TikTok has, with its mass appeal across a multitude of ages and demographics surpassed its predecessor’s success: one can practically find something for every need and interest. While entertainment and humor remain the leading content category, content within lifestyle is the runner-up. Here, creators within fitness, DIY/home renovations, beauty, and fashion respectively gather massive view counts.

A blooming portal for inspiration

For these creators, the platform serves as a way to share a more authentic, personal side of themselves compared to other social media channels. Also, there are also numerous influencers whose social media success primarily derives from their TikTok accounts.

Among these is fashion influencer Carla Rockmore, termed as the “real-life Carrie Bradshaw” by Vogue. Based in Dallas, Texas, Carla has worked as a fashion and jewelry designer for decades. However, with the covid-19 pandemic putting limitations on product development, she discovered TikTok as a platform for creative expression in April 2020. Since then, Carla has grown a large follower base sharing style advice and showing pieces from her impressive wardrobe.

VOCAST spoke to Carla about her experience as a lifestyle creator on the emerging platform:

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Interview

Making social media feel personal

One of the key features responsible for TikTok’s success is its technology. The app has become famous (or infamous) for its addictive algorithm, which curates a personal “For You” page specifically designed to make you want to stay on it longer. While older platforms to a larger extent rely on active online behavior, meaning following, liking, and commenting,

TikTok intends to capture its users’ passive behavior. This includes logs of how fast you scroll through content, how long videos are left on loop, as well as what category of sounds attracts your attention. This ultimately creates a hyper-responsive system of recommended content “For You”.

These personalized pages are the landing page of the app, and where 99% of the users’ engagement occurs, giving much real estate for aspiring creators to reach an audience. Being featured on the “For You” page is the way to gain traction and followers: creators thus try to growth-hack their way to being featured on as many users’ “For You” page as possible.

A unique and powerful algorithm

​TikTok’s technical features offer unique opportunities for engagement. Its personally customized feed drives organic interaction between user and creator, which allows smaller users to reach new audiences. Your personal feed features a curated mix of content from any account that is predicted to match your detected preferences.

Videos that are predicted to create widespread organic interaction will therefore be featured on more people’s “For You” page. This explains why the concept of going “viral” is so prominent on TikTok. Users can go from zero to millions of followers in a matter of weeks, and content trends come and go daily. This offers the opportunity for instant engagement; it can effectively help users gather a following in a small amount of time.

For brands, this can have great publicity value: gaining traction on TikTok can have a spillover effect, making new potential customers aware of your product and leading them to your other platforms. Consequently, the number of brands embracing the app is ever-growing.

Keep up with the trends but stay true to your brand

When starting a TikTok account for your brand, it is beneficial to consider the unique features of the app and plan a strategy thereafter. Firstly, the nature of the app is more fast-paced than major competitors like Instagram. On Instagram, content can gain traction over time, and a particular style of the content may persist for several months.

On Tiktok, however, these processes can occur in a matter of hours. This indicates that one needs to pay closer and more continuous attention to what is currently trending.

Although it may boost your account short term, following any trend that may align with your brand will not make you stick out from the crowd of people doing the exact same. To create an impact that lasts, you need to consider what you want your brand voice and personality to be.

The algorithm of the app offers intimate engagement and connection: keeping in mind the individual on the other side of the screen is thus a critical part of gathering traction long-term. After all, the content on TikTok users’ For You page is primarily curated based on what content they continuously engage with, not the accounts they actually follow.

This allows for letting loose and having fun: shifting from a corporate to a more personal tone. Making this shift may be intimidating and unfamiliar; therefore, numerous brands have successfully partnered with popular TikTok personalities, giving a face to the brand and making it more approachable. Thus, brands’ own content as well as collaborations with influencers benefits from maintaining this human, more relaxed tone.

Among the brands that have successfully adopted a more humorous approach is Ganni. For Copenhagen Fashion Week, the brand partnered with popular humor and fashion creator Davis Burleson. As part of his popular TikTok show, “What’s Poppin?” Davis interviews people on the streets of New York City about their clothing and life in a playful way.

For the partnership with Ganni, Davis roamed the streets of Copenhagen interviewing fashionable people passing by, highlighting both what makes Danish fashion and people unique. The collaboration demonstrates how one can convey a humorous tone while still keeping one’s brand offerings in mind.