TikTok brings out ‘What’s Next’ for 2023

Sahail Ashraf posted on 6 January 2023

Sometimes platforms try to tell brands what to do to be successful in social media marketing. TikTok is the latest to do this with the new What’s Next.

TikTok has always looked to the future. The very nature of the audience it enjoys means that everything has a young and positive feel. The brand has just released a ‘What’s Next’ report that gives readers a view on what TikTok thinks will be important on the platform in the year ahead.

So what’s in it?

TikTok has sectioned the report into three main areas. The first is ‘Actionable Entertainment’. The brand has spoken about how it has helped users ‘reimagine entertainment’ and it’s encouraging marketers to think about how they convey their message.

TikTok states that 4 out of 5 of the users find the platform entertaining. The upshot here is that users like to be entertained, and that if brands can tap into this, they may just have a chance of gaining real momentum.

If your brand or client is creating TikTok videos that essentially ‘sell’ rather than entertain, they won’t gain traction. TikTok is basically saying that the users want fun and entertainment first. Brands that create entertaining, uplifting videos will fit into that culture more easily.

TikTok even offers a couple of pointers on how to make this happen. It suggests using text overlays or synching sound. But perhaps the most important pointer it offers is the suggestion that brands make videos personalised.

Joy

Then TikTok suggests, as the second area, that brands focus on ‘Making space for joy’. Linked to the first area, this is again about entertainment, but also about making sure that audiences take something happy away from the videos.

TikTok says that 90% of users (who took an action after leaving a TikTok) said that the platform never gets boring. That’s significant in that users seemingly want to take the feeling they get from TikTok into their own lives.

So that means even the least ‘self care’ brand in the world can still offer tips on how to use their products, or advice on how to have a good day with their product. Users will appreciate the fun message and the ideas and feelings they can take into their day. 

Community-built ideals 

Here’s what TikTok has to say about the last of the three areas:

“TikTok is not a town hall meeting. It’s a collection of tiny clubs where people can find new ideas on how to explore their passions and live their lives. In fact, TikTok is 1.8x more likely to introduce people to new topics they didn’t know they liked compared to traditional social platforms(1). And as people seek out ways to break the status quo, they’ll look to peers and role models who demonstrate the confidence to live life the way they want to.“

TikTok is really pushing the community element here. This makes sense, because more and more of the user base is tapping into ideas shared by the community.

The message here is all about being part of that community. Brands should aim to answer questions and share useful stuff that really makes an impact on the user base. TikTok has (in a funny way, like Reddit) started to develop communities. Some of these are niche communities. For example, you may find a parenting community on there, or a community dedicated to clean eating. 

If brands can tap into this and add value to the communities that are relevant, then there is much more potential. Because TikTok is turning into a community space, brands that provide that community will have much more success.

To sum up

To be fair, TikTok is not telling us anything groundbreaking here. Essentially, it is saying that brands should be entertaining and useful, and build a community. 

However, this is all about the trends on TikTok. If a platform is pointing out to brands what the future looks like, it’s worth sitting up and taking notice. There is an opportunity to see the full report here. It’s well worth reading. Anything that isn’t in your particular TikTok toolset needs to be adopted before we start moving through 2023.

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