Tiktok is growing exponentially year-on-year. With over a billion active users every month, TikTok has become a unique go-to marketing platform for businesses to not only promote their products and services, but also to keep their communities engaged. Ultimately, TikTok is being used by brands to drive impact with engaging, relevant content for its audience – both existing and potential ones.

The platform’s latest solution TikTok: THE STAGE is aimed at exactly that: helping businesses unleash their untapped potential through inspiring creativity and sparking joy. Brands that understand the mindsets of creativity and joy find better success on the platform as they engage more members of their community with the relevant content these people are looking for on TikTok.

Why joy and how brands can spark it

Joy is a powerful emotion that brands can no longer ignore and TikTok has been the platform where people are finding joy as the world continues to battle a global pandemic: 

• TikTok was the #1 top grossing app on iOS App Store globally in the second quarter of 2020, benefiting from consumers turning to mobile apps during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Source: Forbes).

• In May 2021, it was again the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide – with an additional 80 million installations of TikTok that month. (Source: Influencer Marketing Hub)

TikTok has been an avenue where people can express their creativity and spread positivity in their own ways. Brands that engage their users with joyful content have seen success in ROI within their business because as more and more people feel happiness while on TikTok, the more they are likely to engage and take action. Remember: happy users, happy buyers!

• Users in Southeast Asia said they were 1.34x more likely to prefer TikTok for content, 1.27x for creators, and 1.28x for authenticity. (Source: Nielsen report, June 2021).

Much like the KonMari lifestyle, marketing teams can spark joy among its audience through their marketing campaigns. Let’s take a look at some tips how businesses can do that:

1. Lay it all out and ask, “Does this spark joy?”

Take each piece of your marketing mix and ask “Does this thing spark joy in my audience?” Identify which items are working and which does not. Address the latter by taking some time to reflect on why it does not work anymore. Marketers are prone to fall into the trap of doing the routine that works until it doesn’t anymore. Successful brands don’t just keep up with the current trend; they also anticipate what comes next and build their campaigns around it.

2. Visualize your destination

Like the KonMari lifestyle, it’s important to know where you want to go. Identify your goal (e.g. drive new leads, increase purchases, etc.) and ensure that your next steps are decluttered towards the main goal. Often, marketers see the shiny, trending thing and think it is a great opportunity to promote products, but that’s not always the case. Visualizing the destination and planning neat steps towards it makes a good marketing campaign the best.

3. Identify what emotions your brand inspires

Today’s consumers are looking for stories – and that’s what good brands tell! Successful brands inspire joy and increase their impact by making real and meaningful connections with their audience and community members. It’s time to ask yourself what sort of connections do your brand establish when marketing to its audience.

TikTok’s 3Rs to help you spark joy

Capturing consumers has always been a challenge in any marketing campaign. Thankfully for brands on TikTok, three R’s are readily available at their fingertips: Reach, Relevance, and Response.

Reach

TikTok is used by more than a billion of global users every month, with almost one of four users from Southeast Asia. In June 2021, the platform’s user base in the region exceeded 240 million, an 85% increase from the previous year. More than 800 million videos were created by users in Southeast Asia, which then reached a trillion video views in June alone! Additionally, there are 1.2 million plays per month.

These statistics and user base are within brands on TikTok’s reach. Imagine reaching a million people every month!

Relevance

Users and brands can utilize TikTok’s relevant content based on interests. This is good news for brands who have yet to discover their community. Users are constantly exploring and pushing the boundaries of creativity and content; and because of the number of users in Southeast Asia alone, brands gain a better chance of getting noticed by the audience they want to engage with the most.

Response

Because TikTok is a happy place on the internet today, brands already on TikTok have seen growth within their business. Studies show that happier people make the most engaged users. In fact, according to a Nielsen report, users in Southeast Asia are more likely to use TikTok 1.34x for content, 1.27x for creators, and 1.28x for authenticity. The same report shows that businesses and brands are 1.6x more likely to gain ROI when using the platform to promote products/services and engage their audience.

TikTok: The Stage is a Southeast Asia-focused event that follows the global TikTok World event which took place on September 29. At TikTok World, the company showcased new, innovative ad products and global solutions while sharing its 2022 product vision with the world.