Why TikTok analysis should be part of your marketing strategy: audience insights

Engaged audience + purchasing power = marketing potential

It’s well known that TikTok has a younger audience compared to ageing platforms like Facebook, but that’s not exclusively the case anymore: demographics with purchasing power are now using the app. Though 10-19 year olds accounted for 32.5 percent of active users in the US in 2020 for example, the 20-29 age bracket accounted for 29.5 percent, and 30-50+ made up 37.4 percent.

As those older demographics become more active, it’s no coincidence TikTok is now the number two non-gaming app by consumer spending, thanks to a combination of in-app purchases and sales of virtual gifts used to tip creators. And even if you’re not selling directly to consumers, the popularity of educational content also creates scope for B2Bs to succeed through TikTok marketing efforts.

One additional unique factor that really makes TikTok valuable for marketers is how engaged its users are: the average time spent on the app per user is one hour per day, with 90 percent active daily. Analysis shows that TikTok has the highest social media engagement rate per post of any major platform.

Insights for data-driven marketing, waiting to be harnessed

One particularly powerful aspect of TikTok is the potential for actionable insights for those marketers who have access to the right tools and expertise to analyse its data. With TikTok marketing still new, that’s a relatively small group.

A key trait of the platform is that its users openly express behaviours like purchase intent: the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has millions of uses for example, helping to make it an excellent channel for understanding consumer behaviour with ideal opportunities for data-driven marketing.

@heartdefensor

unboxing my new levitating light bulb lamp 💡 link in bio #amazonmusthaves #amazonfinds #tiktokmademebuyit #tiktokmademebuythis

♬ happier x the truth untold – ryu

TikTok hashtags reveal key themes as well as uniqueness in audiences. If you can identify how audiences use those hashtags, it can tell you which topics drive conversations for which groups. Learning more about different groups in this way helps make it possible to predict how they may behave, and what kind of consumer they are – both significantly useful for targeted marketing.

So just how do you take that raw data and convert it into meaningful insights? Whispr Group’s tools quickly parse out linguistic analysis from publicly available TikTok conversations and bios to deliver key insights about consumers, audience segments, brands and products.

The analysis of words and phrases used therein can determine which audiences are behind the popularity of certain products or hashtags for example, provide data-driven direction for the marketing aesthetics and themes most likely to succeed in engaging those groups, as well as the influencers you may want to partner with (influencers are key on the platform, with brand advocacy a decisive factor).

Examples of valuable insights you can take from TikTok:

• Brand Awareness
• Brand Sentiment
• Purchase Intent
• Emerging Trends
• Audience Behaviour

Lagging presence of established brands presents opportunities

Despite its incredibly rapid rise, TikTok remains a relatively new platform, and while more brands are getting smart to its capabilities a number of household names are still proving slow to grasp the possibilities. At the time of writing for example neither Ikea USA nor Toyota had a TikTok presence of note, and they aren’t alone – it’s likely rivals in your segment are MIA too. That’s a lot of consumer data – not to mention marketing opportunity – that isn’t being harnessed.

Combine the absence of these otherwise omnipresent brands with their failure to harness the data insights available on the platform, and there’s a clear white space opportunity for others to fill the gap as early adopters.

Whether you want to identify opportunities for your own marketing success on the platform, or learn what your competitors are doing, click the button below to find out how Whispr Group can help you gain insights from TikTok data today.