Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, a video-sharing social media service, is one of the fastest growing social media networks in the world. With over 173.2 million monthly active users based in China and 800 million users worldwide, TikTok or Douyin, also happens to be the most downloaded app on Apple store in the first quarter of 2019.
The Douyin app allows users to create short videos. The users use the app to create, view and share video content based around dancing, comedy acts, lip syncing and other activities.
Why should you advertise on Douyin?
It is estimated that about 57% of the Douyin users are based in China and that, it accounts for eight out of every 10 minutes spent on Douyin. Apart from these astonishing statistics, the app makes for a good place to attract fans and win new customers. The most important factor when creating content on Douyin is how fun and engaging it is to the audience.
The young and affluent userbase
The majority of the Douyin users are from tier 1 and tier 2 cities, which are the developed metropolitan regions in China. With 82.6% of users up to 35 years as of September 2019, it is a great platform for businesses having young and affluent people as their target audience.
A ground for user-generated content
The popularity of Douyin has made it a potential place for traffic with a flow of user-generated content. The content on Douyin can be easily created. For Douyin, users have to shoot a 15-second video and choose a soundtrack from the Douyin’s library. While Weibo and WeChat have graphics and text, Douyin is an app to share videos, that happen to be more interesting and engaging. And seeing the past record of anyone turning a star due to their Douyin content has made people to try out the app.
Types of Douyin ads
1. Open Screen Ads
The Open Screen ads are displayed every time the app is opened. There are two types of Open Screen ads: Static (poster) and Dynamic (video). The static ads display for a duration of three seconds and the dynamic ads display for four to five seconds. Under the dynamic open screen ads, you can either opt for full-screen video advertisement or a split-screen. These ads are charged by Cost Per Mille (CPM)/Cost Per Thousand (CPT) impressions.
An advantage of such type of ads is the lack of interference and a strong visual impact.
There is no limit to the number of open screen advertisements per user per day. However, for new users, there will be no open screen ads within 7 days. There are a few restrictions on what kinds of ads are allowed. Ads involving pornographic content, dangerous products etc. are restricted.
2. Feed Ads
Brands can promote 5-60s short videos, which are displayed in the native advertising style in the Douyin feed. It is seamlessly integrated into the Douyin feed, helping advertisers achieve the purpose of marketing promotion.
Feed Ads again have no interference and are displayed in a full-screen format in the Douyin suggested feeds. Being undisturbed, these ads bring in a new visual experience on the vertical mobile screen.
The original information flow is connected with the brand’s Douyin account, supporting the brand to continue to accumulate fans, thus breaking the bottleneck of the brand’s marketing development.
Feed ads even allow users to share the advertising content with friends or on other social platforms. This helps in spreading brand awareness across multiple platforms.
3. Sticker Ads
Brands can make customised stickers to promote a product or their company. Users can add these stickers on their video clips and create funny and engaging content.
Vivo had used sticker ads extensively to promote their new phones. They had asked users to shoot creative videos using anything purple. They were asked to use a specific song and specific stickers in the video. As a reward, Vivo distributed trophies to users with highest number of likes.
The brand stickers appear on the fourth place in the first row of the Douyin sticker column for three days and at any random position for four days. It is recommended to design a variety of stickers to ensure that it is replaced once a week.
In sticker ads, the usage is native, the user actively uses it, the acceptance is high, and the interaction time is long. Videos with sticker ads inspire other users to try out themselves, which expands the reach. Being such a vivid way of advertising, implementing these ads enhances the brand’s favorability among Douyin users, which also helps to stimulate the users’ potential buying behavior.
This way of advertising, however, does not support third-party monitoring and it shall be Douyin’s final call to decide whether the stickers have an online standard.
4. Music Advertising
Another way to advertise on Douyin is adding your brand’s copyrighted commercial music into the Douyin music library. Users can add your music into their videos.
The music you create may contain your brand’s name or tagline, which can help spread brand awareness. The users can find your music after accurately searching for it. For the initial three months, your music will appear on the top of the result page and later, will be shifted to any random location.
Douyin has the final decision on whether the music has the storage standard and requires pre-approval. It does not support third-party monitoring, just like sticker ads.
5. KOL Marketing
Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are influencers that promote your product/service/brand using their creativity in the form of videos. Brands sponsor the KOLs to feature their products or invite to participate in different challenges. Some brands ask the KOLs to make a dedicated video talking about the product or the brand.
We at Digital Crew believe that Douyin is one of the key platforms to market your brand in China. With 400 daily active users in the country, it makes for a good business opportunity to reach out to the young urban consumers of China.
Get in touch today for Douyin services such as strategizing your marketing campaigns, implementing ads on Douyin using our platform-specific marketing techniques and KOL/influencer marketing.
