TikTok Updates: Shopping Tools, Creator Features, and More

Our Take: TikTok is venturing into live shopping by establishing brick-and-mortar spaces where creators can showcase and review products in a QVC-style format. The concept involves multiple creators broadcasting simultaneously from their own dedicated spaces within a larger facility. While the setup resembles a crowded coworking space, creators are expected to earn commissions from the products they promote, providing TikTok with a network of free hosts for their shopping platform.

TikTok expert Keenya Kelly sees potential challenges in managing noise levels in such an environment but acknowledges that technological advancements, such as noise-canceling microphones, could help mitigate this issue. Moreover, Keenya suggests that background noise could contribute to the live broadcasts' energetic atmosphere, drawing a comparison to radio hosts who sometimes deliberately seek out noisy locations to create a sense of excitement and engagement.

Overall, TikTok's move into live shopping with physical spaces for creators appears to be an innovative approach to eCommerce, leveraging the platform's vast user base and the power of influencer marketing. While there may be logistical hurdles to overcome, the concept has the potential to transform the way people shop online by combining the immediacy and interactivity of live video with the convenience of digital purchases.

Our Take: The introduction of TikTok's “Identify similar products” feature has the potential to significantly impact creators, brands, and the overall user experience on the platform. On the one hand, this feature could be beneficial for product-based businesses advertising on TikTok, as it may drive more traffic to their products within the TikTok Shop. By recommending similar products to viewers, brands can increase their exposure and potentially boost sales.

However, there are also potential drawbacks for creators. Suppose a creator has the feature toggled on and showcases a product in their video. In that case, viewers might be tempted to click on similar products, thus navigating away from the creator's content. This could decrease engagement and watch time, key metrics for creators. To mitigate this issue, TikTok may need to consider implementing a split-screen or picture-in-picture format to allow viewers to explore products without abandoning the original video altogether.

Moreover, TikTok might use this feature to promote its own products, similar to those showcased by creators and brands. If this were to happen, it could create a competitive disadvantage for businesses advertising on the platform, as TikTok's products might be offered at lower prices.

While the “Identify similar products” feature has the potential to benefit product-based businesses and enhance the user experience, TikTok must carefully consider the implications for creators and ensure that the platform remains a level playing field for all advertisers. Creators and brands should closely monitor the impact of this feature on their content's performance and adjust their strategies accordingly.

Our Take: The ongoing dispute between TikTok and UMG has left many content creators and marketers grappling with the consequences of muting their videos due to the removal of songs written or co-written by UMG-signed artists. This situation has forced users to confront the reality that they have limited control over their content on the platform, as the music they rely on to enhance their videos can be stripped away at any time.

As a result, many creators face the tedious task of scrolling through their entire catalog of videos to identify those that have been muted and manually adding new, non-UMG music to restore the audio. While this process can be time-consuming, it is a necessary step to ensure that their content remains engaging and accessible to their audience. However, even after replacing the music, the new audio may not fit the original vision or tone of the video, potentially diminishing its impact.

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This ongoing dispute has also prompted creators to reconsider their reliance on music in their content and explore alternative strategies that do not center around popular songs. While music has been a key element in many successful TikTok videos, the platform still offers numerous opportunities for engaging content without the need for copyrighted material.

Furthermore, the impact of this dispute extends beyond the inconvenience faced by individual creators. Smaller artists signed to UMG are likely to be disproportionately affected, as the removal of their music from the TikTok ecosystem may severely limit their reach and growth on the platform.

As the standoff between TikTok and UMG continues, it is clear that content creators will need to adapt and find new ways to captivate their audiences. While the situation remains frustrating for many, it also serves as a reminder of the importance of diversifying content strategies and being prepared to navigate the ever-changing landscape of social platforms.

Our Take: TikTok's introduction of the “Sub Space” feature has the potential to revolutionize the way creators engage with their most dedicated fans during live streams on TikTok. By providing a separate, exclusive chat space for paying subscribers, TikTok incentivizes users to support their favorite creators financially and fosters a sense of community and exclusivity among subscribers.

The “Sub Space” concept is reminiscent of other platforms, such as Discord and Patreon, which offer tiered access to content and private communication channels based on subscription levels. However, TikTok's integration of this feature within its live-streaming functionality sets it apart, as it allows creators to interact with their subscribers in real-time, either through on-camera responses or direct participation in the text chat.

