Social media – interactive technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks – are the new place everyone, especially platforms marketers, is likely to be at any time of the day. Social media platforms are increasingly popular, making them ideal tools to include in your marketing strategy. Take TikTok for instance. According to a report released by analytics firm Sensor Tower, the App was downloaded more than 176 million times since the start of 2022, making it the fifth App to reach more than 3.5 billion total downloads. Since 2018, no other App has had more total downloads than TikTok. TikTok’s annual revenue was $4.6 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach $12 billion by the end of 2022, according to Bloomberg. Also, per Insider Intelligence, the social video App has a rapidly growing user count. It gains eight new followers per second. The App is said to steal users away from other social networks. While entertainment seems to be the main pull at the moment, there is an increase in educational, aspirational, and business-oriented content. More and more businesses are using TikTok for advertisement and branding. TikTok has become a good option for businesses since it offers great space for user-generated content, new techniques of marketing, and will, by and large, give your business access to an audience that other platforms don’t have. People make money on TikTok, through live gifts, a feature that if active on your account, allows your viewers to react to your TikTok videos and show appreciation for your content. Live gifts allow you to collect diamonds from TikTok, which are then redeemed for money. One TikTok gift costs $20 and is subsequently sent to a creator. Another way to make money on the platform is through TikTok influencers. According to Yvette Nzaramba, a Rwandan TikToker with about 17,500 followers, the more engagement in terms of likes, comments and views one gets, the more money they are likely to earn. TikTok pays around 2 to 4 cents per 1,000 views, which means that one might expect $20 to $40 after reaching a million views. Currently, the average annual pay for a Tiktok influencer is roughly $25, per hour. “Once you have a big following on TikTok, you are able to secure brand ambassador gigs, or even promote your own business,” said Kimenyi Tito, another Rwandan TikToker with more than 30,000 followers. According to Tito, to be able to have a huge following, one needs to constantly engage with their audience and create unique content. Many organizations in Rwanda realised how much an effective social media presence can help them reach customers or audiences. The Rwanda National Police, Bank of Kigali, Uzuri K&Y, and others, are using the platform to communicate with their target audience. According to experts, as for everything else in a business, social media also needs a clear marketing strategy. Steps like identifying a niche, defining a specific target audience, posting consistently, and understanding the algorithm of the platforms – for example, use of hashtags – among others, could be helpful. Clearly, one cannot afford to ignore the likes of TikTok and other social media platforms, especially in times of the Covid-19 pandemic and rise of online shopping.
