Marketers who have already had the chance to advertise on social media know that these platforms can be awesome sources of leads, traffic, conversions, new customers, and ultimately revenue.
On the other hand, they will also tell you that in order to stay afloat in the social media rat race, you have to embrace every single feature the given platform offers, or you will be pretty much left behind both by your competition and target audience.
That’s just the nature of the game. Social media is always evolving, always in constant change, and advertisers who want to stay relevant should keep up with these changes.
Whether simple guideline- or algorithm updates on Facebook, new story policies on Instagram, or embracing a totally new platform, marketers should be ready to tackle every challenge and make changes to their social strategy on the fly.
In recent years, Snapchat, TikTok, and Likee have been the craze in the social department of the digital realm. These short video-editing platforms have managed to garner not just the attention of young users, but authorities and marketers alike.
Their popularity is still going strong and on the rise, and as such, as a marketer eager to learn and try out new things, you should encourage yourself to look into them and to see where they fit into your social media strategy.
TikTok vs. Snapchat vs Likee – The Basics
Snapchat was launched in 2011 and still going strong in 2020 (especially among Millennials). Currently, it’s one of the top 15 most-used social media platforms in the world with around 218 million active daily users. As such, making good use of it from an advertising standpoint makes perfect sense.
TikTok, on the other hand, looks as though it came from nowhere and suddenly, became the most downloaded app across the board. It garnered relatively modest success in its native China, but the breakthrough came when people from Mysucal.ly purchased the app and migrated all its users to a new, combined platform under the TikTok name. Ever since then, the platform has gained enormous popularity, and marketers all around the globe are starting to see the potential in the new Chinese craze that’s here to stay.
Likee was launched in 2017 by Bigo Technology from Singapore. It’s also a short-video creation and sharing platform that quickly became one of the most popular downloadable apps in India. Fast forward, in 2019 it was among the top ten favorite apps with 330 million downloads, half of them from India. Currently, it is the app with the fastest-growing user base among the three social platforms with a staggering 173 year-on-year growth.
Some marketers may dismiss the latter two apps simply as Snapchat reboots. However, it’s clear that both Likee and TikTok are having a moment and right now, it seems that they are here to stay.
As such, marketers are highly encouraged to look into them.
These three platforms are quite alike, with similar audiences, but offer things that are vastly different.
By default, TikTok and Likee are short-video sharing apps, whereas Snapchat is a video and photo messaging app that pretty much works like Facebook and Instagram stories with short-lived formats.
Undoubtedly, the similarities are easy to point out, but each of these platforms offers a unique way to reach out to your audiences – if you reach out with the right type of brand and content that is.
Snapchat – The Essentials
As already told, the app was launched in 2011 and among its core features are audio and video capture. It supports text and video chat, story creation with simple editing tools and camera filters, AR “lenses”, Snap maps, and a discover tab.
Users mostly follow friends, companies, and celebrities, and with 218 million daily users on the global scale and 75 million global downloads in 2019, it’s a true social media powerhouse.
Snapchat offers a simple way to keep up with popular trends, news, and friends. The basic features revolve around the “Story” – pictures and videos that users can capture, edit, and publish for 24 hours for followers to see and engage with. The app has been working on a lot of immersive features adding AI and AR capabilities to the app. Some of these include 3D environment interactions, try-on effects, and object scanning.
As far as Advertising goes, the platform offers different options for marketers from standard Snap Ad units (that pop-in between stories) to more elaborate ads that sport AR lenses and unique branded filters. It also enables shoppable ads, a native checkout feature, and personalized targeting.
TikTok – The Essentials
As we’ve already covered it, the app was launched in China, back in 2017. However, the breakthrough came a year later when it launched internationally.
The core features of the platform also include video capture but with better editing tools, lots of filter effects, different prompts like hashtag challenges, reactions, an algorithm-based discovery feed, and a sound library.
When looking at demographics, TikTok is a primarily Gen Z platform with 41% of the users being between 18 and 24 and 27% being in the 13-17 age gap in the US alone.
The highly immersive capabilities of the platform make it a great place for brands, celebrities, and content creators to market their products and services.
The popularity of the platform can be observed in its total number of downloads in 2019. On a global scale, 738 million people downloaded the app, and to date, it has around 41 million daily active users. Last year, the platform also managed to generate a total of $176.9 million in revenue.
Users create and share short, looping videos using the platform’s huge library of sound bites and music. Humor and talent are usually at the forefront when creating these videos, making it a more casual social media outlet where entertainment is in the focal point, together with quality content.
When it comes to Advertising, TikTok is still a bit in its experimental period, as currently, advertising only comes in the option of CPM-based (cost per thousand impressions) advertising.
Ad units include:
- Brand takeovers with ads that appear full screen when users open TikTok
- Hashtag challenges
- Branded filters
- In-feed native video ads
- In-feed content topview ads
- Influencer partnerships
Likee – The Essentials
Until mid-2019, the app was known as LIKE, but it became Likee after that, accompanied by a substantial redesign and rebranding.
In the second quarter of the last year, the apps monthly active user base has managed to crawl to 80.7 million. In September the same year, parental control features were introduced to the app enabling access restrictions to some of the content.
All in all, the app is also heavy on augmented reality effects on works on similar principles as TikTok, with visual effects, Dynamic stickers, video editing, and 4D features.
As far as advertising goes, so far, the app has managed to generate revenue from live streaming. However, commercial advertising formats are also emerging to improve the way how brands can interact with users on the platform.
Content Comparison – Which Platform is The Best for Your Brand?
In short, the answer will depend on your main objective. All three of these social platforms offer great opportunities for brands to reach out to their target audiences and to push quality content to them.
