By: Katherine Nguyen, Integrated Marketing Coordinator

Following the decline of the internet’s beloved short-form video application, Vine, TikTok emerged as a merger between Chinese owned ByteDance and musical.ly, exploding in popularity in the last year and a half. 

Despite its host of legal challenges and name changes throughout the years, the app is currently #1 in the App Store with over 1 billion all-time downloads and counting.

But how did a lip-syncing app come onto the scene in such a crowded app market?

A Place of Influence

A global sensation and social hub for Zoomers and Millennials alike, TikTok is a platform that allows users to create minute-long videos to their favorite songs, TV/movie scenes and more. Since its release, it has played a helping hand in launching several social media careers, including the likes of Loren Gray, Baby Ariel and Jacob Sartorius. 

With influencers making a majority of their income from posting on the app, brands like Chipotle and the NBA have quickly taken notice of – and are helping to fuel the growth of the app by offering paid sponsorships and brand deals to creators who promote their products. 

Setting Trends

As a result of its rapid growth, trends have taken shape among TikTok-ers across the globe, as the Gen Z demographic has begun to extend lip-sync style videos into challenges and even comedic skits. 

This content expansion has helped the app considerably in strengthening its reach and introducing new users to the platform around the world, with Asian countries such as India and China in particular making up a large portion of active users. 

Capturing the Teen Market

While older generations might be scratching their heads at the concept of TikTok, the app is no stranger to the teen audiences of the world. In fact, the creators of TikTok decided to target the 18 and under crowd from the beginning stages. 

Having identified their market early on, the app was able to develop a better understanding of the likes/preferences of this group and cater to their desire to share creative content with the masses. 

Always Growing

With TikTok reaching worldwide popularity, there’s no where to go but up from here. As engagement and downloads continue to spike following viral campaigns and features from beloved brands, the app has been consistent in its rise to the top. Although it might have competition in the market with YouTube and Snapchat, TikTok is changing the way our generation approaches social media.