The potential benefits of “Sub Space” for creators are significant. By offering their subscribers exclusive live streams and intimate chat experiences, creators can strengthen their relationships with their most loyal fans, increasing engagement, retention, and potential revenue through gifts and subscriptions. Additionally, separating the subscriber-only chat from the general live-stream chat can help create a more focused and manageable environment for creators, allowing them to better connect with their core audience.

For TikTok, the introduction of “Sub Space” aligns with their ongoing efforts to promote creator subscriptions and generate revenue through their live-streaming platform. As TikTok continues to push live streams to a wider audience through their powerful distribution on the “For You” page, features like “Sub Space” will become increasingly valuable in helping creators monetize their content and build sustainable careers on the platform.

Our Take: TikTok's recent initiative to boost views for horizontal videos longer than one minute within the first 72 hours of posting has proven successful for content creators looking to expand their reach on the platform. By offering this incentive, TikTok encourages users to experiment with longer-form, landscape-oriented content—a significant departure from the app's signature short-form, vertical video format.

Early adopters of this new approach, such as Keenya, have reported promising results. By creating just one horizontal video per week, tailored specifically for TikTok, Keenya has seen her landscape video outperform all her short-form content, particularly within the crucial 72-hour window. This success is attributed to the video's searchability and TikTok's algorithm actively pushing the content to a broader audience.

The optimal length for these horizontal videos seems to be around two to two-and-a-half minutes, Keenya says, striking a balance between providing enough information to engage viewers and maintaining the concise storytelling that resonates with TikTok's audience. While some creators might be tempted to repurpose existing YouTube content for this purpose, creating original content specifically for TikTok yields better results.

As more creators embrace this new format and consumers adapt to watching longer videos on the platform, TikTok's landscape video initiative could potentially reshape the app's content landscape. However, the long-term success of this approach will depend on whether users continue to engage with longer-form content on a platform traditionally known for its bite-sized videos.

Our Take: TikTok's new initiative, the Creator Academy, is an evolution of the previous Creator Portal, with the primary goal of educating users on how to utilize TikTok's features and create engaging content effectively.

The Creator Academy offers a wide range of resources, including articles, video tutorials, and guides on various aspects of TikTok, such as understanding the platform's mechanics, creating compelling content, and mastering essential techniques like hooks. TikTok aims to help creators, entertainers, and business people excel on the platform by providing these educational materials.

Compared to other social media platforms, TikTok faces a unique challenge in terms of user education. While platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter have relatively simple content creation processes, TikTok's primary format of short-form videos requires more effort and know-how. As a result, TikTok is investing significant time and energy into ensuring that users understand how to make the most of the platform.

Although YouTube offers a more complex content creation process, it has the advantage of being an established platform with nearly two decades of existence. In contrast, TikTok is still relatively new, and its user base is still learning the ropes. By introducing the Creator Academy, TikTok is taking a proactive approach to help users overcome the learning curve and create high-quality content that resonates with the platform's audience.

Our Take: TikTok's introduction of a search widget that users can add to their phone's home screen demonstrates the platform's growing importance as a search engine, particularly for younger generations. Many users now turn to TikTok to search for educational content, product information, and other topics.

The search widget's prominence on users' home screens is a smart move by TikTok, as it strengthens the app's relationship with Google and solidifies its position as a go-to search destination. This development also underscores the importance of creating SEO-friendly content on TikTok, as creators who optimize their videos with relevant keywords and hashtags are more likely to appear in search results and benefit from increased discoverability.

Social Media Marketing Talk Show host and marketing expert Jerry Potter raises an interesting point about using analogies in content and their potential impact on search rankings. While Google may struggle to categorize content heavily relying on analogies, TikTok's search algorithm may be more forgiving. As long as the video's title, description, and on-screen text clearly convey the main topic, the use of analogies within the video itself may not hinder its search performance.

However, it is important to note that this observation is based on anecdotal evidence, and further testing would be necessary to confirm the impact of analogies on TikTok search rankings. Nonetheless, it serves as a valuable reminder for creators to prioritize clear, keyword-rich titles and descriptions when optimizing their content for search on TikTok and other platforms.

Overall, TikTok's search widget is a testament to the app's growing influence as a search engine and highlights the need for creators to adapt their content strategies accordingly. By focusing on SEO best practices and carefully considering analogies, creators can improve their chances of being discovered by TikTok's ever-expanding user base.