Is TikTok In It’s Flop Era?
More creators than ever are complaining about low views on TikTok. As social media managers, 99% of the time, we will be able to pinpoint the issue in user’s accounts by looking at their profile and content through our IG & TikTok Audits; however, this time round, the complaints are valid. We manage multiple accounts and we’ve been seeing almost all our clients perform better on IG Reels versus TikTok. Is TikTok in it’s flop era? Will it ever come out? Read more below to find out.
A Case Study
These are some stats to back up our findings. Each of the bullet points below represents 1 piece of content, that was formatted differently for Instagram, TikTok & Threads, in which we saw the most significant differences:
31K views on TikTok, 485K on Instagram Reels
3.7K views on TikTok Photo-post, 2.4K likes on Threads
1.2K views on TikTok, 24.3K on Instagram Reels
Updates To The TikTok Algorithm
TikTok has made no official announcements about changes to its algorithm; however, a telltale sign that the algorithm has changed, or is changing, is when your For You Page is showing different videos than what you’re used to. Because we scroll via multiple accounts For You Page’s (our clients), we can come to this conclusion. On multiple accounts, we are seeing older videos (from 2023) show up in the feed, as well as more reposted videos from “Friends” and even videos with 0 views and 0 engagement.
Algorithm changes typically happen when social media platforms introduce new features. The platform can go through a slight “glitch” which is more short-term, or have a smaller or larger algorithm change due to the new features, which has long-term effects. TikTok has recently announced that they are testing 60-minute uploads, which is a significant change to the platform’s short-form video standard. Although they have been pushing longer-form content (over 1 minute), it’s still nowhere near 60-minutes. This has been the most significant update; which we speculate is taking its toll on what we are seeing now.
Leveraging Reels & Threads
As shown above, multiple of our client’s accounts, as well as creators we’ve studied in writing this blog, we’re seeing both longer (45-60 seconds) and shorter videos (up to 30 seconds) have been performing well, and mostly, better than TikTok’s performance. Leverage this by amping up your posting cadence on Instagram Reels, and if you haven’t already, get active on Threads! Although the platform is small and not mainstream (yet), there is huge potential to get noticed. The engagement we’ve seen happen on our client’s accounts on Threads is meaningful and highly convertible (i.e. people DM’ing, following after engaging with content).
Navigating TikTok’s Flop Era
This isn’t a sign to drop TikTok and move to only market yourself on Instagram & Threads! TikTok is still incredibly valuable and where social media trends still very much stem from. The question is, how can we navigate their "flop era”?
Chime into trends
Trends offer the opportunity to reach a more general audience. Don’t chime into them mindlessly, but rather, make sure they are highly relatable to your industry, audience and brand so that you can convert new viewers into followers and even customers.
Become hyper-aware of your data
Track your analytics to the T and be hyper-aware of the content that performs well vs. the content that doesn’t perform well. Find the trends in your content performance and tweak your strategy accordingly! The answers are always in the data. When you see something perform well - run with it!
Consistency
This is a cliché, but it’s true. The worst thing you can do for your account is post consistently, then ghost for weeks and months on end. This is a common cycle that creators go through when they face burnout that plummets engagement. Instead of posting more often, focus on posting more consistently. Master posting 2-3x per week, then work your way up. Consistency is far more important than pushing a mass amount of content.
Share real value - do not hold back
People thrive off of real value, helping them learn new skills, gain knowledge, be entertained and/ or inspired. Think about how many times you’ve heard people say “I learnt this/ heard this from TikTok”. Now more than ever, do not hold back with the value you share! Make sure you don’t share value for the sake of followers/ engagement; but rather to share selflessly, without expecting anything in return (yes, people can tell).
Try something new
Creators who were willing to try something completely new are always the ones who become more likely to stand out from the crowd and attract a larger audience. We always say “create more than you consume” - which really allows your creativity to “become” a trend, rather than just follow trends.
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