TikTok and Douyin 101 | How to use these platforms for your business

Though some brands are still slowly finding their way onto the WeChat platform by registering for overseas official accounts, we already have clients asking us for what’s next in terms of marketing tools to target the Chinese audience.

There is a rising star in that aspect, a social media platform known in China as Douyin and in markets outside of China as “TikTok”.

“TikTok” vs. “Douyin” | What’s The Difference?

The main difference is that you are only to download Douyin if your phone’s region is set to Mainland China (note that Hong Kong and Taiwan do not fall under the Mainland China region, so users in these two Special Administrative Regions also cannot access the China version called “Douyin”)

TikTok is available for download on the Apple Store and Android app stores and has shown a dramatic increase in its user base since it’s launch in September of 2016. It now has 500 million active users worldwide and was the most downloaded app in Q1 of 2019 with 188 million new users. On the Apple iOS store, it was actually the most downloaded app in the first quarter - talk about explosive growth!

Who Owns Douyin and TikTok?

ByteDance, a $75 billion Chinese tech giant, is the owner behind the hugely popular app. They are also the creators behind the news aggregator service called Toutiao, which is a daily news source for some 120 million users, with 200 million monthly active users and 700 million registered users.

There are some 4000 news outlets that feed the Toutiao news aggregator engine, resulting in an average of 200,000 new articles and videos being added to Toutiao each day - now just try reading ALL of that! If you are going after the millennial market, then Toutiao is one of the platforms you should consider, given 70% of their users were born after 1985 (34 years old and younger).

Douyin in China and TikTok in markets outside of China has helped ByteDance secure a sizeable share of eyeballs from the coveted Gen Z market, and from what the stats show, the platform will continue its growth into 2020.

TikTok and Douyin Content | 60 Second Short Videos

The videos on TikTok / Douyin can be as long as 60 seconds, but most of them are 15 seconds long. In terms of the type of content you can expect to see on TikTok and Douyin, the videos are mostly random short videos of everyday life accompanied by special music tracks on the platform. Like on Instagram where food, fashion, architecture, and design are popular content categories, Douyin has its own popular content categories; on Douyin in China, the most popular content category types are fashion styling, humor, dance and challenge videos.

The most popular accounts produce high quality, edited videos. For example, a KOL or Influencer on the platform specializing in fashion videos would compose a video showcasing his or her full week of outfits, complete with ’trick shots’ from interesting angles to capture their styling creativity.

How can brands and businesses use TikTok and Douyin?

If your business is looking to target the Chinese audience in China or Mainland Chinese who have immigrated abroad (but still use the China ‘Douyin’ version of the app), you can advertise on the platform through the official advertising platform and create video ads that have a pop-up prompt to take the user to a website or mobile app where they can view your products and make purchases. For example, a fashion brand could run a video ad and then take the user out to a retail eCommerce platform where they have an official store, like Taobao, T-Mall, JD and more.

Working with KOLs and Influencers on the Douyin platform

Another way for brands to leverage the Douyin platform to market to the Chinese millennial audience is to work with key opinion leaders and/or Influencers on the Douyin platform. For example, a streetwear brand may work with fashion KOLs on the platform, and provide them with custom music tracks and a branded video frame for them to create sponsored content to promote the brand’s new collection. Brands can have the KOLs they work with tag the content using a special hashtag to make it easier for their followers to see that this is a branded campaign.

For example, for the launch of their handbag collection, Michael Kors worked with KOLs on Douyin to create sponsored content using the campaign hashtag #城市T台，不服来抖#.

User behavior on Douyin and TikTok

The popularity of the app has exploded in the past year, and the newsfeed continually loops the video you are watching or you can swipe up to watch the next video. This content delivery format has proven to be so addictive that there is now a function where a warning would pop up to remind you if you have watched over 90 minutes on the app. If you reach a daily usage of 2 hours, the app will automatically lock, requiring the user to re-enter their password before they can use the app again.

Stunning Usage Adoption for Douyin Within China | 250 Million Daily Active Users

According to the official stats released by Douyin for the year ending 2018, Douyin usage within China saw daily active users of over 250 million, with monthly active users surpassing 500 million. Douyin users from Mainland China visited the app over 260 million times while trekking across 233 countries and regions.

The 3 most active time periods for Douyin users who use the Mainland China version of the app are between 12-1PM, 6-7PM, and 9-10PM. Popular content amongst different age groups is also detailed in the release, with those born in the 60s recording videos of babies, those from the 70s recording dance videos, those from 80s recording ‘hand-motion’ dance videos, and those born in the 90s leaning towards selfie videos.

Should we set up an official brand account for our business on TikTok or Douyin?

While there are brands that have set up an official brand account, like popular mobile device brands Honor and Oppo in China, their following on the platform isn’t nearly as high as all KOLs and Influencers on the platform. We recommend collaborating with KOLs on the platform to create unique sponsored content on TikTok or Douyin instead of starting your own official account.

Interested in working with KOLs on the Douyin platform or simply want to find out more about how your brand or business could be using TikTok and Douyin to expand your social presence? Reach out to our Chinese Marketing Specialists to learn more today.

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