It’s Time to TikTok

For the record, you can make a pizza crust out of canned chicken. It took me 15 seconds to learn how and less than a half-second to realize: “Nope. Not for me.” 
 
So why is everyone saying TikTok is the best thing in their life? Canned chicken pizza crust? Dancing? Pet videos? Challenges? Pranks? We’ve seen all that.
 
But like a teenager gawking at a tablet, I took another look. 
 
It’s wild, weird, creative, informative, useful, intelligent … 
 
What is happening? 
 
TikTok is in that interesting place where the users are evolving the platform — it’s changing quickly, and the opportunities for brands are eye-popping. And like every social platform before it, its evolution reveals insights about the new ways we want to engage.
 
Should your B2B brand be on the trendiest social platform? Maybe. We certainly have a new rule: Always pay attention to contagious creativity. 
 
It’s not that your B2B brand needs to be on the latest social craze. Jumping on the “flavor-of-the-month marketing” train is not our style — nor should it be yours. As marketers, we need to see and understand why it’s working, how it’s evolving, and what insights it reveals about us human types.  
 
These insights should be informing every communication and marketing strategy going forward, until we reveal the next shift in content consumption. 
 
Why is TikTok getting more powerful, and what is it telling us? 
 

Anything in 15 seconds

It’s all pretty simple: It’s an editing tool, i.e., the thing we do to simplify anything to its most essential understanding. 
 
Users are now creating spaces for everything from recipes, financial advice and mental health support to career advice and education. Any type of process, story or piece of information that can be understood, is. All in a quick, creative, human way. 

It’s all not boring.  
 
Brands are starting to accept job applications and video resumes on TikTok. Some companies are even starting to recruit new employees on the platform. 
 
Here’s a taste of a few “recipe-Toks” (as the social-savvy would say): 
 

@cookingbomb

No cooking oil, stir fry with water! Turning boring cabbage into a tasty dish! The crunchy sounds in the end 😍#homecook #chinesefood #stirfry #美食

♬ original sound - Vivian Aronson 袁倩祎

 

@tasty

Pinch me, because I must be dreaming. It can’t be real, can it?! #friedchicken #grilleddonuts

♬ so this is love - soft girl aesthetic

 

Are you hungry yet?

As you watch, think about every case study, white paper, solutions guide, etc. It’s time to give them the TikTok treatment. The creativity in which users are telling complex stories has me believing we can take any piece of content and make it more relevant, real and engaging. 
 

Everything understood

TikTok has essentially created a new business model and is on track to become an e-commerce powerhouse. Brands are going directly to consumers with in-app shopping and testing direct-to-consumer shopping. 
 
Should we be selling complex technical offerings with long purchase decisions on the latest social platform? Maybe. But understanding anything in seconds is feasible — and it just takes a little bit of creativity. 
 
It could be a selling tool, but the TikTok strategy is to create understanding. And we should take notice that seeing anything in action while listening to someone knowledgeable is incredibly powerful. That last statement seems obvious, but fusing an audience’s visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles into one short video may welcome a larger audience to engage quicker.
 
Not only is it simple, creative and authentic, but if you can streamline your complex, technical product or offering into a mere 15-second snippet, the buying cycle just became a whole lot shorter.

Creators are communicating ideas with such simplicity that we may never go back. Here’s a great example from Microsoft:

@microsoft365

New Feature Alert: Save a life. Turn off their camera. #MicrosoftTeams

♬ original sound - Microsoft 365

And if you love before-and-after cleaning videos, you’re welcome.
 

@jtmobiledetailing

Thursday’s detail, but seriously what do you call the gas thing? Cause I’d like to know #jtmobiledetailing

♬ original sound - Jessica Tran

Are you also seeing the potential of B2B product demos, set-up guides and features — all Tik’ed and Tok’ed to create the simplest understanding with an authentic personality that is solely your own?
 

Contagious creativity

I mentioned our new rule: Always pay attention to contagious creativity. It renews your creative energy and reveals how the next generation of B2B decision makers want to consume their content. 
 
Take a look and see how creators are upping the content game and brands are building campaigns that match what their audience is already engaged with. 
 
So, should your B2B brand jump on the latest social platform to meet an audience where they’re already engaged? 

Maybe. 
 
We always meet our audience where they’re already engaged. But are we doing it in ways that leave impressions that say, “We get you, you’re a person, and that’s why we took this boring bulleted list of product features and made it into a video”?

Take a look at these TikTok creations from Stirling Ultracold:

@stirlingultra

#sciencetiktok #labtech #scientist #womeninstem #phdlife #laboratory #biotechnology #safetyfirst #freezers

♬ Jackson 5-style opening(1040021) - Kids Sound

It might not be the right time for your B2B brand to be on TikTok, but we’re convinced we all need to start thinking like TikTok’ers. Look at everything we do and ask ourselves: 

•    Is it simplified? 
•    Is it creative? 
•    Is it authentic? 
 
Or, “How can we fit this communication into a TikToK-shaped box?” 
 
Go get on it, and maybe you’ll see some familiar faces.

@tricomb2bteam

Who wants to see a part two?

♬ Pennies From Heaven - Remastered - Louis Prima