Scroll on! Staying the course during TikTok turbulence.
Plus why everything is still Jake Gyllenhaal's fault.
This Week at ViralMoment
Working through tough trends.
Since our last newsletter, the tough reality is that media surrounding the war in Ukraine is now trending. A takeaway that brings us some hope, though, is that we continue to see countless voices from all around the world – rally in support of Ukraine in real-time.
BTW: If you’re a brand figuring out how to approach the current climate on TikTok, consider tuning in to hear our Co-Founder and Product Lead – Tania Nikitenko – speak at the Social Media Breakfast webinar. This morning, she talked about what it means to successfully use social insights to navigate TikTok as a brand today – and shared advice for the months to come.
In this week’s installment, we’ll still give you the trend roundup as usual to highlight some of the moments that gave us something to smile about – and also give you a few insights into what’s happening on the TikTok side of things.
Trend Roundup
Who doesn’t love to see a good glow-up transition Tok? This trend is all kinds of smooth, crispy, and totally yassified. Jump on it.
Mind over matter, babes! Creators this week aren’t putting up with matters of the heart this week. Stay smart out in the streets out there and trust no bit– 🤭
If they’re gonna act up, why shouldn’t you? TBH they deserve it. For this trend, creators are serving just the right amount of petty revenge.
Trendsetter Spotlight
All eyes on TikTok.
As more and more companies, creators, and brands shift to using TikTok as their promotional platform of choice, the company continues to make pivotal changes to its offering. More features = more kinds of value propositions = more marketing dollars. In the last month, they’ve released a smattering of new updates and rollouts – and per our commitment to reducing everyone’s scrolling time (you’re welcome) – we’ve highlighted some of the biggest ones below.
10-minute videos.
Last week, TikTok announced that the max run time for videos has been upped to a maximum of 10 minutes. This move was somewhat expected, given the relatively recent time limit increase from just a minute up to three. In a strategy directly in competition with YouTube, the addition of longer-form content makes it easier for brands and creators alike to monetize.
Love that for them – but it also has us begging the question: will we be able to separate our FYP feeds based on length? What if we’re not in the mood to hear a 10-minute long storytime and get invested two minutes in without knowing the commitment we’ve unwittingly signed up for??? Our attention spans can only handle so much. Pls let us know!
Yellow light for crypto ads.
Crypto influencers assemble! If you remember the bouncing QR code ad from the Super Bowl (if you don’t – there was an ad in the Super Bowl that was literally just a bouncing QR code. And it won an award.) this won’t come as a surprise. A few sources confirmed the launch of a beta program for crypto companies to run paid ads. As of now, this program won’t apply to influencers or branded content – but there are rumors of an “allowlist” are floating around, so we might see some exceptions.
New ‘Sound On’ platform for music creators.
Good news for aspiring musicians: following beta testing in multiple countries, TikTok has launched “Sound On” – a music marketing and distribution service. “Sound On” will allow musicians to upload their work to the app directly onto a designated platform that includes analytics tools and allows them to receive royalties directly. This is big news for the massive communities of up-and-coming talent, and TikTok’s global head of music notes that:
“SoundOn is designed to support them as they take the first steps in their career. Our SoundOn teams will guide creators on their journey to the big stage and bring the expertise and power of TikTok to life for the artist.”
Here’s to young talent securing the bag and hopefully avoiding having to do future re-recordings of old albums that result in 10-minute versions…which now that we think of it, is probably totally the reason for that 10-minute video time limit extension. Thanks again, Jake Gyllenhaal.
Stir the Pot
Navigating a turbulent trend.
In response to a new ‘Fake News’ law aimed to censor information and dissent around the attack on Ukraine, the platform has suspended its livestreaming feature in Russia. So far, a statement was posted to Twitter:
As expected, people have responded with different takes. On the one hand, this action made by TikTok intends to protect its users from distributing content that could put them in danger of facing up to 15 years in prison for anything that the Kremlin deems to be disinformation. On the other, some users worry that this kind of blanket ban only contributes to the censorship further.
With regulations like these on the rise, companies have continued to use social media platforms including TikTok as a platform to speak out and take a stand up for what they believe in. Many tech companies including Apple and Netflix – plus DTC brands like Stoli and Levi’s – have also followed TikTok’s suit in limiting their services or pulling the plug on doing business in Russia altogether. Many have also issued statements in support of Ukraine.
Our advice to brands: continue to be supportive in your marketing messaging, but also remember to stay well-informed and pay attention to your audience and community! Just because conversations are happening online doesn’t mean you can’t read the room with a little bit of strategic social listening.