Should Fashion Ride TikTok Wave?
- Audrey Clarissa
- May 11, 2020
- 3 min read
TikTok started as Gen Z’s virtual playground. But now it transformed into one of Fashion’s best marketing channels.
TikTok has exploded and is having its moment as one of the world’s most downloaded applications. Moreover, in the midst of isolation, people are on a constant search for new interesting content. Business of Apss and Sensor Tower reports that this social video app developed by a Chinese tech giant ByteDance has been downloaded over a billion times since its launch. The app is hugely populated with 41% of its audience is between the ages of 16 to 24. They are embracing this digital platform as an entertainment, as well as a community to engage with others, including those in the fashion world.
Seeing the shifting behavior of young consumers has drawn the attention of major marketers and retailers as well as shaped their communication strategy with their targeted market. Brands and retailers, like Ralph Lauren, M.A.C Cosmetics, and Uniqlo have jumped into the hyped social media platform and frequently creating buzzy campaigns along with encouraging the audiences to create their own content.
The Gen Z community
TikTok offered videos that are under 60 seconds long with most of the popular ones run shorter. According to Magnetic North’s US-centric report, this is working for the shrinking attention spans of Gen Z which are 8 seconds on average opposed to millennials at 12 seconds. The platform also comes without plenty of advertising which enables the young audiences to submit and view more user-generated content than any other platform. The Gen Z is also looking for transparency in a brand they are interested in which make them feel that they want to be a part of this wider community.
Hashtag challenges drum up traction
Challenges are one of the essential features of the TikTok’s community and has become the central engagement drivers. They love taking up a challenge, create and post a video of it as it is fun and memorable. Brands have used this opportunity as to create their own branded hashtag challenges as their branding strategy and come up with unique and engaging ideas.
For instance, MAC Cosmetics has recently launched its first TikTok campaign that anchored in a #YouOwnIt challenge by inviting the audiences to showcase their unique individuality through videos incorporating makeover transformation to funny runway walks. The brand also had famous TikTok creators such as @GlitterandLazers and @SethOBrien to kick off the campaign. The challenge has garnered up over 2.3 billion views and over 700 contents have been created from this hashtag.
Do brands get the benefit?
TikTok is still in the virgin territory where it feels fun and will continue to progress rapidly. It is a great platform to connect and collaborate with Gen Z. Given the app’s recent popularity, brands are having difficulties measuring the effectiveness of these campaigns towards their sales. However, there is several positive evidence that TikTok videos lead to amazing brand recall.
In September, EOS offered 30 lip balms through a #MakeItAwesome challenge. The campaign hit success and resulted in over 3.8 billion views. The company then conducted an independent study on brand awareness to see how TikTok audience compared to a group that did not use the platform at all. To their excitement, it is found that TikTok users had three times better brand recall that the other group.
With this, I really do think that brands need to dive in and experiment on this platform as soon as possible. It has become the current decisive tool for brands to secure the generation’s attention. Moreover, this platform has been proven to build brand awareness and trust with the audiences. People will remember who they connected with and continue to follow as long as it applies to them.
SCHIFFER, J. (2019). Do fashion brands need TikTok?. Retrieved 10 May 2020, from https://www.voguebusiness.com/companies/tiktok-social-networking-video-app-gen-z-mac-ralph-lauren
Here’s How Brands Can Leverage TikTok For Influencer Marketing | Billion Dollar Boy. (2019). Retrieved 10 May 2020, from https://www.billiondollarboy.com/news/how-leverage-tiktok-influencer-marketing/
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