Douyin
It's hot and everybody wants in; you might have even heard about an influencer who once sold 15,000 lipsticks in five minutes. As traditional platforms are losing their lustre, TikTok is where everyone is at, so let's all jump on board and see how we can capitalize, right?
Table of Contents
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Trending Now: The Rise Of Douyin?
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Why Should I Use Douyin And How Do I Use It To My Advantage?
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What Is Douyin?
Often referred to as the TikTok of China, Douyin (抖音) is the China based short-form videos sharing platform. In fact the parent company ByteDance (a Chinese tech company) owns both TikTok and Douyin. The primary distinguishing feature of this platform is that the videos' length only range from about 15 seconds to 10 minutes, depending on permissions. Much of its original content emphasizes a motion picture element matching an audio compliment whether it be a song or a corresponding rhythm.
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Extremely popular with millennial and Gen Z demographics as 80% of users are between the ages of 19-40 years old.
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Hosts a variety of short-form videos, from genres like pranks, stunts, tricks, jokes, dance, and entertainment.
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Unlike YouTube and Chinese equivalent video applications, content on Douyin content is created in portrait form, as opposed to landscape, giving it a more casual and personal feel.
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As of August 2020, Douyin reached 600 million daily active users.
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Douyin has shifted to become a more e-commerce platform recently, allowing for brands to setup their own native Douyin stores, while also launching Douyin Pay.
Trending Now: The Rise Of Douyin?
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Short-form videos allow great consumption of hits in a short period of time: Douyin offers a different type of entertainment, compared to the traditional long-form videos we used to get from television, Bilibili or YouTube.
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Highly personalized content recommendations: The platform's algorithm presents customized recommendations based on the interest of the viewer. The accuracy of this encourages users to stay on the platform for longer and subsequently view more content.
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Entertainment rather than pure lifestyle: The platform incorporates in-app gaming allows for more interaction as opposed to pure viewership.
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Easy content creation. Ease of use is critical as more users can become content creators instead of just consumers.
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Why Should I Use Douyin And How Do I Use It To My Advantage?
We are often asked by our clients if we can help to set up and run a Douyin account for their business and act as an agency providing digital marketing services. We are more than willing and capable. However, just because we can do it doesn't necessarily mean you should pay us to do so. It is our strong belief that all our clients can shine and thrive on Douyin with the right strategy. But here's a few questions that we pose to all of you and it's probably a useful exercise for all businesses to ask themselves before embarking on the "Douyin strategy":
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i. Why do you want to be on this platform? Sure, it's popular, there's a large user base and it's growing by the day. But that can be said of many platforms as well.
ii. Where do you plan to get your content from? Do you have a plan to create original content specific for Douyin OR do you plan on taking existing video footage and cutting it up into smaller bites?
iii. Do you have a particular angle to deliver short and enticing content? Do you have an internet personality that can creative content onsite at your business? Do you think your audience would like to consume streams of content showcasing your hotel facilities or the food from your restaurants? After all, Douyin is much more personal than other social media platforms.
Things To Keep In Mind?
Content Delivery: Douyin by nature delivers video content that is much more personal and intimate. Unlike WeChat and Red Book which can include a corporate or product video, the vast majority of interesting Douyin clips features a personality. Some product companies have navigated this by working with fans, influencers and brand spokespeople who are able to do these promotions in a more interesting and fitting way. As a resort or hotel brand, how would you leverage a personality into your content? Would you have a designated host/hostess? Would you bring in an influencer for each video post or would you have a staff member be the on camera and be the face of your brand?
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Alignment with Brand: Most companies in the travel industry, especially high-end luxury hotels have established strong brand guidelines that are consistent across all media channels. Remember we discussed earlier that Douyin is primarily made up of short clips of pranks, jokes, tricks and entertainment. So, for hotels, maintaining a strong and credible presence should supersede anything that contradicts it. But on the other hand from the viewers' standpoint, content should be fun, engaging and interesting. It will take a creative social manager to appease these two very different demands, so that's something to think about.
Dos And Dont's?
Do incorporate music or relevant audio into your videos, as music videos are endemic to the platform.
Do bet on originality and find your niche to connect with your community and engage users.
Do create the 'highs' because short videos are about quick stimulation. Make sure you can get your point across fast, ideally in the first 3 seconds of the video clip.
Do consider both formality and informality. If a brand's shows up as formal, it might come off as an advertisement resulting in low interest and dissuade the algorithm.
Do have a personality or a consistent host for your company account.
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Don't take a long brand video and cut it up into smaller pieces just because Douyin is a short video platform. Even a short 15 second video is crafted to introduce a theme/scene/action to deliver a high.
Don't underestimate the complexity of planning that goes into Douyin videos. The most successful personalities plan their channel, theme and posts down to the second.
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Conclusion
Having said all that, the hard truth is, in most circumstances, hotel and resort accounts don't work that well on Douyin. It is an inherent clash to combine what is often a well-manicured image of a resort of hotel with informal and casual personalities.
Most resorts already produce brand videos that are often very polished, featuring high-resolution shots and highlighting enticing elements of their properties. These can be used for their website and other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WeChat and Red Book. But we generally don't recommend cutting up longer videos into shorter ones for Douyin.
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Is it impossible? No. If you're keen and committed, and have resources and a strong dose of creativity and innovation, you can make it work. We'd like to hear from someone who's ready to step up to the challenge. Will that be you?