When it comes to engagement, TikTok might be the best choice, as brand challenges, filters, reactions, and other user-generated content can be simply more effective and proactive when it comes to driving awareness and evoking any kind of action from the users.
From that point of view, Likee can also be pretty effective. The short video format and live streaming opportunities can cater to target audiences, especially with the right type of content.
Snapchat, on the other hand, might be a better channel for sharing fleeting life moments and original stories.
Also, you should take it into consideration that Snapchat has overall more mature advertising options, while TikTok is still testing out some advertising formats, and Likee has only recently ventured into commercial advertising.
That said, if you want short-term results, your best bet might be Snapchat, as the native checkout and shoppable item-features can produce clear and measurable results almost instantly, whereas the other two platforms are still quite experimental in the advertising arena and they might need more momentum to yield tangible results.
Who is your audience?
This can also make or break your efforts when it comes to brand awareness. If you want your brand to be associated with uniqueness, creativity, quality, and engaging content showcasing talent, then TikTok is your platform. The app is notorious for being hands-down entertaining, and users aren’t passively standing there but engaging in the action in real-time. That’s why brand challenges and reactions have become so popular on the platform.
So, if you are heavy on organic content, then TikTok might be a great option for you to drive awareness.
Likee somewhat follows the same formula as it also leans on creative content to garner awareness and popularity among users. Lately, similar challenges and brand filters have been launched on the platform to cater to the shifting trends TikTok has dictated.
On the other hand, Likee has been huge on film and music industry advertising, closely working with Bollywood. Movie promotions on the platform managed to receive over 800 million views.
This sole fact sets the bar pretty high for smaller brands since most small firms can’t really compete with the sorts of budgets large movie companies have. For them, relying on the TikTok-like advertising methods that Likee is still pretty much tapping into would make more sense.
Lastly, Snapchat should be your place if you have a more conventional and mainstream approach to marketing as it has the oldest-running ad features, and it’s still home for Millenials around the globe.
If you shift your focus to quality content with a strong, yet traditional brand message, then Snapchat should be your best bet as it also suits those more conventional advertising and converting strategies that the platform uses and enforces.
The other two apps can also help you drive awareness. However, the content you create both on TikTok and Likee should resonate more with younger audiences, and be more engaging, which would require more commitment on your side.
Snapchat Marketing Tips
After covering the basics of all three platforms, here are a few pointers that might help you launch your next Snapchat campaign.
Make some fuss about it
If you’re a marketer, you know that it’s all about being loud and letting your audience know where you are. And since Snapchat works a bit differently from your traditional social platforms, you’ll need a wee bit of a different approach to gain new followers.
So, to grow your audience, think about:
• Cross-promoting your Snapchat username via FB and Twitter posts
• Create a snapcode and “add me” URL
Use your strategy wisely
Even though Snapchat (just like TikTok and Likee) are more playful-oriented, compared to Twitter or LinkedIn, you will still want to create a committed strategy to promote your brand.
That said, research your competitors, target audience, objectives, and create a brand content strategy, and calendar, along with regular metric-checking and data analysis.
Lastly, don’t forget to engage with other users!
Make the best use of what the platform has to offer
More specifically, make sure to use Snapchat’s AR lenses and superimpose digital effects, graphics, or animations. You can create your own sponsored lens.
Also, consider creating a sponsored geofilter, or overlays for the platforms.
Don’t forget your CTAs and ad formats
Use the Swipe up to text/call features to let your audiences reach you right away when they see something that interests them. Given that snaps are short-lived on the platform, you will have to be ready to cater to your followers’ needs whenever they are ready to reach out to you.
Lastly, don’t forget to tap into the snap, collection, dynamic, and story ads the platform offers to maximize the likeliness of stretching your brand’s footstep.
A Few Tips For TikTok/Likee
As both of these channels’ advertising platforms are somewhat rough around the edges, here are a few main pointers you can use if you are planning to tackle the scenes:
Go heavy on creativity
Both of these channels cater to younger audiences, even younger than on Snapchat, and they are hungry for authentic and entertaining content. That said, you might need to put some extra work into it if you want to outdo your competition, not necessarily budget-wise but creatively. If you are promoting other brands as an agency, sit down with company representatives and come up with a strategy that has relevant content that will click with the audiences on the platforms.
Conventional approaches that worked well for Snapchat might be less efficient here, so engage in brand challenges and other options that both Likee and TikTok offer.
How about influencers?
With the right approach, strategy, and content, influencer marketing can work pretty well on any platform. In the case of these video-editing and posting sites, influencer marketing would work on pretty much the same principles as it would work on YouTube, for example.
If you’d like to venture into this option, make sure that you are working with an influencer who has the experience and knowledge to make your brand work for their huge audience base.
Ads
Both of these platforms are still lagging a bit when it comes to setting up a formal profit-sharing system, and as such, you may encounter a few bugs that need fixing. Nevertheless, you can always give these options a try to experiment a bit.
Finishing Thoughts
All in all, all three of these platforms can hold something valuable for marketers, given that they use the right tools and content when venturing into the arena.
The success of your campaigns will always depend on your approach, strategy, and willingness to work on your content and promotions.
Thanks to the more conventional advertising profile on Snapchat, you might be able to get away with more traditional strategies and grow your brand by taking that route.
However, TikTok and Likee show a more creative, entertainment-focused directive which will challenge most marketers and brands who have gotten comfortable in the world of repetitive captions and CTAs.
Who knows, these highly engaging platforms might even help transform the social media landscape and usher in a new era in terms of reaching out to audiences. Only the future will tell.
