If you haven’t heard of TikTok yet , I’m sorry to say: you’re getting old. The social network is already a fever among teenagers and young people up to 24 years old, the biggest audience of its old version, Musical.ly. After being purchased by the Chinese group ByteDance, Musical.ly went through a rebranding that has, among other objectives, attracting a more mature audience .
And that’s where you, me, and all the content creators on the internet who have a rare opportunity to ride the wave of a fast-growing social network come in. And that’s right: TikTok has already set several records in the number of monthly downloads in Brazil and worldwide.
Last week I had the opportunity to visit TikTok’s office in São Paulo – a huge building mirrored in one of the city’s finest locations – and get some insights into what’s to come on the social network.
The question I hear the most when I talk about Tiktok on other social networks is this. And no, Tiktok is not the new Instagram. The format more closely resembles the late Vine : short videos, mostly with music, much of it with a touch of humor.
By downloading the application, the user can already surf among the most popular videos on the network even before creating a profile of their own. But it’s nice to create your profile: by following creators you already know from other networks and interacting (with likes, comments and shares), the algorithm will understand what is most relevant to you and the experience becomes much better.
But more relevant than that is the possibility of sharing content with an explosive reach potential. And I’m not exaggerating: my first video on TikTok, which I posted exactly 4 weeks ago, has already had over 250,000 views . And, in less than a month, I was already accumulating more than 10 thousand followers there.
Of course, all this success is not just a fluke. My videos have the quality and fast language of someone who has been creating professional content on Instagram for over 3 years. There’s no free lunch.
But lunch is cheaper on TikTok than on other networks, it’s a fact. In other words, there’s a lot more room for content creators to grow and reach audiences there than in other more saturated networks .
The issue of the audience being still very young, in my analysis, is more a matter of time. Teenagers have always been the harbingers of trends on the internet, and in this case, I don’t think it will be any different. Who else out there abandoned Facebook when they realized they were already saturated with parents, grandparents, and a lot older crowd? (Hehehe)
Another advantage of Tiktok is that the app itself offers nice video editing tools . Even those who are not very familiar with editing programs can cut, apply transitions, effects and music. There is even an extensive library of songs, famous indeed, that can be used in videos for up to 15s without infringing copyright laws.
On my visit to the company’s headquarters, I took the opportunity to gather some tips for content creators looking to gain an audience there . Besides the potential for growth, becoming a creator on Tiktok can be a great deal.
That’s it! I hope this article has answered your doubts about Tiktok and encouraged you to learn more about the network, either as a user or as a creator. I’ve really enjoyed my experience there.
