If you ask what is the most popular mobile app in the world right now, the answer would be TikTok, one of the most popular short video apps in China and now one of the most popular video apps in the world. It was founded by ByteDanc, which is one of the most valuable startups in the world, with an estimated market value of US$30 billion at the latest, and is also a company invested by GGV Jiyuan Capital (a company focused on the United States and Asia leading venture capital firm for regional expansion stage businesses).

The global layout of TikTok began in August 2017. As of now, TikTok has covered more than 150 countries around the world, with over 100 million monthly active users. According to data from the US research firm Sensor Tower, in the first quarter of 2018, TikTok, was the most downloaded iPhone app in the world with a total of 45.8 million, surpassing Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

As of June 12, 2018, the number of daily active users of TikTok in China reached 150 million, four times the number in January. This is a significant increase for an app that has been on the shelves for less than two years.

In addition to its flagship news product Toutiao, Toutiao also has many other short video apps. As shown below, in November last year, Toutiao merged with Musical.ly, one of the most popular short video apps in the world and a GGV portfolio company. The industry believes that this marks that Toutiao’s short video business has extended to North America, where the mobile Internet is highly developed, and officially faces the American Internet giant.

Unlike most video apps, TikTok doesn’t have a “start” or “pause” button. The video starts autoplaying as soon as the app is opened. You browse a 15-second video with no fixed interface, just like you scroll through pictures on Instagram. And because its interface is not only swipeable, but its content pages are seamless, so people can browse TikTok at any time on the train, on the street, in bed, or even at work. Lying in bed and watching TikTok videos for hours on end seems to have become the most popular pastime among people these days.

The hottest content on TikTok right now includes: dance, comedy, babies, life tips, food, pets, pranks and stunts. According to the data, each user spends an average of 20.5 minutes on the app per day. Assuming each video lasts 15 seconds, that’s 82 videos watched per day. In fact, TikTok had to roll out an “anti-addiction system” in April to remind users that they were spending too much time on the app.

The following are some data characteristics of TikTok users:

Nearly 50% of users are over the age of 24

60% of users are female

Over 60% of users have a college degree

About 40% of users live in first- and second-tier cities

So, how does TikTok quickly attract users and occupy the global market with explosive growth? Let’s take a look at the eight secrets of TikTok’s rise:

1. get traffic with the help of influencer

At present, TikTok has a large number of Influencers, and they have become the main content contributors of TikTok. When TikTok first entered the market, it treated its traffic influencers as employees, and it actively promoted them through traffic subsidies.

In Thailand, the presence of well-known artists has attracted countless fans. In Japan, TikTok has reached a cooperation intention with HORIPRO, the second largest artist agency in Japan, and artists under HORIPRO have also settled in TikTok and released their works.

2. Unleash the creativity of ordinary people

Many of the crazy reposted videos on TikTok are not shot by celebrities, but come from the interesting ideas of ordinary people’s daily life. A popular subtype of TikTok videos is “life tips”. Creative restaurant regulars, for example, have uploaded videos of homemade dishes they make at restaurants, like stuffing raw eggs and shrimp paste into tofu balls and boiling them. The videos went viral, and thousands of people immediately recorded their own versions.

3. Theme Marketing – Provide users with inspiration for creating videos

TikTok regularly launches video tags as trending trends or platform content topics, and thousands of users participate in making videos on the same topic.

Through these hashtags, TikTok’s video content is wildly reposted.

Many well-known brands are also involved. Michael Kors, for example, has launched a “hashtag challenge” on TikTok, inviting users to compete to create the most trending videos. By partnering with TikTok influencers, brands can instantly engage with millions of users and turn those users into their marketing targets.

4. Make content creation easier

The TikTok platform offers a toolkit that allows anyone with a smartphone and a good idea to create a 15-second video with the potential to go viral. The kit includes a large library of background music, various beautification filters, easy-to-use editing tools, and even a phone accessory that helps users keep their phone steady while shooting video.

5. Turn the comment section into a social area

Some say the only reason they use TikTok is to see its comments section, which has become a social hub for user interaction. And it’s often just as entertaining as the video itself. TikTok allows users to view a video and read its comments at the same time, so you don’t need to pause the video to view the comments.

6. Personalized recommendation is the key

As a search engine that has thousands of engineers and its own artificial intelligence laboratory, and a search engine by the former executive leader of the Microsoft Asia Research Institute, the core competitiveness of TikTok can determine what can be determined based on the user’s past viewing behavior. The content can attract specific users.

When you open the vibrato, the default mode is a “For You” content channel. Unlike the content published by the people you are following on Instagram, you can see the content displayed by the creators who are not guilty on TikTok. In this way, you can constantly discover new content creators, and you will find that almost everyone is making content that is very attractive to you.

In addition, TikTok also uses facial recognition and physical segmentation technology to achieve key characteristics and special effects, such as changing the color of the hair or removing the video background.

7. Where there is content, there will be business opportunities

TikTok allows creators to embed the product link to their videos to achieve the perfect transition from content to business. For example, an Internet celebrity named “Wild Food Brother”. The videos he shot was that he looked for and eating food in the wilderness, and also launched his own food series, such as “TikTok Beef Sauce”. When you watch his video, a shopping cart icon will appear on the right. Display the products mentioned in the video on the screen, and then you can buy it by clicking.

8. Global strategic vision

TikTok has a strategic global vision. TikTok incorporates local song and dance culture in many countries into small videos, such as face painting that is popular and Indian and K-POP in South Korea.

Secondly, whether it is the Japanese market or the Thai market, regardless of whether there is any local office point, TikTok has a special person to review and screen the content. If there is explosive content in China, the operator will determine whether it is suitable for other markets. If it is suitable, the content will be pushed to the global market, such as embarrassing dance machines, DURA dances.

The explosive content of TikTok has been widely spread in Indonesia. Chinese songs such as Short Hair Girl and Love Is You have become the favorite of Indonesia’s shaking friends. Among them, 290,000 people use Love You as a video Background music. Simply put, it is “global explosion linkage+localized operation”.