The recording is a fixed plane that doesn’t even reach 20 seconds. A vertical video with a homemade appearance and simple production, with informal and casual content that is broadcast through apps Mobile phones, sometimes it goes viral and reaches thousands of potential consumers, many of them teenagers and youth. An inexpensive and effective way to communicate a message, attract audience interest, build loyalty, and build a community. In recent years, short videos have become a powerful communication tool. Marketing And brands have invested heavily in this format, which is closely tied to social networks. The rise of TikTok has a lot to do with it.
This Chinese-origin platform was born in 2016 and today has over 1,000 million users per month worldwide. About 67 percent of these are over 25 years of age. The app allows you to create and share short videos (3 to 15 seconds or 30 to 60 seconds) via mobile with a simple philosophy: A community of followers connects through Engagement of some with the content of others, and vice versa. Instead, use Hashtags Encourages the public to play and participate. The success of this formula has been unmistakable.
“One of our core values is authenticity and close and transparent communication. It allows users to see and even engage with brands in a very human way and be a part of their communication strategies”, admits Director of Relations with TikTok Brands, Teba Lorenzo.
A study by Clear M&C Saatchi Consultancy shows that seven out of 10 followers application He often recommends products to his friends and family that they might like. Additionally, TikTok users are more open to receiving ads: 63% quite like ads and sometimes consume them before visiting videos. Advertisers large, small and even local businesses have grabbed headlines in the format with dreams of making their content go viral. But being successful is not as easy as it seems.
“The problem is that many brands get on TikTok convinced that they are going to be a hit, only to find out that they are not. They need to lower their expectations,” reflects IESE Business Management Professor Inigo Gallo. In his opinion, a big mistake is that they want to establish a friendly relationship with the audience and get followers from there. “But the kid who comes to TikTok wants to be friends with their friends and interact with their interests. If it turns out that this content comes from a brand, great: goal accomplished. But so Very little happens, which creates some frustration”, he continues.
dream of going viral
The truth is that getting that virginity is complicated. It takes a dash of luck for an ad to be successful and attract thousands of people in a matter of hours. Yes, there are a few levers that can help make a video a success: Present it as a story telling which have a common thread, appeal to strong emotions or humor, and encourage the audience to actively participate in the story.
The paradox of this format is that, despite its short duration, it allows an idea to be better developed, allowing a lot to be explained in a short amount of time. They are content aimed at a younger audience, a multi-screen generation, addicted to gamification, to challenges (popular the challenge, The viewer is no longer inactive, as is the case with spot traditional. Its users are ready to interact, learn choreography, copy movements, create content that they then share with the community. “Short videos humanize brands because they can better personalize their messages or establish links influential peopleWith which its objective of reaching new consumers multiplies”, explains expert in consumer psychology Albert Vinyal.
in an article published in the journal media and communication, Professors from the University of Alcalá Patricia Durán and Pedro Cuesta-Valino, and Professor Pablo Gutierrez (Universidad de León) listed several variables that explain why users have such an intimate relationship with TikTok. Among them the constant motivation to watch and generate content, the ease of creating these short videos and the desire to share the experience. “Advertisers need to adapt to this reality and think about how their brand identity can adapt to these demands,” he says.
It should not be forgotten that the longer the videos go on, the less the viewer’s attention span and therefore, the less the memory they generate. On the other hand, audience response improves with smaller bullets. This way, the brand’s content is more likely to be seen in its entirety and people will be more likely to remember what they saw. TikTok users spend 5% of their waking hours browsing the web application, that is, almost the whole day in a month is connected to this social network. This loyalty is a magnet for companies, they know the potential of their messages skyrocketing publicly.
other eye catching devices
Social networks other than TikTok are betting on these short video formats. This is the case, for example, with Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, which will provide more monetization tools throughout this year as they try to beat their great Chinese competitor and attract new content creators and brands. The latest to jump on the bandwagon has been Amazon with the launch of the Inspire. Somewhat logical, since by 2023 the number of consumers of these audiovisual creations is expected to increase. application Asia also announced the launch of TikTok Academy in Europe, a virtual interactive education platform designed to teach companies of all sizes how to better use the tool to do business.