In January 2021 alone, TikTok had over 315 million downloads. Overall, it has been downloaded over 2.6 billion times as reported by Sensor Tower in December 2020. This surge in popularity can be blamed on the global pandemic. With so many of us stuck inside and glued to our screens, it’s no wonder that people are seeking the instant entertainment that TikTok videos provide.
But what is TikTok?
TikTok is a video sharing social media platform that has proved itself a global hit with GenZ audiences. The app may not have anything to do with clocks or watches but it is highly concerned with views. It's more than likely that you will have seen videos of dance routines or heard a song on the radio that initially went viral on the platform. Here, content can go viral in seconds with the biggest influencers possessing nearly 32.7 million followers and receiving almost 46 million likes for a 60 second video. Brands would be silly not to take advantage of the platform to promote their content to the masses.
How to make an interactive video ad on TikTok
TikTok offers several options for brands to advertise with interaction videos. For example, IN-Feed Ads, TopView, Brand Takeover, Branded Hashtag Challenge, Branded Effects.
In-Feed Ads
Videos have a “Sponsored” label
Videos appear on users “For You” page amongst other creator content
Videos have a clickable call-to-action ie, “Learn More” or “Buy Now”
Users can “like”, “share”, “follow”, “shoot videos with the same music”
TopView
Video first format that puts brand videos in unmissable view of audiences
Using sight, sound and narrative to capture user attention
60 seconds of full-screen and long form video, with autoplay and sound
Distraction-free viewing grabbing 100% user attention
Brand Takeover
Full screen visual ad experience for viewers
Multiple creative formats with static and dynamic display
3 second JPG and 3-5 second video supported
Branded Hashtag Challenge
Taps into user passion for creation, encouraging brand engagement that goes beyond simple clicks
Brands invite users to participate in creating content surrounding the campaign theme with all UGC aggregating in the hashtag challenge page.
Average engagement rate of 8.5% through likes, comments and shares.
Branded Effects
Tailor made shareable stickers, filters and special effects
Users can create selfie videos with these effects, sharing and promoting brands interaction videos.
TikTok Creator Marketplace is an official platform for brand and creator collaborations and videos from creator partners can easily be promoted as in-feed ads for an extra visibility boost. Here, brands can monitor their analytics and productivity of their campaigns.
The Best Brand Use of Interaction Video on TikTok
Motel Rocks: Call-To-Action and Influencer Partnerships
Online retailer, Motel Rocks has been taking advantage of Influencer followings to promote their brand. Their products are shown to millions of viewers via TikTok personalities in In-Feed ads. The clickable call-to-action “Shop now” takes viewers directly to the product page without leaving the shoppable video. With 2.4 million likes, the interaction video has clearly engaged millions of prospective customers.
Guess Jeans: #InMyDenim Branded Hashtag Challenge
“A Cluttered brand space demands unique, engaging content and integrated participation” said Edward Park, SVP of retail and digital at Guess. So, the brand took to TikTok to shake up their video content marketing strategy. The challenge asks users to demonstrate how they style their denim and transform their look from a mess to best dressed. The interactive element of the challenge drew together fans and the brand, successfully generating conversation with a new GenZ and Millennial audience.
Balenciaga: Shoppable TopView Ad
Balenciaga was the first luxury brand to launch a shoppable campaign on TikTok. This was a 24 hour takeover of the TikTok front page and generated 25 million views. The interactive video platform allowed viewers to shop the items in the video. By clicking the call-to-action, viewers could view the collection in a carousel. The interaction videos speed up the route to purchase by displaying the shoppable products directly before the viewer. Since the route to purchase is shortened, there is a higher chance of customers completing a conversion.
Innovative Interactive Video Platforms that can show brands how to easily make an interactive video on TikTok
Smartzer offers an interactive video platform that provides brands with a tool that turns content into interaction videos on TikTok.
Smartzer MINI Shop:
Brands can connect their campaign call-to-action with the Smartzer MINI Shop links. This will connect your ad directly to your product feed. A viewer will click the ad and instantly see all the shoppable products and a direct link to the e-commerce site.
Lightweight, easy to use pages help inform users about products. This can lead to higher conversion rates and a stronger ROI.
This could be through either makeup tutorial videos, fashion videos or recipe videos. Videos will have clickable components to clothing, makeup or ingredients.
Smartzer Interactive Experience
Every interactive experience is optimised for mobile.
It is easy to share the interaction video content across social media platforms.
Users can engage with the interactive content by launching the call-to-action or the URL displayed in the video.
This could be in TikTok work out videos (shoppable fitness gear), travel videos (interactive hotel tour), auto videos (interactive tour of car features).
With more and more users downloading TikTok everyday, the clock is ticking for brands to utilise the platform to reach millions of new and existing customers.
- Feb 12, 2021
2020 was the year for cancelled plans. The Summer Olympics was cancelled for the first time since World War II, Glastonbury 20/21 was cancelled, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, The Rolling Stones and The Weeknd were all forced to reschedule their highly anticipated tours and ITV’s Love Island was unable to take place. The list goes on.
With the word of the year being “unprecedented”, the only thing we could be 100% sure of was that the events industry needed to adapt to accommodate for restrictions.
While some brands have refunded and rescheduled events, some have made the virtual transition to livestream. In fact, the occurrence of virtual events went up 1000% since the start of COVID-19 with 52,000 on just one platform, 6Connex.
