TikTok announces: What's next?

TikTok has shared the 2024 results of its What’s Next Report, which provides key data for marketing professionals aiming to strengthen their market presence and achieve business goals. The report focuses on the concept of “Creative Bravery,” which is predicted to be transformative and embraced by the TikTok community in 2024.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS FROM BRANDS

In 2023, TikTok continued its success in authenticity and inspiration. While becoming a platform where rich ideas, knowledge, unforgettable moments, and the beauty and diversity of music are shared alongside local talent, it also brought together users from different backgrounds and cultures, offering businesses the opportunity to develop their creativity. According to the report, which focuses on the “Creative Bravery” concept to be embraced by the TikTok community in 2024, succeeding on TikTok means integrating Creative Bravery into daily behaviors and strategies. Brands are expected to constantly spark global curiosity, subvert traditional storytelling, and build deep connections with their audiences.

Commenting on the report, TikTok Turkey Partnerships Manager Barış Aldanmaz said: “Thanks to the talent we have seen on the platform and in the creative ecosystem in the region over the past year, TikTok communities are redefining traditional storytelling, fueled by a mix of curiosity, imagination, vulnerability, and bravery. For brands, this presents a great opportunity to embrace creative bravery, build deep community ties, and engage with relevant audiences.”

The What’s Next report presented by TikTok highlights three key factors that drive trends:

• Curiosity
• Storytelling
• Trust

CURIOSITY HAS PEAKED

According to the report, people are looking for much more than “a single right answer” on TikTok. When curiosity, interest, and discovery combine, the potential for users to explore new perspectives and turn them into real-life actions increases. One of the key trends highlighted in TikTok’s What’s Next Trend Report, Curiosity Peaked, reveals that users flock to TikTok due to their curiosity about the world, pop culture, trends, and brands.

Looking at Turkey, 80 percent of users agree that TikTok shows them content that inspires them and that they enjoy.[1] This points to an opportunity for brands to create diverse, enjoyable, and useful content to spark the sense of curiosity that communities possess, or may not even be aware of.

ADS THAT SPARK CURIOSITY ARE WATCHED 1.4 TIMES LONGER

TikTok users often embrace a shared community known as #delulu, or delusional comfort, instead of an overwhelming reality. Rooted in fandom culture, #delulu is a mix of fantasy and manifestation, meaning viewers adopt a fake persona by fantasizing about their hopes, dreams, or their own self-defined delusional realities. The coming together of different voices, the adoption of collaborative formats, and the addressing of various topics subvert the patterns we are accustomed to in traditional storytelling. This creates an environment where everyone has the freedom to tell and share their own story. #delulu represents more than just a phenomenon; it represents the power of a community coming together to create and share their own realities.

According to TikTok’s global research, this new understanding of storytelling proves the power of narratives that guide the audience beyond the first few seconds and into the depths of the story for brands as well. Indeed, according to the report, ads that aim to spark curiosity in users are watched 1.4 times longer.[2] Looking at Turkey, it is seen that 80 percent of users state that TikTok is a platform that shows them things they want to buy, and therefore they are more open to seeing ads on TikTok than on any other platform.

76 PERCENT OF USERS FIND BRANDED CONTENT TRUSTWORTHY

There is a growing lack of trust between consumers and brands, which drives audiences to seek engagement beyond one-off sales. Furthermore, consumers expect brands to lead positive social change and demonstrate transparency. Therefore, building clear brand trust and value is inevitable for brands. For brands, treating every campaign and organic content as an opportunity to share, listen, and learn is extremely important for building deeper loyalty both on and off the platform. User opinions confirm this. According to the report, 42 percent of users in Turkey state that the ads they watch on TikTok increase their trust in the relevant product or service. Nearly 80 percent of users find ads on TikTok more exciting than on other platforms. While branded content on TikTok is considered more trustworthy by 76 percent, it is also found to be more informative than other platforms by 75 percent. Additionally, more than half of TikTok users in Turkey (64 percent) express that they enjoy experiencing a sense of community and interaction on the platform.

"WHAT'S NEXT" METHODOLOGY

This report is largely supported by data from the Global TikTok Marketing Science team, collected in multiple third-party commissioned research studies that use mixed-method approaches, typically including quantitative online surveys, exposure to stimuli in a sample TikTok environment, and/or advanced analytics. The report focuses on studies from 2022 and 2023 and addresses the larger trend forces at play in 2023 and 2024.