Unleashing the power of video content

The platform’s far-reaching prominence is felt globally, including in markets like the GCC, a region with a bustling young population that has grown up with social media at their fingertips.

TikTok picked up pace during the COVID-19 pandemic as people were home-bound, the social platform offered a great way to share and connect through entertainment.

It’s unique from the other social media platforms in a few ways – TikTok’s discovery algorithm gives every video an equal chance to go viral, regardless of how popular the content creator is, which levels the playing field when it comes to reach and engagement.

TikTok also has a host of sharing options, including stitches, duets, creating, saving, and reusing original audio, as well as challenges.

Representative of youth culture

In the Middle East and North Africa, more than 60 percent of the 400 million-plus population are aged 30 years or younger. While each age demographic has its content preferences, the youth generation, Gen-Z, prefers to consume video. They don’t just ‘watch’ videos either, they prefer interactive content as a means to ‘connect’ with others. Rich video format content can be used for everything and anything, whether it’s for news and educational resources, entertainment, or shopping.

As such, TikTok and its video content has evolved as the preferred marketing tool to reach and engage digital natives and the youth generation. Rightly so, as users in the MENA region are spending 80 minutes per day on the platform.

For brands looking to connect with Gen-Z, they need to deliver authentic, relevant content that is aligned with the desire for less ‘manufactured’ and more ‘real people’ organic.

Embracing social commerce

Social commerce is estimated to become a $1.2 trillion global market by 2025, so it was no surprise when TikTok followed the other platforms in this space. Launched over a year ago, the Creative Center offers guidance and inspiration for businesses on its platform to understand what’s working.

While TikTok isn’t normally thought of as a social commerce platform, data shows there is huge potential for it to have an impact on the bottom line for brands. In fact, according to TikTok’s annual ‘What’s Next Trend’ report released in early 2022, it was found that 67 percent of users in the GCC region claimed that TikTok inspired them to shop, even when they weren’t looking to do so.

Thanks to TikTok’s increased popularity and unique and interest-based recommendations, people can discover products while watching, creating and sharing content on the app. Users can also shop directly via shopping carts embedded in short videos, live streams and creator products – all without having to leave TikTok. As a result, brands are now successfully selling their products and services on the app.

Stand out amongst the competition

As consumers continue to gather in content-driven communities on social platforms, the opportunities for brands are endless. Brands of any size and marketing budget can go viral on TikTok – it all comes down to the right content.

Here are a few examples of several global brands using TikTok to reach their target audience:

• Fine partnered with TikTok to develop nine videos under a Ramadan Wisdom Series.
• Starbucks created a hashtag challenge, with a drama-style track for people to express their love for the brand. One of the most successful campaigns during Ramadan was Arla Foods’ #Ramadaneprep, which had TikTok users share videos of how they got ready for the Holy Month.
• Kia’s Sonet was launched in Saudi Arabia by one of the Kingdom’s top TikTok creators who made a mini-series.

TikTok also opens up new avenues for brands to converse with their audiences. UAE retail group Alshaya utilized the platform’s live stream format to create its first-ever online shopping event, #ShopTillYouTok, targeting Gen-Z bargain-hunters.

The campaign ran for eight days and each day, a different brand from the group ran a live stream on the best deals for Black Friday. They could connect with users in the community in real-time, sharing dynamic links to products and services.

DCT Abu Dhabi optimizes and scales TikTok content

With over 1 billion active accounts, every TikTok user has the potential to reach an enormous audience – but not everyone manages to do so. You need a brand-centric TikTok strategy and to continuously track performance.

As part of its destination marketing drive in 2021, to inspire a global audience to consider Abu Dhabi as part of their future travel plans, The Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) used video to promote attractions and events throughout the city. TikTok appealed to them because of its younger, more humanized tone of voice.

To boost its presence on the platform, DCT Abu Dhabi partnered with content creators to showcase the best of the Emirate with creativity and authenticity. As a result, DCT Abu Dhabi’s paid and organic content strategy achieved significant results.

The ‘Visit Abu Dhabi’ account is now among the top three most followed tourism boards globally, and as of January 2022, the account had earned more than 110 million views, 1.9 million likes, and over 15,000 comments.

Gone are the days in which marketers create advertisements for the sake of having something out there. In today’s new age of TikTok, marketing needs to be authentic to gain attention amongst the noise. If your content doesn’t resonate, is not relatable or emotive, it will likely be swiped away as quickly as it appeared.

Christian Bechara, Vice President – MEA at Emplifi