How TikTok is shaping your shopping choices

As the world’s leading destination for short-form mobile video, TikTok has quite the reputation. To many, it is perceived as fun, informative, addictive and a place to connect with people whose opinions you trust.

It should, therefore, come as no surprise that people more often than not, turn to the platform ahead of making decisions on what to purchase.

It is for this reason that more and more brands are relying on the “as seen on TikTok” label for their most popular products and scores of people who are posting to the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag.

To celebrate the fact that brands have found success resonating with the TikTok community over the past year, TikTok hosted #WhatTheTok, the first-ever TikTok For Business media event in South Africa. 

The event was also used to showcase how businesses can embrace the TikTok experience and reimagine how they connect with their communities through feelings, actions and sounds. 

Speaking at the event, Scott Thwaites, Head of Turkey, Africa & Gaming, Global Business Solutions, TikTok, explained to attendees that the goal of TikTok For Business is to give brands, marketers and businesses of all sizes in South Africa the tools to be discovered and authentically connect with communities on the platform.

“The magic of TikTok is not just the chance to create, but the chance to discover and to be found. With TikTok For Business, our goal is to give marketers the tools to be discovered and connect with the broader communities around them,” he explained.  

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“Brands are an important part of the TikTok experience, whether they are starting trends or connecting communities, they are creating authentic audiences built on the foundation of sharing joy.

“They are embracing the creative and authentic spirit of TikTok, and giving users a new way to discover and engage with the products they love,” added ​​Thwaites. 

Thwaites shared an informative presentation with guests that highlighted how TikTok can help solve shifts in the marketing landscape, and identified four key drivers that are shaping this shift. 

TikTok for Business Insights 

1. From measuring reach to measuring connection

Over the years, TikTok has found that mass reach and frequency ad campaigns are not enough to move ad-fatigued consumers to take action. 

“The lack of innovation in advertising has trained us to tune out. Relevance and authentic connection is what matters, and that is what TikTok can bring to a brand’s marketing,” he said. 

2. From passive audience to immersed creators

While second-screen content consumption might have been the norm a few years ago, TikTok claims to be seeing more immersion than ever before. Meaning that people are actually paying primary attention to the platform and the content they consume on it as opposed to passively using the platform while consuming content on another platform. 

This is leading to a more engaged and more entertained audience who is also willing to create content with brands.

“This allows brands to speak with their audience, rather than at their audience, creating a two-way engaging conversation with the community.”

3. From transactional commerce to consumer commerce

With the digitisation of word of mouth, shopping is moving away from transactional commerce to community commerce. 

“Consumers are no longer interested in ads that aim to interrupt and sell – they are looking for a more experiential and genuine shopping experience that is based on trust, authenticity and communication,” explained TikTok. 

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Because billions of people across the world come to TikTok to share real moments from their lives, other people tend to gravitate more towards that kind of content and away from the picture perfect, overly-polished and overly-edited content found on other platforms. 

Professional creators also seem more comfortable sharing their honest opinions about products and services on TikTok, which resonates with other users. 

For example, the DJ Zinhle Hair Majesty drama from last month. 

#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt

A testament to the aforementioned impact is #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, which has racked up over 12 billion views.

While it is not yet the world’s fastest-growing shopping phenomenon, it is fast-becoming so.

4. From witnessing culture to creating cultural moments

Gone are the days when brands simply witnessing culture and attempted to keep up by capitalising on the moment. 

Now, they can actually be a part of the conversation and perhaps spark cultural movements of their own.

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