At the end of last year, several luxury car manufacturers signed up for TikTok. In particular, Lamborghini came to the platform in the fall. “To the official account of the Italian brand [за прошедшее время] more than 373,000 users have subscribed, and the company’s videos have gained 1.6 million likes, ”TikTok’s press service told Vedomosti. Following Lamborghini, the German Porsche appeared on the social network. “At the first stage, we published our content without any paid [рекламных] efforts to understand audience behavior and interests, a Porsche spokesman said. – In a short period of time, we managed to organically grow to 38,000 subscribers. In the next phase, we intend to focus on user-generated content and paid activities to maximize the potential of this platform. ” Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar and Aston Martin said they are looking at TikTok for now, while continuing to develop their pages on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and other social networks.
Brands follow the money
For luxury brands, experts say, TikTok is a way to raise awareness of their products among the so-called HENRYs (high earner not rich yet), that is, people with high wages, but not yet having solid savings). These primarily include Generation Z – people born between 1996 and 2003. Bank of America predicts that their financial capabilities will grow at the fastest pace in the coming years in comparison with other generation groups. More specifically, by 2031, analysts estimate that the zetas’ revenues will increase 5 times to reach $ 33 trillion, which will allow them to outstrip their predecessors, the millennials, in terms of capital. “Eight years ago, the average age of a Rolls-Royce owner was 56; today it has dropped to 45. The trend is that in the future we predict further rejuvenation of the audience. Already, there are people under the age of 30 among car owners, ”says Torsten Müller-Otvos, CEO of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.
Statistics aggregator Appfigures named TikTok the most downloaded mobile app of 2020. Users of smartphones on iOS and Android have downloaded more than 800 million times, which is 43% more than a year earlier. “Compared to other platforms, TikTok is able to reach a relatively young audience among those interested in automotive,” explains Porsche. “The psychological aspect has not been canceled: form a dream of a Ferrari in a 13-year-old teenager – and, becoming a millionaire at 25, he will come and buy it,” continues Regina Tsvyrova, COO of the influencer marketing agency HypeFactory. “All the ideas about such purchases originate in the age of Tiktokers.”
However, the researchers agree that the older audience is already catching up to the young audience of the application. “Last year, the site was occupied by an adult solvent audience, which it is pulling from other social networks. At the moment, in the Russian segment of users aged 25 and over, more than half are already, and 64% are people with an income above the average, ”Tsvyrova notes. The head of the WildJam agency, Yaroslav Andreev, is sure that the same thing will happen with TikTok as with all other social media: children have started to use it, but everyone will continue.
TikTok supports brands
It should be noted, however, that the promotion mechanics on TikTok are different from other popular platforms that brands are used to working on. In other words, companies cannot connect to TikTok audiences in the same way as they do on other platforms. “The main interest of the users of this application is to be inspired and entertained. This means that we have to create unique content specifically designed for TikTok, ”Porsche admits. Andreev also emphasizes that on the site there is no possibility to put external links under the video: “Everything happens inside the social network. Therefore, brands are forced to create their own accounts. “
The most popular and effective format is the Hashtag Challenge. As a consequence, Mercedes-Benz, for example, held a challenge last year to reimagine the brand’s legendary three-beamed star emblem by German and British youth. The most interesting videos with the #MBStarChallenge hashtag accompanied by a soundtrack specially created for the project were posted on all the official channels of the brand in social networks. During the challenge, 73,000 people posted a total of over 185,000 videos, and the total number of views on posts about the Mercedes-Benz logo reached 863 million.
“Videos related to luxury goods are gaining views very well now,” says Tsvyrova. – Perhaps the public interest in the “beautiful life” plays a role, TikTok’s algorithms catch it and further promote videos of such content. In addition, TikTok has developed various tools for advertising integrations, so it is possible that the site itself promotes top content from brands in order to attract advertisers. ” The TikTok audience is rapidly expanding, there are TikTokers that are interesting to the luxury segment, and brand videos fit organically into the content of the social network, Andreev sums up, explaining the growing interest of premium car brands in TikTok.
The demand for the social network among premium companies is also confirmed by the presence of leading international fashion houses on the platform. Now in TikTok, Gucci, for example, has more than 1 million subscribers, Louis Vuitton has 494,000, Prada has 270,000, and Dolce & Gabbana has over 171,000.
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