The rapid rise of user-generated content and brands' TikTok challenge

User-generated content has upended the rules of traditional communication

The rapid rise and immense potential of user-generated content is indisputable. But what does it mean for brands and marketers? Is it over-hyped as would seem from last year’s episode when an Instagram influencer with over 2 million followers failed to sell 36 T-shirts? Alternatively, what exactly is the potential since brands — from an FMCG major like ITC to entertainment platforms Shemaroo and Eros — seem to be reposing great faith on influencers?
 

The story will still take some time to unfold completely and advertising through user-generated content may still be too raw to give celebrity endorsements a run for their money yet. However, they definitely have an impact. And that conclusion is backed by trends and projections.

For example, Deloitte India’s Unravelling the Indian Consumer survey last year said that 28 per cent of the millennials purchased products due to social media recommendations while 63 per cent among them stayed updated on brands through social media. So it could be a TikTok star, an Instagrammer or a home-chef or a teacher with a reputation of being good at imparting the right skills to YouTube watchers, brands are increasingly looking to associate themselves with people who matter on social media.
 

But with each platform, comes a new challenge, more so with newer ones such as TikTok or Share Chat whose rise have taken many by surprise. What then are the rules of the game if at all they have managed to frame some?
 

The top three rules of advertising on user generated content (UGC) platforms according to Sunil Kamath, chief business officer, Share Chat are something like this. Brand campaigns are experience-led and must be relevant and contextual (something like the ice-bucket challenge will never fly in the regional market).

The second major factor, he adds, is content filtering and brand safety. Explaining this, Kamath says the algorithms that ShareChat has developed ensure that the platform is a brand safe environment, and provide the desired impact in the targeted audience. Last, since it is all UGC-led campaigns, the platform help brands in identifying micro-influencers so that they can collaborate and make exciting content for the brands they are working for.
 

TikTok did not address a set of questions Business Standard sent but the ByteDance-owned platform spoke only of the kind of brands that have tied up with it.

“TikTok has become the preferred platform for creative expression for today’s mobile-first audiences and brands are quick to realise that. Verticals across industries including fashion, FMCG, banking and more have effectively used the platform to run innovative campaigns. From leveraging artistes, actors to engaging with creators on the app, brands are also adopting innovative marketing tools such as the hashtag challenge that our platform offers,” said Sameer Singh, vice-president, monetisation, TikTok India.
 

Various estimates peg the number of active users on ByteDance platforms (TikTok being the biggest) at approximately 800 million globally. The strategies it offers to brands include brand takeover that helps advertisers take a dominant visual position to achieve exposure, in-feed native video that allows for more immersive, original, and interactive format for ads, brand lens that is designed with cutting edge technology and is tailor made for advertisers or a hashtag challenge (“an innovative digital advertising solution, which can be leveraged by brands who are seeking insights from the digital community, aimed to trigger more high-quality content”).
 

And brands do tailor such tools to suit their needs. For example, FMCG major ITC tied up with a set of entertainment influencers last November and went for a hashtag challenge when it made its foray into pulse chips.

“Our association with TikTok helped us further our objective and gave the audience an interesting challenge while having fun munching their new favourite snack,” Shuvadip Banerjee, VP-marketing at ITC, had said back then. Similarly, Moov tied up with influencers who were fitness freaks and promoted a customised campaign promoting the same.

“By encouraging users to create their own content for a campaign, the brand paves way for these users to resonate with the overall campaign message, turning them into authentic and powerful brand ambassadors,” Pankaj Duhan, chief marketing officer, RB Health South Asia, had acknowledged.
 

While brands understand the importance of all such platforms — from TikTok to Instagram and beyond — it is widely believed they are yet to develop a comlplete understanding of these platforms individually. Ankur Pahwa, partner, transaction advisory practice and national leader for the e-commerce and consumer internet sector, EY, adds another challenge: Brands don't have much control over the quality of the content.

“So they have no or some degree of control over the narrative of the piece where they have been integrated but if the influencer or content creator later does something which may be embarassing, the brand might also suffer which may not be the case with bigger celebrity endorsements.”
 

Such challenges have given impetus to influencer marketing and the rise of new generation agency structures/marketing platfoms such as One Impression which claims to be working with over 150 brands across categories.

“At One Impression, we generate a influencer content brief that is pre approved by the brand and essentially aligns the brands expectations and influencer’s content. We also typically create a sample theme content pool and share with other influencers to give a sense of the campaign. Finally, our team looks at each content independently and checks for a match with the brief which is then sent to the brand for final approval. This way, the chances of going wrong at content level are almost eliminated,” says the company’s founder and CEO Apaksh Gupta.