It’s time to pay attention to TikTok if you aren’t already. TikTok is the destination for short-form mobile videos. As of 2020, the application has over 800 million active users worldwide. That’s a lot of people. Despite its rapid rise, there are still plenty of people that aren’t familiar with the platform. If this sounds like you, here’s a breakdown of the application taking the world by storm.

The History of TikTok

TikTok’s origins are quite different from other start-up stories. This is not an empire built by a few friends in someone’s basement.

Back in 2014, an application called Musical.ly was launched. When it was first released, the application was most known for its short, lip-syncing videos. It was very similar to Vine, an application that was known for its short, six-second videos. Unfortunately, Vine shut down in early 2017. Rest in peace.

However, that same year, a Chinese company called ByteDance acquired the Musical.ly application and rebranded it. Thus, TikTok was born. Since 2017, we have seen the application climb its way to the top of the best and most used social media platforms. In the first quarter of 2018, TikTok was the world’s most downloaded iOS application, according to a report from U.S. research firm Sensor Tower.

TikTok in 2020

So, why is the application so successful?

We all know that money is power. TikTok itself generates significant revenue through advertising and in-app purchases. Plus, TikTok continues to find new users. Once the pandemic hit in early 2020, teenagers and young adults everywhere were locked indoors for weeks on end. Because of this, TikTok became the most download application in the world – installed 315 million times in the first quarter of 2020. I may or may not be guilty of downloading the application right around then…

TikTok Marketing

Unlike Instagram, Vine, or YouTube, TikTok doesn’t yet feel dominated by micro-celebrities, though they certainly exist. Because of this, users are still interested in the application. Although the application doesn’t have any formal profit-sharing system, brands are still getting their products and services in front of a large audience.

Many brands do a combination of running their own channels and working with influencers to spread content to a broader audience. All the influencer marketing techniques you see on other video-based platforms, such as YouTube, work on TikTok too. If your product suits an influencer’s audience, your TikTok influencer campaign should succeed.

Get Going on TikTok

Even if you don’t plan on advertising, the application is still fun to use for people of all ages. The short videos make it an easily digestible form of social media for many.

It’s not too hard to see why videos are so popular today. It’s an easy-to-digest format that gives our eyes a break from the textual information we often read on our screens. Plus, it’s fun to kick back and relax while watching a few, short videos.