The Ultimate Guide to TikTok Users

Introduction

In today’s digital marketing landscape, TikTok has emerged as a powerhouse, offering brands a platform to engage with audiences in creative and authentic ways. With relevant short videos and the right strategies, this platform allows your brand to reach millions of potential customers on a global scale.

However, success on this platform requires more than just posting random content set to music. It requires a deeper understanding of the platform’s unique dynamics, diverse user base, their behavior and preferences, effective strategies to engage them, and more. Let’s explore these essential elements of TikTok and understand how to maximize their impact and connect the platform’s ever-growing audience.

Overview of TikTok

TikTok’s history can be traced back to 2014, when the app “Musical.ly” was launched by Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang in Shanghai, China. Initially, the app allowed users to create and share short lip-sync videos, often accompanied by music. In 2016, Chinese tech company ByteDance acquired Musical.ly and merged it with their own app called TikTok.

TikTok started gaining massive popularity worldwide between 2018 and 2019. It expanded to major markets like the US, India, and Europe. The unique format of this platform, which allowed its users to create short videos set to music, resonated with millions of people and became a cultural phenomenon.

Demographics of TikTok Users

Both Gen Z and Millennials love this platform for its creative nature and frequently use it for entertainment. In fact, 60% of Gen Z users use this platform daily. Now available in more than 200 countries, it currently has over 1.582 billion monthly active users worldwide. 70% of TikTok’s population across the globe is between the ages of 18 and 34.

According to TikTok CEO, TikTok had over 170 million monthly active users in the US as of January 2024, which was the highest in the world. Indonesia and Brazil take the second and third place, respectively. As of April 2024, TikTok usage was highest among people aged between 18 and 24 at 36.2%. People between the ages of 25 and 34 accounted for 33.9% of global TikTok usage, while 35 to 44-year-olds accounted for 15.8%. 54.3% of the global TikTok users are male, while the rest 45.7% are female.

Male users aged between 25 and 34 account for 19.3% of TikTok usage, while females of the same age group account for approximately 14.6%. It is important to note that approximately 60% of TikTok users globally are Gen Z. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 33% of adults in the US report using TikTok at least once.

Importance of Understanding TikTok Users

TikTok’s diverse user base spans across different demographics, behaviors, and interests. Quite naturally, not all content resonates equally across the platforms. If you run a business, your brand needs to identify and personalize its strategies for a specific group of users. By understanding the unique characteristics and preferences of these user groups, you can create content that feels authentic, engages users meaningfully, and drives better results.

Recognizing these nuances also allows brands to take part in relevant trends, use appropriate language, and create experiences that establish deeper connections with their audience. Understanding the TikTok users can help your brand unlock the full potential of the platform, ensuring the growth of your brand in the digital age.

Types of TikTok Users

Casual Viewers

Casual viewers primarily consume content without actively engaging in content creation or taking part in ongoing trends or challenges. They simply scroll through their feeds, watching videos that align with their interests.

While these users do not interact much through likes and comments, their involvement is valuable for brands as they contribute to video reach and visibility. For businesses aiming to increase brand awareness, it is important to captivate the attention of these casual viewers, as it can lead to wider exposure and organic content sharing.

Content Creators

Currently, there are more than 1 million TikTok creators all over the world. Khabane Lame, also known as Khaby Lame, is the most-followed TikTok content creator in the world, with 162.9M followers. However, based on TikTok earnings, Charli D’Amelio is at the top. She earns over $100,000 per TikTok cost. Khabane Lame, who allegedly earns more than $90,000 per post, is a close second.

Influencers

TikTok influencers fall into several groups based on how many people follow them and how much people interact with them. Collaborating with influencers with massive followings within your niche can help your brand reach more people who may be interested in your product or services.

Macro-Influencers

TikTok macro-influencers have between 500,000 and 1 million followers. On average, they charge somewhere between $150 and $3,500 for a single brand post. They guarantee high visibility for brands as they already have a reputation and an image to convey to their followers.

Micro-Influencers

TikTok micro-influencers have tens of thousands of followers (10k to 50k). Since their reach is much smaller than macro-influencers, they generally target smaller markets. However, they often have more interaction with their audience, as their community is more close-knit than the mega or macro influencers. On average, micro-influencers on TikTok charge about $30-400 for a single brand post.

