TikTok is planning an aggressive expansion to e-commerce in the US, where it will go head-to-head with Silicon Valley giant Facebook.
According to the Chinese viral video app, advertisers are being informed about a number of new features for 2021, according to several people who saw its plans, such as a tool that allows the most popular users to share links to products and automatically earn commission for any sales.
‘It’s old school affiliate marketing,’ said a senior advertising manager, adding that videographers can make a link to products they like, even if they are not formally sponsored by the brand.
TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, is also aiming to display brands’ catalogs of their products on the platform, people say.
The app is also said to be ‘livestreamed’ shopping, a mobile version of television shopping channels, where users can buy goods with a few taps after being shown by TikTok stars. This follows the test of the live shopping feature with Walmart that was announced late last year. TikTok declined to comment.
‘It feels like TikTok is going to skip [introducing a] desk [experience] and go straight into commerce, ”said Jack Smyth, creative technology officer at WPP’s Mindshare.
“Culturally, TikTok is well placed for live streaming trading to capture the divisive distinction between content and commerce, as it does not feel as bright as other platforms,” he adds.
The tools will further bring TikTok, which has already announced a partnership with e-commerce platform Shopify, into competition with Facebook.
Last year, in some countries, Facebook introduced tools on its photo-sharing app Instagram to make it easier for people to buy goods, and a digital shopping channel on its main Facebook website. Instagram has meanwhile made a copy of TikTok’s rollable video entry called Reels.
Some advertisers have been wary of TikTok, suggesting that the current advertising system is a work in progress. “The product and content have not matured into a place where sophisticated advertisers really want to connect,” said one manager of the advertising agency.
Two people said that this year the platform planned to further develop its self-service advertising platform, allowing brands to easily place their own ads online rather than manually placing them with a sales representative, bringing it in line with larger competitors. The people aimed to improve its ad targeting tools, including tracking users.
The app experienced serious problems in the US last year, where former president Donald Trump threatened to ban it because of his Chinese ownership.
It remains unclear what approach the Biden administration will take towards the company, but some advertisers seem more relaxed about the app.
“The latest changes in US political leadership have made customers more comfortable on the platform,” said Kris Hoet, global head of innovation at advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding. ‘Our largest offices [globally] confirmed this [many brands] was already active or considering activating this year. ”
Last week, TikTok announced its first major deal with an advertising agency, WPP, which will give the London advertising group access to its latest advertising products sooner, in a move that raises WPP’s share price and uncomfortably competitive social media groups, according to advertisers. .
TikTok’s biggest attraction is its large, and partly untapped, audience of young users. According to the company, 40 percent of the people on TikTok do not have a Facebook account, and that 63 percent are not on Twitter, according to one marketer recently posted.
‘With TikTok you watch billions of campaigns [of views]. Mostly on other platforms. . . the campaigns are in the millions, ”said Karyn Spencer, chief marketing officer of the Whalar influence marketing group.