new content on any given day, according to Cole. That stat, she said, “is just so interesting to compare and contrast with some of the wider reaching, but more passive platforms, like Twitter or YouTube.”