Written by Denicia Lew, Wei Rong Loh and Tricia Lee.
Introducing TikTok for Business
With brands beginning to leverage TikTok as a platform to showcase creativity and engage audiences, TikTok has launched a new platform that gives advertisers the tools to be discovered and to connect with the 800 million active users already on it.
TikTok For Business allows marketers access to unique TikTok ad formats such as Top View (the ad that appears at the top of the feed when users launch the app), Brand Takeovers, In-Feed Videos, Hashtag Challenges, and Branded Lens Effects.
TikTok for Business may move the platform from being an experimental avenue for marketers to one that demands a seat at the table alongside other social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This will also open up the doors for new formats of advertising, such as optimizing for sound on, given the platform’s universal love for music, and even shorter form videos (no longer than 15s) than we are already familiar with.
The new format provides a new way for YouTubers to tap into the rising, 15-second clip trend, as they can “easily record multiple clips directly in the YouTube mobile app and upload as one video.” YouTube Shorts can also “take advantage of the video service’s catalog of licensed music, songs from which will be available to use as soundtracks for the videos created by users.” – a clear indication of YouTube eyeing TikTok’s core function as TikTok grew to be a popular channel among its audience.
Just like Instagram’s Reel, YouTube’s Shorts are housed within the existing platform and not as a separate app – which helps to leverage existing monetization tools as a lure to keep top creators from seeking to stay on trend by jumping over to another app.
Only time will tell when the platform will roll out the feature to all users, depending on the results of the experiment.
Instagram Shopping Now Available to More Businesses
From 9 July 2020 onwards, as long as an eligible business account with a minimum of one product meets the new requirements, they will be able to add Instagram Shopping tags which re-directs users to their website. With many brands moving towards e-commerce to accommodate our quarantine situation, this could be a great avenue to help them kick start their online venture.
In addition to the new commerce eligibility requirements, US businesses included in Instagram’s checkout beta test will allow users to make purchases directly from the app too. With this potential update in the future, this could allow businesses on Instagram to meet their target audience at the right time and potentially drive more sales.
Moving forward, all new businesses will be introduced to their new onboarding process and existing accounts will receive a notification on how they can adhere to the new eligibility requirements too.
