5 TikTok Trends You NEED To Know In 2021

As TikTok continues to scale up the social media arena which has been downloaded over 2.6billion times worldwide now, its rising popularity is encompassed with fast changing trends.

According to a study by Tribe Dynamics, 35% of influencers have said that they started to use TikTok more frequently over the past year. In addition to this, 35% of brands that have a dedicated influencer marketing strategy also have a whole team focused on TikTok influencer marketing. 

That said, due to its high usage and download rate, it is not surprising that TikTok serves the potential for reaching greater audiences. In order to execute a successful marketing campaign, it is important for brands and influencers alike to be constantly kept up to date with the latest trends.

In this blog post, we are covering 5 TikTok Trends you need to know in 2021. Let’s get started!

1. Rise of Social Commerce on TikTok

TikTok is slowly catching on to popular social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, with social commerce. Already implemented onto Facebook and Instagram, this feature is slowly rising in popularity after TikTok and Shopify’s partnership. 

Through this partnership, sellers on Shopify not only get to manage their TikTok marketing campaigns through Shopify directly, but they are also given the ability to monitor and track their TikTok marketing campaigns & the relevant metrics. To further incentivize this, Shopify sellers are also given $300 to spend on their first TikTok campaign. Now who can say no to that?

Furthermore, TikTok’s Hashtag Challenge Plus lets brands set a sponsored form of hashtag challenge. This is such that this special hashtag adds a shoppable component where a tab is included and users can purchase the product from within TikTok. 

2. Branded Hashtag Challenge

Now the Branded Hashtag Challenge is different from what was mentioned earlier (Hashtag Challenge Plus). The Branded Hashtag Challenge is one of the most popular trends on TikTok now. It is when consumers are tasked to carry out a task/challenge and record themselves doing it, and thereafter posting it on social media with the specific hashtag. Such challenges are popular amongst brands because of its potential to go viral, and thus would aid in creating brand awareness.

Case in point, Universal Pictures. In an attempt to launch their new fantasy comedy movie, they came up with a branded hashtag #FindYourMagic and allowing users to interpret this in their own way and show their own magic.

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This not only helped to build awareness for the brand and movie, but also stimulated interest to watch the movie. Garnering 1.3 million likes, over 19k user-generated videos and more than 11k followers gained in a matter of days, it can be concluded that this branded hashtag challenge was nothing short of successful.

3. Increasing importance of User-Generated Content

User-Generated Content refers to content created by unpaid contributors, in which these videos are used by brands thereafter to promote their products. It is equivalent to word-of-mouth marketing in digital marketing, where users tend to share their experiences with the brand, and share it on social media. 

An example of this is TikTok influencer Anna Sitar, where her account is mainly known for reviewing various Starbucks drinks. This has not only managed to allow her to gain a large fan base, but also helped to further promote Starbucks as a brand (even though Starbucks is already relatively widely known).

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Another example of this is Samsung’s branded hashtag challenge, the #VideoSnapChallenge, which was aimed at introducing the newest feature on the Samsung Galaxy S21 camera. This feature enables users to take high resolution photos while filming 8k videos. 

Encouraged by Samsung to take part in their TikTok challenge, this branded hashtag challenge was found to be one of the most successful branded hashtag challenges out there, with over 30 billion views today while generating loads of User-Generated Content.

It definitely can be hard to continuously come up with fresh content ideas for brands, as such having someone to create the content for them will for sure make posting easier. With the amount of benefits attributed to User-Generated Content, more and more brands are hopping onto this trend and encouraging consumers to post videos of themselves using their products.

4. More Celebrities using TikTok to reach younger audiences

It only makes sense for celebrities to follow where their fans go, and for this case, it is TikTok. An increasing number of celebrities have joined the TikTok world in order to potentially reach younger audiences. Some of these celebrities include Justin Bieber, Will Smith and Katy Perry, where their videos easily manage to reach millions of views.

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An example for this is TikTok mega influencer Charli D’ Amelio - now a celebrity, who was seen on TikTok promoting invisalign.

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5. Promoting New Music on TikTok

More and more musicians and artists are coming to TikTok to promote their new releases, and that goes the same for record label companies like Warner Music. This also comes after TikTok’s release of a new feature Stitch - a new editing feature that allows users to use snippets of content from other TikTokers.

Olivia Rodrigo, American songwriter and actress, a rising star in the making can be seen promoting her new release “Driver’s License” on her TikTok. First making it into a TikTok audio that can be used by other users as well.

Celebrities Niall Horan and Anne Marie were also seen promoting their newest track on Warner Music’s TikTok.

As such, both influencers and brands can capitalize on TikTok’s Stitch feature to create more engaging content. Additionally, music focused influencers and brands can also use this trend to better promote their latest releases.

Implications

Concluding this blog post, it is always important to know where trends are heading, especially on growing platforms like TikTok. It is ideal for brands to use these knowledge of trends to their advantage so that they can expand their reach and increase brand awareness.

Adding on to that, having the right knowledge to increase brand awareness is one thing, while knowing how to run a successful influencer marketing campaign is another. Click here to find out more and sign up for a free demo now!