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Writer's pictureMariana Palma Ramírez

5 Companies That Understood TikTok and What You Can Learn from Them

Updated: Jun 20, 2022


 

TikTok is nowadays a well-known social media platform. But what makes TikTok so special?

No other platform has grown the way TikTok did in a very brief time, back in 2018 the platform started with 500 million users and by 2021 it ended the year with more than 1 billion users.


We can recall many attributes of the platform, the simplicity of the scroll, the short easy videos to the marathon, and the impeccable algorithm that shows you what you want. All wonders, and nevertheless, the x-factor within the successful boom of TikTok lies in its community.


The reason why people love this social media is that it is made by and for anyone, not for “your friends”. The TikTokers are generating content and sharing way more than a nice quote with a beautiful retouch picture, they exchange creative content, and one-of-a-kind views in each video that gathers all kinds of entertainment for everyone.


The freedom to express yourself and be original plus the possibility to post these videos for millions of people to see makes it the perfect platform for trending content. TikTok has become the homeland for trends: if it becomes popular on TikTok, pretty sure it will go viral on the internet.


It's expected that TikTok will grow and have even more followers, representing a wide market where brands can find new audiences, grow, and gain relevance to a spectant audience. There are many benefits, but why don't all brands join TikTok?


Many brands are still in the process of understanding how TikTok works for them and their strategy, but the companies that have already understood the relevance of the platform and started using it are now leading the new era of social media branding by learning and embracing the TikTok community style.


Here are 5 companies that understood TikTok:


The Washington Post

Yes, the newspaper has been reborn in the form of short videos! The WP has played a very unique and creative way of making us tune in to the news. The account is run by David and his friends, these characters have the task to tell WP articles and news as relatable situations, making the information actionable, easy, and pleasant to watch. This creative strategy has worked since the WP TikTok account has no less than 1.4M followers and keeps growing.


Oreo

Oreo's account is described as “the Playful moments from your favorite cookie”. The star of the show is the iconic Oreo cookie that sits on 1.5 M followers, not bad for a cookie. The strategy: Make the cookie talk, show his personality! The cookie is hilarious in any situation, doing several trending challenges, responding to other videos, and, of course, pushing his new products in a 100% fun-loving way.

Duolingo

The account of this app started by making language learning videos, however when they posted a funny video of the company’s big green owl and it went viral they changed their strategy. They stopped the video lessons and began to focus on Duo, the silly and audacious owl with a high school mascot team’s vibe. Duo's wildness invades TikTok making hilarious pranks -at the Gen Z humor style- always doing the latest trend- take the Dua Lipa case for example: when millions of people started following Duolingo’s Twitter accounts thinking it was the same person as the singer, Duo took it as a joke and began a platonic love with Dua lipa, asking her to marry them and being a huge fan, dedicating many of its videos to her. Did the strategy work? Ask his 4.3M followers, with many of their video views in the millions.


Red Bull

An account that has stayed true to its style and personality and succeeded on TikTok has been Red bull-the drink has always handled very creative digital content focused on extreme sports and it's no wonder how well these videos match with the ultimate task of the platform: hook the audience. Amazing videos of unbelievable extreme stunts in beautiful places is the special formula that Red bull played and played very well. Red Bull's strategy to gain 6.6M followers is not only based on its quality content but also on the how-to shape its material into an attractive and engaging feed that makes us believe-certainly-Redbull gives us wings.


Netflix

Its TikTok page is one of the most varied on the platform, from clips of their movies and series to behind-the-scenes content to quick games such as Guess the Netflix show or who wore it best, to exclusive interviews with actors, to mixing scenes from different series to create a meme… you name it! Netflix has 23.7M followers that enjoy the very creative and fresh content of each video, always the latest video more shareable and trending than the last.


What these successful cases teach us is the golden ticket to a good TikTok account.

Learnings

  • Less is more: Lively and relatable content is what followers look for. So don't overthink, there is an audience for everyone out there.

  • Join the group: The followers want to see you take part in their community, their slang, music, and trends. Experiments are always welcome!

  • Do not over-sell it: TikTok is not a marketplace, don't sell your product, sell the experiences that come within, sell useful content, sell enjoyable content. Make a feed you can't get tired of, not a virtual catalog.

  • But overall, Be authentic: People have grown tired of social media fakeness. TikTok is the platform where you can show and express your true self, and show your brand's personality. Recognize it, exploit its full potential and never forget to make it your brand's way.


Now, the question remains: Is your brand ready to join TikTok?

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