TikTok, Charli & Dunkin: Why Brands Should Jump on New Social Media Platforms ASAP
Before social media became widely popular, brands had to figure out how to captivate their audience through more traditional advertising. Now, they are all on social media and trying to find new ways to captivate their audience with the latest trends.
At the rate the world is going with social media being more integrated in our daily lives, brands should be keeping an eye on how users react to the new platform. In the process of watching, they should develop a list of campaigns and ideas that they can use so they are prepared for when joining the platform. I think that waiting too long isn’t ideal because it shows you are following other brands rather than being a leader and taking the risk. However, jumping too soon on a new platform can also hurt the reputation of a brand if the platform is unsuccessful. I think the perfect balance is to see how users react to the new platform, and if there is a lot of growth, then brands should jump on and start creating content. This is the ideal balance because yes, it is a risk to be the first one out on these new platforms, but the risk is worth the reward of being known for trying out a new platform rather than following other brands, even if this new platform is not successful.
As we all know, TikTok has been the latest app that every teenager, Millennial, and Generation Z has been posting and creating content for. For those who are not on this app, it “is the leading destination for short-form mobile video” with the mission to bring creativity and joy to their users. This app has been deemed a success for several reasons. First, I think this platform became extremely popular since it had excellent timing. With people being stuck at home and also having more free time due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it gave people an opportunity to try a new platform.
Second, TikTok has been a success since it is a combination of both Musical.ly and Vine, two social media platforms that don’t exist anymore. As I have written about the Viner invasion and how Vine ended, the app helped with creating influencers and allowing them to go viral on the platform. Vine had its moment to shine until Twitter cancelled the app and caused these creators to migrate towards YouTube. Musical.ly on the other hand was not as successful right from the start. They noticed it was doomed from the beginning because creating videos took too long and “combined music, videos, and a social network to attract the early-teen demographic.” After making these changes and reintroducing the app when music videos started to become more popular, the app blew up within two months. But when TikTok was introduced to the market as a better version of both Vine and Musical.ly, Musical.ly then transitioned its users to TikTok. John Lincoln, the CEO of Ignite Visibility, stated in a Forbes article, “TikTok has been a success because Vine was a success. The model was already proven. Why Twitter shut down Vine, who knows. But there were massive stars on the app like Shawn Mendez. It was essentially the same concept. What further propelled the growth of TikTok was the need for teenagers to get off Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat and have a place of their own where their parents couldn’t see what they were up to. This app is fun, it’s an outlet and something different than what currently exists, although the concept is really not entirely new.”
Also, TikTok has been able to create some very famous influencers as well as brand deals. One of the most well known TikTok influencers Charli D’Amelio had a brand deal with Dunkin’ where they created her usual order for her as a part of their menu and named the drink and the song in the TikTok ‘The Charli’. She even has a TikTok for the Dunkin’ account that she made for the brand that talks about what is in the drink. This drove a lot of sales for Dunkin’ and also was an amazing opportunity for the influencer to be able to work with such a well-known brand.
Lastly, this app will stay successful because it has been able to allow people to become viral and influential overnight. For example, in one of my graduate classes I had to create a social media account for a fictional character. I chose TikTok as one of the platforms and picked Sid the Sloth from Ice Age as my character. I created a TikTok by recording one scene from one of the movies called the Fire Dance where he became known as Fire King to other mini sloths. This TikTok blew my account up and I was gaining thousands of views, likes, and comments from other TikTok followers. Although the account no longer exists, the image on the left is a screenshot of the final results as to how well the TikTok account did within the week of having it running. The viral video, which was the one in the bottom row in the middle, had about 83,700 views and I gained over 12,000 likes.
Overall, I think that brands should know when the right time is to jump on a platform so they are the first ones on the platform, have the opportunity to potentially create more sales by working with well-known influencers that are already there, and for the chance to have their own viral moment. Also, I don’t think that TikTok is going away anytime soon since they have started the trend of short-videos again and that other major social media platforms such as Instagram are copying them.