Brands and Marketers

Brands and marketers also use this platform to showcase their product tutorials and use cases, jump on trends, join popular challenges, make the audience laugh, and more. It is also possible to sell products through TikTok, generate leads, and boost brand awareness. 26% of marketers use TikTok for marketing purposes. 16% of B2B marketers said that they consider TikTok to be the social media platform with the highest return on investment (ROI).

Behavior and Preferences of TikTok Users

Content Consumption Habits

TikTok usage surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. The never-ending stream of entertaining short videos provided a means of escape and fun to the users, which were needed amidst the depressing news updates. Now, users are spending more time on TikTok and less time with other avenues of entertainment, such as TV, podcasts, video streaming, or reading.

35% of TikTok users admit that they have spent less time watching TV or other video content since they started using TikTok. 45% of TikTok users say that they have spent less time on dating apps since they started using TikTok. While 69% of the users on this platform follow creators, 60% use it to learn new recipes or DIY projects, and 71% use it for video consumption.

Engagement Patterns

A study by Kantar found that when people view TikTok videos together with friends or family, 67% of them share videos, 66% participate in a hashtag challenge, and 61% message friends. 92% of TikTok users say that after watching a TikTok video, they take actions, such as liking or commenting on a video, sharing it with friends, following a brand, or making a purchase decision about a product.

Gen Z is leading the engagement on TikTok, with 50% of Gen Z users admitting that they follow TikTok creators after watching TikTok videos. 25% of Gen Z TikTok users say that they have purchased or researched a product they saw on TikTok.

Preferred Content Types

53% of users come to TikTok looking for “funny” content. Entertainment, as a whole, remains the most popular category of content on this platform, boasting over 535 billion hashtag views. 74% of the users utilize the TikTok platform to stay updated with the latest news. 

Challenges and Trends

Dance challenges and singing contests are the most popular trends on TikTok. Participating in trending hashtags helps your video reach a wider audience quickly. This is why a lot of content creators jump on the challenges and hashtag campaigns trending on the platform.

Educational Content

On average, users between the ages of 4 and 18 spend about 91 minutes per day on the platform. A 2023 study found that 69% of those users have used TikTok to help them do their homework. 1 in every 4 Americans uses TikTok to enrich their education, while more than 50% of users in the US do so because it is easier to understand.

Entertainment Content

TikTok’s popularity soared when people were locked in their homes during the pandemic. Users turned to the platform for entertainment. In fact, 50% of the users cite entertaining content as their reason for using TikTok. Brands can take advantage of this trend by developing entertaining content and creating engagement opportunities.

Strategies to Engage TikTok Users

90% of TikTok users open the app multiple times throughout the day. And 63% of engaged TikTok users claim to have liked a video in the last month. 54% of engaged TikTok users claim to have commented on somebody else’s video. If you want to boost engagement on your TikTok posts, you need to use the following strategies:

Leveraging User-Generated Content

Apart from boosting engagement with your target audience, user-generated content (UGC) allows you to improve your brand awareness and drive more sales. A recent survey by Stackla revealed that nearly 80% of the respondents admitted that UGC highly impacted their purchasing decisions. Compared to influencer content, UGC is 8.7 times more impactful.

Collaborating with Influencers

Collaborate closely with TikTok influencers to develop content ideas that resonate with their audience while effectively conveying your brand message and value proposition. You need to provide the influencers with creative direction, brand guidelines, and key talking points while they use their creative freedom to create content that feels authentic and organic to their unique style and audience.

Utilizing TikTok’s Algorithm

With the right hashtags to signal the algorithm about your content’s relevancy, posting your videos during peak hours can help you generate significant engagement from your target audience.

Hashtag Strategies

Employing a well-planned hashtag strategy can help increase your content visibility, identify competitors, and provide ideas for TikTok marketing. Hashtags can help you categorize your content, allowing users to find your content more easily. They also assist the TikTok algorithm to display your content to the right audience.

Here are a few tips to help you strengthen your hashtag strategies:

• Use niche hashtags to reach your target audience
• Use a maximum of 3-4 hashtags per post
• Make sure that your hashtags are relevant to your content
• Mix popular and niche hashtags to reach a wider audience
• Use trending hashtags; try various hashtag challenges for better engagement

Timing and Frequency of Posts

According to a study by Sprout Social, the best times to post on TikTok for maximum engagement are:

• Tuesdays 4-6 p.m.
• Wednesdays 9-11 a.m., noon, and 2-6 p.m.
• Thursdays 9-11 a.m. and 2-6 p.m.
• Fridays 4-6 p.m.

