Overwhelmed by TikTok’s constant changes and unsure how to reach your audience in 2025? This blog news is for you. Mega Digital will unpack the 2024 Trend Report to help you prepare your brand for 2025. You can discover key shifts, crucial signals, and how to use these insights for marketing success. Let’s get started now!
Table of Contents
Understand the Report Algorithm
TikTok What’s Next 2024 Trend Report adopts “Speeds of Culture” methodology. This method categorizes trends based on their duration and impact, including three stages:
- Trend Moments (short-term): Creative, high-participation prompts that generate quick buzz and engagement.
- Trend Signals (medium-term): Emerging user behaviors or interests shown through new content patterns.
- Trend Forces (long-term): Large-scale, enduring changes in behavior shaping culture.
The TikTok Trend Report mainly focuses on longer-term trends, including analysis of Trend Forces and Trend Signals.
Trend Force #1 Curiosity Peaked
Users are now coming to TikTok looking for far more than a single ‘right answer’. They tend to discover more about their interests and perspectives here.
Trend Signals
Serendipitous Scrolling is the first signal for this trend force. According to TikTok Marketing Science Global, 44% of users visit TikTok with one goal but stumble upon something unexpected which then becomes their new interest or obsession.
Besides becoming the top platform for product discovery, TikTok also unlocks new channels for entertainment and influence. 67% of users say they’ve learned a lot about different people and cultures through the platform. (TikTok Marketing Science Global Diversity, 2022)
Advertising Solutions
These signals all emphasize the increasing curiosity of TikTok users. Therefore, to resonate with these inquiring audiences, brands should adopt some advertising solutions:
- Search Ads Toggle: To keep your brand top-of-mind, you should display ads alongside organic search results with Search Ads Toggle to engage users.
- Video Shopping Ads & TikTok Shop: While Video Shopping Ads can drive discovery with tailored product recommendations, TikTok Shop lets users shop seamlessly in-app.
- Pulse: This solution helps you connect with diverse audiences by placing your brand next to top trending content.
Trend Force #2 Storytelling Unhinged
People are making up their celebrities and stories. TikTok has witnessed a shift where diverse voices, collaborative formats, and subject matters are flipping everything we know about traditional storytelling on its head.
Trend Signals
TikTok is fostering community-fueled storytelling, where users are 1.3x more likely to feel they can co-create and build on each other’s content compared to traditional social media (TikTok Marketing Science Global Entertaining Ads Study, 2022).
Additionally, TikTok audiences are also embracing “Stay True to Delulu,” a trend where lighthearted, shared delusions offer comfort and joy in an overwhelming world. Thus, marketers can join the fun with a playful, “delulu” approach to create genuine connections that celebrate joy, confidence, and shared comfort.
Ad Solutions
Want to make your ads feel more like real stories? We’ve got some cool ways to do it, focusing on how people use TikTok.
- Branded Mission: This feature helps you team up with other creators to show different viewpoints and stories. Thus, you will get real content that makes your brand relatable.
- Spark Ads: Spark Ads lets you use awesome TikTok videos as ad material. When a creator your audience already loves talks about your brand, it feels way more real.
- Focused View: Sometimes, unexpected stories grab our attention more. Focused View makes sure your ads are seen by people who are more likely to pay attention longer.
Trend Force #3 Bridging The Trust Gap
TikTok content is all about building trust these days. Let’s look at some clues on this trend!
Trend Signals
When brands let people comment on their TikTok ads, viewers will trust them more! They trust those brands 1.5 times more than before they saw the ads.
What’s more? When brands work with TikTok creators, people trust them even more. We’re talking about a 41% increase in trust (TikTok Drives Brand Trust Study, 2022)! This is because when you find creators who genuinely like your brand, and they honestly share that with their followers, it feels like a real recommendation.
These signals show that building trust on TikTok is all about being real, listening to your audience, and connecting with people.
Advertising Solutions
So how do we build that trust we were just talking about? Here are some easy ways to make your brand feel more trustworthy on TikTok:
- Build an organic presence: Think of your TikTok page as a place to hang out, not just a place to sell stuff. Share fun and interesting things that aren’t always about your product. When you do this, people start to like you and feel loyal to your brand.
- Branded Mission: Branded Mission lets you get real people to create content about your brand. You ask them to share their own videos, and then you use the best ones as ads! It’s a great way to get authentic content made by people your audience already trusts.
- TikTok’s Creator Marketplace and Creative Exchange: Tap into the TikTok Creator Marketplace (TTCM) and TikTok Creative Exchange (TTCX) to discover and collaborate with creators and professionals on your next campaign. Through these platforms, brands can further build cultural relevance and evolve their storytelling both on and offline.
Wrap Up
Navigating TikTok can be tricky, but by leveraging the insights from the 2024 Trend Report, you can make smarter decisions for your brand in 2025.
Continue to monitor these trend forces, experiment with new strategies, and keep a pulse on the ever-evolving world of TikTok. By doing so, you’ll ensure that your brand remains relevant and engaging with your target audience in the months and years to come.