Brands driving virtual events in 2021
Livestream Music
Online livestream venue StageIt has been helping to connect fans with lesser known artists for years. Here, acts stream live from the comfort of their homes via laptop cameras. Through an interactive chat room feature, fans can communicate with artists by asking questions and requesting songs. With venues closed, StageIt enables fans to financially support artists through a monetized system and acts can show their appreciation for viewers via a virtual tip jar. Through interactive video streams, fans can win prizes such as band merch or one-on-one Zoom sessions.
Bigger artists such as The Weeknd have held live, interactive virtual concerts. In August 2020 he took to TikTok drawing over 2 million total viewers and raising over $350,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative. Adam Lambert will host a series of live streams this February 2021 discussing Stonewall day and up and coming LGBTQ artists. Eddie Vedder, Phoebe Bridgers and more are set to perform virtually for the 34th annual Tibet House US Benefit concert with tickets starting at $25.
Livestream Fashion
Harnessing the magic of the internet, Dior streamed their Autumn 2021 Men's show live online as a part of Paris Men’s Fashion Week on 22 January 2021. The innovative, vibrant collection inspired by surrealism and science fiction reflected the limitless possibilities of combining technology with fashion. Featuring art from Kenny Scharf the show was streamed live using Amazon owned platform Twitch. The technology has also been used by Burberry in their Spring/Summer 2021 show. By contrast to Snapchat, Facebook Live, or Instagram, Twitch’s streaming service is more public, bringing the front row seat at fashion week to your device screen. The interactive video experience gave viewers the opportunity to connect with each other in live chat rooms. As a result, live streaming could bring the fashion community together during a socially distanced period.
Live Shopping
With store doors closed, interactive video is opening up new opportunities for ecommerce. Department store Brown Thomas partnered with Smartzer to create interactive and shoppable video events featuring brands like Laura Mercier and Bare Minerals. Customers could book onto breakthrough beauty masterclasses and tutorials to learn about makeup products and application techniques. They could shop the content shown in the stream via a product carousel and add items to their basket without leaving the stream. Through these exclusive events, customers were provided with a bespoke, live shopping experience that generated a community feel for like minded makeup enthusiasts.
By using Smartzer’s player that was fully integrated into the Demandware API, up-to-date product information could be instantly pulled into the Smartzer editor and player to be showcased to viewers. The private videos are now available on Brown Thomas’s ecommerce site for anyone to view. By using these videos for video content marketing, brands can engage and inform standard web visitors and turn general traffic into qualified traffic. Tests have revealed that a consumer who watched a video demonstrating a product was 144% more likely to add that product to their shopping cart. Through interactive, demonstrative video content brands can increase online engagement and build trust with their audiences to increase conversion rates.
- Feb 11, 2021
Updated: Sep 7, 2021
Online shopping made up 21.3% of total retail sales for 2020. Amazon counted for nearly a third of all online sales in the US. With a 44% increase over the year, 2020 saw the highest annual growth in US e-commerce in at least two decades. Perhaps an unsurprising figure considering the world was told to “stay at home”. Nevertheless, the pressure is on for brands to optimise online shopping experiences for their customers.
Offline meets online in livestream shopping experiences.
Through live shopping, brands can connect with customers to sell products in real-time. Viewers can watch a live stream and purchase the items shown in the clickable side-bar, a call to action encourages viewers to complete a purchase without leaving the stream. Using this “see now, buy now” mentality, some shows saw their sales reach $1 million in just ten minutes.
For merchants, platforms like Bambuser and Smartzer make it easy to broadcast a live shop. Through the Bambuser app, brands upload URLs of the products that they plan to showcase in the live stream then “go live” with their content to potential customers. Smartzer allows brands to build a shoppable carousel of products by importing directly from a product catalogue or manually. Merchants can then connect the platform they wish to stream on to Smartzer using the RTMP ID and a Stream Key to go live.
Live, Camera, Action
Using Amazon’s livestream gaming platform “Twitch” Burberry took their Spring/Summer 2021 show online, live from London Fashion Week.
The stream received 42,000 concurrent views and offered multiple perspectives from celebrities like Bella Hadid and Erykah Badu using “squad stream mode”. Viewers could simultaneously watch and discuss the show in real time in a communal viewing experience. Unless you are Kim Kardashian, it can be pretty hard to secure a front row seat at a Burberry fashion show. Through live stream, this can be possible for anyone and with in-person audience’s discouraged, live stream offers an immersive, digital alternative in unprecedented times.
Clarins unveils its first virtual shop to connect with customers at home.
Through several interactive online features, Clarins has reimagined beauty e-commerce by partnering with Vee24. Through a virtual and explorable online boutique, viewers can explore the store for information. The skin workshop teaches visitors everything there is to know about Clarins application techniques and a virtual try-on feature allows customers to test makeup using camera filters. Using VeeStudio and VeeSchedular, Clarins is bringing the in-store shopping experience online. Customers can book face-to-face, highly personalised live consultations with beauty coaches and view live streams with guest influencers. As a result, all the benefits of in-person shopping are replicated online.
Brown Thomas has partnered with Smartzer to deliver shoppable beauty masterclasses.
Like Burberry and Clarins, Brown Thomas has reimagined the online shopping experience for customers with department store doors closed. Using Smartzer’s platform, Brown Thomas created a fully customised shoppable video. Fully integrated into the Demandware API, the player allowed for up-to-date product information to be instantly pulled into the Smartzer editor and player. When viewing the live shop Customers could click items in the video and add them to the basket without leaving or pausing the video. Through a variety of beauty tutorials customers can click, learn and buy in a matter of seconds.
Each of these brands prove that interactive video technology can help businesses to sustain customer connections in unprecedented times.