East seen from the West

Viral videos on Douyin could get from 30 up to 200 million views in one day: these numbers easily sum up this social’s potential for business. But how to use it? There are different effective ways to use Douyin for companies, for example:

• they can create their account, to post short videos about their products. In this case, firms must remember that the quantity of contents is to be prioritised rather than the quality of the videos;
• they can cooperate with Kols: the key is to choose the right Kol based on the kind of products and to the sales funnel’s level the company wants to focus on; the cooperation with small or medium size Kols is usually the best option, as it’s inexpensive (it mainly works by gifting them with the products) and their followers are the most effective in terms of engagement;
• they can advertise directly on the live-streaming section: Douyin supports videos leading to e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and Douyin Store and allows to insert banners on the screen when the video loops for the second time.

These strategies can be combined in creative ways, for example through the hashtag challenge, successfully used by the fashion brand Michael Kors; the American firm launched a “City catwalk” hashtag challenge by sharing videos of some Kols doing a catwalk with Michael Khors products.
Douyin relies on fun and visually appealing contents and that the biggest part of its audience is below 24 years old and live in tier 1 and 2 cities, which makes it ideal for brands targeting consumers from the urban Generation Z. In any case, apart from big, famous exceptions, Douyin works very well as a vehicle for engagement, rather than massive growth.