TikTok has seen a lot of changes in the last few years and the most recent ones are likely to have the biggest impact on the platform as we know it. In just a few short years it managed to grow from a relatively unknown platform to a web titan that rivals the likes of Meta and Google.
As we all know, social media platforms can rise and fall quickly, so the success of TikTok until now doesn’t mean that it will continue to be so big in the future. Based on some recent happenings, the platform might be in a bit of trouble with the US Congress, but let’s try and figure out together what the future holds for this social media platform!
Current Negative Developments
So as we all know the biggest hurdle TikTok is facing is the US ban that was proposed by Congress in early 2024. The proposed law is trying to get TikTok to sell off their US business to a US-approved company instead of the Chinese-owned Bytedance. Bytedance has been clear so far that they have no intentions to agree with this ruling and that they will fight it or cease their operations on US soil as they find their algorithm is too valuable to be sold off.
One of the proposed solutions to this problem so far is to create a fork of TikTok that is specific to the US and that would use a simple algorithm, and sell that one off so that they can keep their real formula a secret.
This has of course caused a lot of panic and uncertainty amongst investors and partners. This has also caused a small change in their ads business. Namely, since some advertisers got scared and left the platform for the time being, ads got a tiny bit cheaper, so it's not a bad idea to start advertising on the platform right now.
If you are not actively advertising in the US, you should know that there is a big chance the EU will introduce a similar ruling in the next few years in case the US one goes through and gets voted on. For now, there is no real need to adjust anything in how you operate your business in any case, but you might have to in a few years!
Current Positive Developments
Luckily for TikTok, there are far more positive developments than negative ones!
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Growing User Base
Even though TikTok has already had huge growth in the last few years, it seems like it's not done yet! By some estimates over 100 million users use the app daily and the platform is still growing. It will soon eclipse all other social media platforms if it keeps this sort of growth further!
For advertisers, this of course means more users to target and a bigger audience. Also, the median TikTok user is also starting to age and the teens of years before are slowly becoming adults with more cash in the bank to spend on products and services you might advertise.
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New Markets!
TikTok ads still haven't fully reached the entire globe with their targeting. Slowly but surely this is changing and we can expect new markets to be a part of the potential pool of countries soon. One market TikTok should opening on soon is Eastern Europe in countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
This should give advertisers access to another 50 million or so people, which is not a small number at all! TikTok is also planning on expanding its operation in Africa and parts of Asia, so the size of the market might be a lot bigger in a few months!
With so many people being able to be targeted by the platform, success is almost guaranteed no matter what niche you want to try and run!
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Aging User Base
TikTok has always had the reputation of being mostly for kids and young teens, but the trend is changing rapidly. Currently, the median person on the platform is around 25 years old, so the users are slowly growing out of their young years and slowly getting jobs and becoming functioning adults.
This of course means that those individuals are more capable of paying for products and services you might promote, which in turn means profit! Even now, TikTok isn't a bad place to advertise. A lot of products have gained unexpected success on the platform, and as it ages and matures there will be plenty of other success stories along the way!
This also leads to a change in user habits and preferred content. Shorter form content will slowly get replaced by longer ones. You can see evidence of this by the platform already introducing 30-minute videos (they started at 30 seconds or so).
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Diversification of Content
While TikTok initially gained popularity for dance challenges and lip-sync videos, its content landscape has diversified significantly. From educational content to niche hobbies and even professional advice, TikTok has become a platform where virtually any interest can find an audience.
Future technologies like AR and VR are bound to make a difference in what content is made and consumed on TikTok as well. These changes alongside new foldable devices and virtual headsets and glasses will change a lot of things for the platform if they decide to keep pace with industry trends.
Planning for the future involves understanding these evolving content trends and how they align with your personal or business objectives.
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Influencer Marketing and Brand Engagement
Influencer marketing on TikTok has proven highly effective due to the platform's emphasis on authenticity and relatability.
As TikTok matures, influencer partnerships will likely become more sophisticated, requiring brands to adapt their strategies accordingly. This will likely materialize as deeper partnerships between influencers and brands.
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Improvements To The Algo
TikTok is a modern platform that is always trying to improve and stay ahead of the curve. One of the things that set them apart from the rest is the algorithm that they use. With their constant improvements in the ways they target people and how they reach them, costs to advertisers will go down and ads will be more likely to reach their target audience at a lower overall cost.
This is something that is slowly improving day by day, and with the industry trends of using AI for all sorts of improvements, it's just a matter of time before it changes the algorithm itself.
Predictions for the Future
Nobody can predict exactly what is going to happen but we have some general indicators of how the industry will go. More likely than not, AI will take over a big part of the work that advertisers have to do to launch campaigns, and things like optimizations will be mostly done completely automatically.
One thing that's for sure is that a lot of the busywork with targeting, optimizing, and testing will be made easier and that advertising on the platform will be much easier as time passes by. Depending on how the new rulings of the US Congress go, and what happens to the platform in the end, TikTok might have some issues, though it might continue its exponential growth and be an even better platform in the future!
Conclusion
To prepare for the future is incredibly difficult as nobody knows what the future holds. Something that you can do is to prepare and be proactive with your decisions on how to form partnerships, how to adjust your content, and where to take your business in the future.
TikTok is certainly one of the platforms that will be here in a few years, so make sure you stay on top of the changes and trends that accompany it. With the right information and a couple of good decisions, advertising on TikTok is something that will only get better in the future!
Have you ever experienced a change in how a platform works during the years? How did you plan for it and adapt to it? Share your experience with us in the comments below!
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