Jeff McDonald, CEO Americas

Our founder, James Turner, recently wrote a fascinating blog post based on research we’ve been doing about the rise of TikTok in Europe.  If you don’t have a teenager in your life you may not have been aware of TikTok (well that is not exactly true. Just the other week my 60-year cousin sent me a funny video she found on TikTok to cheer me up as an antidote to these crazy times!)

The rise of TikTok

This year TikTok became a household word and it’s pretty interesting to dig into the TikTok ecosystem. There are the users who just view and repost, like my kids and . . . well, my cousin.  But then there are people creating instantly replicable memes. The creatives making short films that rival the big agency produced ad campaigns for creativity and engagement. 

There are also the influencers, who are building and monetizing their vast networks of followers and working on behalf of big brands. Reaching target audiences in age groups the brand can’t otherwise engage. 

We even have marketing agencies now representing TikTok creatives and building TikTok marketing campaigns for big brands – maybe even yours? 

And wow, it feels like this happened virtually overnight! 

In October, The US federal government appealed against an injunction by the Trump administration, temporarily preventing a ban TikTok from US app stores. Could this ban still go ahead? Was it really the tool that teenagers used to derail a political rally? Will its US assets be bought by Microsoft?  Will teens in the US flee from the platform if its new owner’s brand persona suggests it is no longer edgy or COOL (much like Facebook, once your mom started posting pictures of her bookclub!) Is it over just as fast as it began?

The real-time reality

The point of this post is not actually about TikTok. It’s about speed. Platforms and audiences move fast. So how come data and research is still stuck in the slow lane?

TikiTok fulfills the need we have for “always new, always on” content. We can measure the popularity (or effectiveness) of the posts in real time, during their life cycle. But most marketing research companies didn’t see TikTok coming. Only “always on” and real time data could see that the ground was shifting and potentially impacting their brand challenges, risks and opportunities.

For too long brand health has been relegated to the territory of trackers. These are expensive and most often refreshed in waves that are at best monthly, but more likely quarterly.  Today’s world turns over in news cycles that can be counted in days, which makes the old gold standard of trackers increasingly irrelevant.

Time for action

If you’re tired of depending on time-delayed traditional trackers to give you the decision support to run your business, there is a better way. It’s what we call “Always On Audience Intelligence”. 

Early adopters are loving it. It is a syndicated stream of data refreshed daily. It’s so robust at its core that it can cover most brand communication considerations out-of-the-box. It’s also flexible enough to be customized to align with all your other data sources and integrated with the analytics protocols you are already using. 

Let us know if you’d like to learn more. Once you see how valuable “always on” can be to your business, I am sure we can find a TikTok video of a “happy dance” to express how good it’ll make you feel!