TikTok Visual Language and Viral Content Methodology
TikTok is causing a global popularity. Zuckerberg once said on a financial conference call: "TikTok is such a huge competitor." Therefore, whether it is TikTok official or marketing agencies, or even academic fields, they have conducted comprehensive research on it.
Today we will share a study on TikTok's visual language from business consulting agency StripePartners, and summarize the "viral content" methodology that attracts users' attention and interaction and spreads spontaneously, in order to help all overseas companies to better conduct TikTok content Creation and Marketing.
01 TikTok is "more rich than language"
Language and words highly condense information through syllables and symbols, while TikTok highly condenses a piece of content through specific music and actions.
Whether at home or abroad, TikTok is a "stalking machine".
The phrase "Saipan" made global users recognize the pink-clad Thai woman shouting at the jungle, the song #xuehuapiaopiaobeifengxiaoxiao made "One Cut Plum" go to the world, and a "domestic violence call for help" gesture also successfully rescued the missing girl...
In TikTok short videos, background music, human expressions, stickers and captions are all part of the message. In the small mobile phone screen, the user's eyes, ears and brain simultaneously receive higher density information.
And when this kind of information appears repeatedly and quickly, there will be a "brainwashing" effect - when you hear a popular melody, you will think of the corresponding action, and when you see a silent action, you can even "brain supplement" on bgm - what the brand wants most , which is the effect.
For example, McDonald's classic "balabababa" and Intel's "waiting lights and other lights" are one of the most successful group impressions in the history of marketing. But to achieve such an effect, giant companies such as McDonald's and Intel have spent years of effort and capital, and all this has become simple and affordable in front of TikTok.
02 How to use TikTok features to make viral videos
If a brand can “create a stalk” and form a “Meme” on TikTok, then its TikTok marketing will undoubtedly be successful.
In the actual service process, we also recommend that customers "follow hot spots rather than create hot spots". After gaining insight into the usage habits and favorite directions of TikTok users, it is the best policy to actively create viral videos around the brand.
According to the characteristics of the TikTok platform introduced above and the elements that bring the "brainwashing" effect to users, we have summarized the following core methods for creating viral content:
- Use short, rhythmic and memorable bgm:
In TikTok, the number one factor that attracts users is the voice. When people swipe their finger to the next video, before they can see the content of the screen, they will start to hear the bgm of the new video. Therefore, the bgm selected by the brand when making a viral video must "snatch" within 3-5 seconds.
These bgm can be a rhythmic melody, a cadenced phrase, or just a burst of "unforgettable" laughter. If your brand can't put in the effort to create your own exclusive bgm, you might as well choose from more than 100,000 copyright-free songs in TikTok's commercial music library (note that you need to convert your TikTok account to a business account if you want to use it for free).
- Start the dance challenge/set exclusive moves:
Another factor that affects user memory and can trigger imitation is action. One of the most popular content on TikTok is lip-synching, gesture dancing, and dance challenges. If brands can set up an exclusive action for themselves and add it to the beginning or end of each video, it will be able to deepen the user's impression of the brand's content. If the background music of method 1 is adapted to "gesture dance", it will be easier for users to imitate spontaneously. After all, launching a brand challenge requires a certain advertising budget, but a simple gesture dance can start with spontaneous communication.
For example, in the recent short video content of SHEIN, the action of grasping a lot of SHEIN packaging bags and clothes was set at the beginning to attract users to follow the trend and open the box.
- Emphasize "repetition" by all means:
The first step in brainwashing is "repetition". If the user hears bgm once and sees the action once and won't be impressed, find ways to allow the user to hear and see it multiple times. There are 2 ways to do this for brands.
One is to repeat it many times on your homepage, such as the SHEIN approach we introduced above.
The second is to repeat many times on the homepage of the influencers. Brands can choose influencers or even small and micro influencers who overlap with the attributes of the target users to cooperate and invite them to create "repeated" content to make people interested in a certain field. of users see it repeatedly.
The new pop culture shock caused by TikTok continues, and brands need to continuously study its ecology and user preferences to seize marketing opportunities in the popular revolution.
If you are interested in how to help your brand gain more traffic and influence in the transformation of TikTok and other social media platforms, if you need more one-on-one support from experienced overseas social media marketing experts, welcome to stay Please contact us below and we will arrange someone to contact you.