AGENCY BIO

Founded: 2012
Parent company: ByteDance
Regional head: Shant Oknayan, Head of Global Business Solutions – Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa & Central Asia.
Global HQ: Los Angeles
Regional HQ: Dubai
Number of users worldwide: Over 1 billion
Description: TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy.
User demographics: The demographic mix is very similar to overall country demographics in this region. With the common factor being a love of creativity, entertainment and authenticity.

What’s the one thing you wish more marketers knew about your platform?

TikTok is defined by the deeply ingrained culture of authenticity and its diverse, active and vibrant community, and we are continiously working on educating businesses across the region about the positive impact this can have on their individual business goals if leveraged strategically. Unlike conventional marketing approaches that often rely on scripted narratives, the creative economy fostered in TikTok creates genuine, relatable, and most importantly, trusted content. This is why we see deeper engagement on TikTok: the “Impact of Emotional Entertainment” study by Ipsos and MediaProber revealed that TikTok’s short-form video content holds active attention of a user with 1.6x more time spent on each video compared to other digital platforms. And, of course, this combination of authenticity and trustworthiness is associated with higher ad recall and a smoother journey from discovery to purchase, leading to a direct impact on business goals.

How has the platform’s user demographics shifted over time?

There’s something for everyone on TikTok. The TikTok community is a reflection of our communities at large; diverse ecosystems of creators, people, culture-drivers, and everything in between. We now see users unite into communities based on their interests. For example, recipes, food and restaurant reviews in the #FoodTok community have already gathered more than 2.6 million video creations.

The #BeautyTok community shares beauty and self-care tutorials and has almost 5 million videos posted, while the #LearnOnTikTok hashtag with educational content already has more than 32 million creations. This trend underscores our commitment to fostering a rich, inclusive creative ecosystem that resonates with and inspires our global community, thereby drawing in a diverse audience that transcends age and generational groupings.

What makes a topic ‘trending’ on your platform?

Our community has made stars out of musicians like Olivia Rodrigo, and brought about big wins for brands including EOS shaving cream, the brown GAP hoodie, Goldfish crackers, and the Maybelline ‘Sky High’ mascara, to name a few. That is why we say “It Starts on TikTok.” Trends happen naturally and regularly because of the way our community participates in and engages with content on the platform. 

What makes a successful brand campaign?

Last year, Colgate tapped into the entertainment content of Ramadan by collaborating with creators to showcase how much they can continue to enjoy their much loved cup of coffee or tea during Iftar without having to worry about staining their teeth. By allowing the creators to bring the story to life in their own unique styles, they created mini episodes from popular Ramadan genres, like comedy and drama. During the busy month of Ramadan, breaking through the noise can be challenging. To make a real impact, Colgate turned to TikTok Creator Marketplace to seamlessly find the right creators, reach sub-communities across Saudi Arabia and boost engagement with their storytelling expertise. The results speak for themselves – Colgate created a truly impactful ad experience that stood out during the busy season. 

What strategies do successful content creators on your platform use?

Authenticity is key, and you’ll find that the most successful TikTok creators are those who show up authentically and consistently on the platform. These creators also lean into the TikTok community. They truly understand what the community cares about by regularly viewing TikTok videos and looking into trending hashtags, challenges, and sounds, bringing their own unique twist into the mix. Creators also utilise analytics, measuring how their videos perform, using the data and tools available to them, as TikTok does offer insights that can help optimise videos. 

How does the platform stay relatable?

Our community thrives on hearing compelling stories from real people – with the brands that have embraced this ethos seeing significant results. Our users are served content that is relevant to them in that moment, based on their consumption patterns and interests vs. what they are explicitly looking for, or what their echochambers of friends, family, people they follow are posting. And hence, people consume content they genuinely find engaging, exciting and educational.