If you’ve been scrolling TikTok this week, you might have noticed comments taking center stage.
Thanks to TikTok’s unique video reply feature, brands and influencers are using their best comments to inspire new content for their feeds.
But the creativity doesn’t end there — there’s tons of new trends and creators to watch, so we called in Kelsey Docherty, TikTok brand consultant, aficionado, and all-round video content pro to share her insights.
Stemming from Kelsey’s trend-watch series on her Instagram @kelsey_tries, TikTok Thursdays brings you all the latest TikTok news.
And this week, we’re jumping right into how comments are the new creative currency on the app:
TikTok Trends Overview of the Week
Comments on your videos are about to become your best creative asset. The name of the game this week is engagement.
You might have spotted a major increase in brands and influencers replying to their comments with a video. Yes, that’s right – replying to comments WITH a video!
The app has a feature that is available to all users where you reply to a comment in a video, which stays in your TikTok feed.
Gone are the days of simply liking and replying to comments with text, TikTok has completely raised the bar.
All you have to do is click on a comment from any one of your videos. From there, you’ll see a comment box come up and to the left, is a red recording button. Tap that button, and a recording screen will come up with a little text box with the comment. Genius, right?
So the main takeaway this week is to start commenting on videos from the brand and influencers you love!
Imagine your favorite brand or creator using your comment as a basis for one of their videos? That is a level of engagement we’ve never seen before on any other social sharing app.
And if you want to take it to the next level, start scrolling your comments on your videos — there could be the perfect comment to spark a video reply! Take the video reply feature for a test drive in your next TikTok.
Want to learn more about TikTok and how to use if for your brand or business? We have you covered with our Ultimate Guide to TikTok Marketing!
TikTok Trend of the Week
Has anyone else found that they are scrolling TikTok for hours on hours and don’t even realize it? There is a trend picking up called #TikTokRestArea, where creators and brands alike remind you to take a moment for yourself.
Warning: many contain extremely cute dogs.
It’s pretty refreshing when one of these videos comes up on your For You Page. They make you take a step back and go, “Oh yeah, maybe I SHOULD take a screen break.” Or in my case, “Oh yeah, it HAS been two hours of me scrolling TikTok, hasn’t it!?”
The hashtag has a grand total of 1.5 billion views, so there are a lot of eyes on this one. It’s important to try trends out that make sense for your brand – and this one’s an easy one!
Last week’s Brand of the Week, Manscaped, created its own #TikTokRestArea. Same goes for brands like Starface and creators like Adam Rose.
These #TikTokRestArea videos get pretty positive comments. On one of the most successful videos by @riiiiiicola, who has the top spot in the hashtag and sound used for these rest stop videos has super high engagement — 2,459 comments to be exact.
Even some top tier talent have added their thoughts in the comment sections of this video, including Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp and verified TikTok influencers @alanchikinchow and @overtimemegan.
Participating in trending hashtags can potentially increase engagement on your videos, so if this one fits with your brand, test it out in your next TikTok.
Standout TikTok Brand of the Week
Milk Makeup is one of the most followed makeup brands on TikTok. And I’ll tell you why.
Their content is satisfying to watch, they share makeup hacks, educate their audience on how to use their products, create their own challenges, and even offer styling tips.
They produce content that is incredibly well-rounded, creative, consistent, and brand-appropriate. When I watch their videos, I don’t feel like they’re trying to sell me anything, but somehow they come top of mind when I’m browsing Sephora.
Milk Makeup is super clever with their captions; they often have a call to action to increase engagement from their audience. This video, which to date has 31K likes, 117K views, and 831 comments asks to “Drop your emoji reaction” in the comments to a bathroom stocked full of Milk Makeup.
Besides their giveaway posts, the above is one of their most engaged videos. They also use other tactics to get their audience involved, including posing questions around their makeup hacks, like “Would you try this?” and “Tag a friend that needs this” in their product videos.
The magic of effective marketing!
They even share videos on how to upcycle empty product containers into a home for your cactus.
When you’re a brand starting out on TikTok, try to show up as authentic as possible — this doesn’t mean forcing your brand on the general TikTok audience, but creating content that is interesting and ties back to your brand ethos.
Creators and Brands to Watch
Maybe it’s because I’ve lost track of days in self-isolation, Maybe it’s because I’m bored. Maybe it’s because I’m hungry. Maybe it’s all of the above, but I have been getting deep into instructional cooking and recipe videos.
When it comes to instructional cooking content, there are never too many cooks in the kitchen. Here are some of the best:
#1: @ACookNamedMatt, CEO of Slicing
This guy slices anything. Chocolate. Kiwis. Onions. Tomatoes. Lemons. Mangos. The list goes on. He creates some of the most satisfying cooking content. Let’s take a look:
Matt is so successful with his content because he’s constantly involving his audience through the comments. As you can see with the majority of his videos, his audience determines his content — whether it’s a recommendation of what food to slice next or what recipe they’d like to see.
He also offers really helpful tips and recipes for someone like me who is a total dud in the kitchen.
And don’t forget to scroll your comments for any questions or requests — that could be the inspiration you need for your next instructional video! Just like this one:
He also makes me want to invest in sharper knives!
#2: @TwinCoast, CEO of Smoothies
If you watch one of TwinCoast’s videos, you’ll understand why they’re so successful on social sharing platforms. They create some of the most oddly satisfying, visually appealing smoothie content and even offer up their recipes too.
This super-simple TikTok video garnered over 1 million videos and almost 10K comments!
Both of these creators’ content is pretty niche and they position themselves as experts in their fields.
Instructional content does really well on TikTok, so think about how you can position your brand as an expert in your field. Or teach your audience something they didn’t know!
These days, everyone is looking to learn, so instructional content is a great way to win over new followers on TikTok.
And that’s a wrap on this week’s TikTok Thursday. Hopefully, you can take some of the things you’ve learned and apply them to your next video!
Stay tuned as next Thursday we’ll be bringing you the latest TikTok trends, creators, and brands to follow — we did say this app is all about speed!
In the meantime, check out Later’s free 30-minute TikTok for Business workshop — we’re sharing everything you need to get started and grow your following on TikTok!
