How TikTok Has Become King
Social Media Management | 3 min read
As we all know, TikTok took the world by storm with its short-form videos back in 2016, and never stopped spiking in popularity. With over 1 billion active global users, the app has been leading the way for how other platforms share content.
The proven success of short, easily digestible videos has social media giants above TikTok integrating their ideas. It isn’t anything new that TikTok is victim to copycats, clapping back with questionable integrations themself, leaving us wondering—is there such a thing as unique features these days? We’ll cover how Instagram, YouTube, and even Amazon are taking after TikTok in this social media war.
Instagram’s recent emphasis on reels has been a hit, but now they’re testing out a full-sized feed as a new immersive experience, that happens to look *coincidentally* similar to TikTok’s layout. While the app has been releasing endless new features lately, this one was implemented with the intention of bringing videos more front and center.
Shortly after this news surfaced, there was notable backlash that led to the test discontinuing. The idea was explained by Instagram CEO, Adam Mossasri, as “You can have tall videos, but you cannot have tall photos on Instagram. So we thought maybe we should make sure that we treat both equally”.
Instagram is still planning on testing tall photos, the larger format post size scaling up to 9:16 from the current 4:5, but will be giving users a choice.
YouTube Shorts have seen massive success with their launch, specifically implemented for promoting short-form videos. While this may not seem revolutionary, it is a testament to the impact that reducing viewing time on content has had, as we’ve seen with TikTok. Especially given that Youtube is predominantly known for hosting videos upwards of thirty minutes, encouraging users to scale down longer content pieces is significant for a platform that hasn’t strayed far from its core functions over the past 17 years.
Similarly to TikTok, they’ve also begun watermarking videos to discourage cross-posting between platforms.
In a surprising turn, Amazon has also jumped on the bandwagon, internally testing a TikTok-like feed in its app. Since the Amazon platform is retail based, this is a superior example of how video is not only dominating the social media landscape but also continuing to play a key role in e-commerce.
This photo and video feature is being tested under the name “Inspire”, and will allow users to scroll through a multimedia feed of products that they can like, share, and hopefully purchase.
As time progresses and new updates continue to roll out, it will be interesting to see how these features play a role in the success of these platforms. The impact they have on both the creator and digital marketing sides of things will be determined by users—we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!
Social Media Management | 3 min read
Stay up to date with the latest marketing, social media tips, guides and news.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us
© 2024 The Influence Agency. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy
Please do not solicit.
No junk mail.
Thank you
For the latest tips, growth hacks, and news in digital marketing
Do you follow an influencer that you absolutely adore and think they deserve to be recognized for all the great work that they do? Click below to nominate your favourite North American influencers for The Influence Awards!
Are you aiming to increase web traffic or grow your social media presence? Figure out why you’re leveraging paid media in the first place and build your strategy from there. Having clearly defined goals in mind will help you focus on your brand’s key priorities.
Designing strategies that cater to all three stages of the buyer journey ensures that you’re maximizing your brand’s reach. Every user at every stage is valuable—and you have to make sure you’re creating paid media content that speaks to each audience type.
Effective paid media is tied to targeting the right keywords. If you’re leveraging paid search ads to appear on SERPs (search engine results pages), then in-depth research is necessary. Bid on the keywords that are most relevant to your business to trigger only the most effective ad appearances.
Gather your team—because it’s time to start coming up with ad copy that wins attention. The key is to resonate with your audience and inspire engagement. Be real. Be relatable. And most importantly, don’t underestimate the power of creativity.
Do the landing pages on your website effectively push visitors further down the sales funnel? If not, you’re letting potential customers slip through your fingers. Optimize each of your landing pages so that they nudge users towards converting.
The options are plenty when it comes to paid advertising, including Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Pinterest among others. Analyze who your target demographic is, research where it’s best to connect with them, and then target the platforms where you wish to build awareness.
If you’re ready to build your paid media ad campaign, you’ll find that it will be further broken down into “ad groups” to ensure more effective pay-per-click advertising. These ad groups house one or more ads that have similar targets or categories. Let’s say your brand’s website features categories such as clothing, shoes, and accessories. Creating ad groups according to keywords that fall under these categories will help the PPC system decide when to show ads for these products.
Retargeting ads are bound to succeed because it’s a second shot at a conversion. Visitors have shown interest in the product/service once before, and sometimes all it takes is a little reminder to push them to the checkout page. So don’t forget to retarget and aim better this time.
In the world of paid media, what works and what doesn’t? You’ll have to run A/B tests to find out! Whether you’re testing which keywords bring more traffic or which social platforms earn more ad engagement, you won’t find out what really works for your brand until you test it.
Revisit your initial goals. Did your efforts bring about the results you expected? Tracking results is an essential step in your brand’s paid advertising campaigns. The data you collect from currently running ads will help lay the foundation for your future campaigns.
After tracking your results, you’ll be able to see where adjustments are necessary. There’s always room for improvement, so keep striving to consistently resonate and build trust with your audience—it’s how to create paid ads that pay off.
213 Sterling Rd. Unit 214 
Call Us:
info@theinfluenceagency.com