According to the study, Wednesdays and Thursdays are the best days to post on TikTok, while Sundays are the worst days to post. The platform recommends that you post 1-4 times a day. Most brands will benefit from posting 1-3 times per week.

Monetizing TikTok User Base

TikTok was the highest-grossing non-game app in 2023, generating $2.7 billion in revenue from the Google Play Store and App Store. According to the TikTok Economic Impact Report, the platform contributed $15 billion in revenue to small businesses in the US. More than 7 million businesses use the platform to reach and engage with their customers.

Partnering with Brands

Creators can get brand deals on the TikTok Creator Marketplace (TTCM) as long as they fulfill the following eligibility criteria:

• They must have a personal (creator) account
• They must have more than 100,000 followers on their account
• They posted at least three videos in the last 28 days
• They received more than 100,000 video likes in the last 28 days
• They must be at least 18 years old
• They need to be in one of the 24 countries where TTCM is currently available

Sponsored Content Opportunities

TikTok’s Creativity Program is an excellent option to explore if you are interested in earning through sponsored content. The program works with brands to create sponsored content, and creators are compensated based on the campaign’s performance. A creator can negotiate fair rates with brands based on their reach and engagement metrics.

TikTok Creator Fund

TikTok Creator Fund allows users to make money based on the views and engagement of their content. This initiative encourages the “best and brightest talent” on TikTok to continue producing and sharing videos with their followers. A TikTok user can apply for the Creator Fund when they fulfill the following criteria:

• The user must be at least 18 years old
• They must be a legal resident of the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, or Spain
• Their account must have at least 10,000 authentic followers
• Their videos must have received at least 100,000 authentic views in the last 30 days
• They must follow TikTok’s user terms and community guidelines

Future Trends in TikTok User Behavior

Augmented Reality Integration

Shopping via TikTok video ads is already quite popular among users. Soon, users will be able to use virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) while shopping on TikTok. In fact, AR filters, also known as lenses, have already started to gain momentum on this social media platform. Besides the entertainment value, AR can also improve the user experience by seamlessly blending the digital and physical worlds.

E-commerce on TikTok

TikTok has made a significant contribution to the growth of retail social commerce, an industry that is expected to reach $80 billion in the US by 2025. A recent study suggested that TikTok users are 1.5 times more likely to buy a product they discovered on the platform than users of other social networks. More brands are expected to explore the e-commerce features on TikTok and boost their sales in 2024 and beyond.

Global Expansion and Diversification

For the past few years, TikTok has been one of the best mediums for brands to expand and solidify their presence. While it gives brands and individual users a platform to expand their reach beyond the boundaries, it also offers enough opportunities to successfully diversify their efforts. In this digital ecosystem, where trends are fleeting, brand diversification ensures adaptability.

Conclusion

Recap of TikTok User Insights

Let’s take a look at the key highlights discussed in this article:

• TikTok currently has over 1.582 billion active users worldwide on a monthly basis.
• 70% of TikTok users are between 18 and 34 years old.
• Around 60% of TikTok users are Gen Z.
• Khaby Lame is the most-followed TikTok content creator in the world, with 162.9M followers.
• 35% of TikTok users say they have spent less time watching TV or other video content since they started using TikTok.
• 53% of users come to TikTok looking for funny content.
• 63% of engaged TikTok users claim to have liked a video in the last month.
• Compared to influencer content, UGC is 8.7x more impactful.
• More than 7 million businesses use the platform to reach and engage customers.
• In 2023, TikTok generated $2.7 billion in revenue from the Google Play Store and App Store.

Importance of Adapting Strategies

As a brand or individual, you need to adapt several strategies that organically boost engagement on your TikTok posts. While leveraging user-generated content can help you earn the trust of your audience, collaborating with a popular influencer within your niche can help expand your reach. Additionally, you need to use TikTok’s algorithm to your advantage by focusing on trending hashtags and posting during peak hours.

Looking Ahead: Staying Relevant on TikTok

If you want to stay ahead of your competitors and reach a wider audience, you need to adapt to the latest trends on the platform. For example, AI integration and e-commerce features have recently caught a lot of attention. At the same time, the massive demographic growth on the platform has compelled businesses to diversify their efforts to ensure adaptability.