What’s Next-TikTok trends, tips, and tricks 2023

By Lucy Bushell, OggaDoon Digital Marketing and PR

Introduction

Over the last year, TikTok has grown its audience by revolutionising content creation through sharing funny, real, and personal stories that brought communities together and helped others discover new ways of thinking.

Much like Instagram, TikTok has also announced its three key areas for the New Year: ‘actionable entertainment’, ‘making space for joy’, and ‘community-built ideals.’

All these themes are centred around TikTok’s user base, these goals show that the platform understands why people use it and what it needs to deliver more of to make them stick around. Namely, fun, positive feelings, and a sense of community. In this blog, I will look at these 2023 trends and give you some tips and tricks to reach your target audiences throughout this year.

What happened

Tiktok has released its 3rd annual trend report for 2023, its goal is to help digital marketers to understand what consumers are looking at and what they might want to see from brands. This will help marketers tailor their marketing strategies on and off the platform.

Sofia Hernandez, Global Head of Business Marketing for TikTok said:

“2022 was the year people realised they didn’t have to live their lives as they always have done — with different points of view and ideas transcending cultures on TikTok. Next year we’re going to see more of this — as our communities get more confident and inspire positive change together. Against the backdrop of the increasing cost of living and its associated challenges, our What’s Next report indicates people will be seeking new ways to achieve success, happiness, and wellbeing — and TikTok will be a tool to help them find it.”

Each of the areas covered in the report demonstrates the way TikTok is shaping and in some cases changing cultures.

Actionable entertainment

Other platforms personalise using broad identifying categories or by using a user’s browsing history. However, TikTok’s algorithm allows for similar content to the viewer's previous interactions to be brought to their attention, meaning content is curated based on what communities find entertaining. Making tailor-made targeted content inspires a broad group of people to take action and engage with brands and products.

Every creator is a storyteller and a good quality storyteller who understands that a balance and value of humour, perfectly timed audio, and helpful advice can pull in the desired viewers.

A number of people who took an off-platform action as a result of a TikTok video, 92% say they had felt a positive emotion towards the brand which led to the off-platform action. 72% say they obtained reviews from creators they trust on TikTok more than any other platform.

Making space for joy

Self-care advice and initiatives are all over TikTok, yet people are still burning out and documenting it through their videos. TikTok hosts endless opportunities for brands to tap into and spread some joy, 90% said the platform makes them happy and never gets boring. This is key for brands looking to make more meaningful connections with their audiences. In 2023, brands messaging on TikTok and other platforms, should align with the community’s desires and empower them to make more room for more joy in their lives.

Community-built ideals

TikTok plays host to very specific communities which helps them thrive. The sharing of niche interests helps the bonding between the brand and viewers and other TikTok users. TikTok is 1.8x more likely to introduce people to new topics they didn’t know they liked compared to traditional social platforms. Creators play a big role in community-building and launching new creative content, after watching content from creators, more than 2 in 5 people on TikTok agreed that it made them feel like a part of the brand’s community.

What you can/could/should do now

Show, don't sell

For example, if you are a brand selling makeup, sending products to influencers (which is a common practice among makeup brands) is a great way to reach your desired audience. If a Creator makes a tutorial for their specific skin type or problems and discusses the challenge of finding good products, they will influence users because of their honesty and specificity.

Popular hashtags to use: #storytime #POV

TikTok investigations

Conspiracy and true crime enthusiasts unite on TikTok to uncover truths and debunk myths, which builds credibility and trust between Creators and their viewers. Taking to the comments to discuss and ask questions is a great way to not only engage with viewers but also see things from unique viewpoints. TikTok users who took an action off-platform as a result of TikTok say that comments provide helpful information.

Popular hashtags to use: #ExpectationVsReality #FactOrCap

Customer to creator pipeline

If your brand has an existing fanbase who often make content on TikTok, then you have to pay attention, the organic content videos can be boosted into influential ads for your brand. Reaching out to the creators will not only open an opportunity for them, but also for your brand.

Popular hashtags to use: #MustHaves #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt

Creative approaches you should try

Syncing audio to transitions — TikTok is known to be a “sound-on” platform. Videos that use trending audio clips often perform better.

Adding text overlays — videos that have captions and text overlays enable brands to tap into popular formats such as point of view (POV) videos.

Voiceover effects

Using the built-in voiceover options is an effective solution to make your videos more engaging without being overly produced. The effects are also fun and add to the ‘making space for joy’ strategy.

In short, 2023 is going to give brands new trends to jump on and new ways to engage their audience. Monitoring what’s trending and keeping up to date with its audiences and creator content will make their brand's status soar. Start tracking with key questions.

• What are the key cultural forces shaping your audience?
• How are your viewers expressing themselves and what communities within your brand are forming?
• How is your category being transformed on TikTok? New formats or interests?
• What are the hashtags, Sounds or Creators that are trending?

Tiktok is a fantastic platform to host broad creative and sometimes niche content. Brands should be taking full advantage of the communities they can build through a simple short-form video.

For more information on how to utilise your brand’s identity through social media platforms contact nicola@oggadoon.co.uk.