We've seen brands and retailers take a more wait-and-see approach to TikTok, as it could be banned in the US (among other things). On the other hand, the agency is not convinced.
Agency marketers have historically been more skeptical of TikTok than brand marketers, and a first-quarter survey of agency professionals by Digiday+ Research found that It turns out that spending on TikTok has fallen sharply in recent months.
According to a Digiday survey, just over half of agencies use TikTok. 55% of agency professionals say their clients currently use this social platform, ranking it fourth among agency social channels behind Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. It is located.
For context, remember that 94% of agency professionals say their clients use Instagram and 79% say their clients use Facebook. To elaborate further, 73% of brand professionals told Digiday that their companies currently use TikTok.
For agencies whose clients use TikTok as part of their marketing strategy, the highest percentage of respondents value engagement as a metric for measuring success on the platform, a Digiday survey found. His 39% of agency professionals say engagement is the main measure of success their clients currently have on TikTok, which is not surprising given the nature of the platform.
Commerce and sales were not far behind. More than a quarter (26%) of agency professionals said their clients use commerce or sales as a primary measure of success on TikTok. Similar to agency brand marketers, the agency's focus on commerce and sales on the platform indicates that some of their clients are making TikTok Shop a more important part of their marketing strategy. There is a possibility that there are.
Digiday's research found that the real evidence that agencies are hesitant to embrace TikTok as a solid marketing channel for their clients lies in their spending (or lack thereof) on TikTok. Agency spending has remained stable since the second half of 2022, with nearly three-quarters of agency professionals saying their clients spent at least a small portion of their marketing budget on TikTok. But the beginning of this year looks very different.
As of Q1 2024, the percentage of agencies whose clients are spending at least some of their marketing budget on TikTok is much closer to half. Currently, 59% of agency professionals say their clients are putting at least a small portion of their marketing budget into TikTok. That's a big drop.
But interestingly, agency clients who spend only a small portion of their marketing budgets on TikTok account for the majority of that decline. A year ago, more than half (52%) of agency professionals said their clients were spending a small or very small portion of their marketing budget on TikTok. This percentage dropped to 39% in the third quarter of 2023, and again to just over a quarter (26%) in the first quarter of 2024.
It's worth noting here that agency clients who spend a large or very large portion of their marketing budget on TikTok are the smallest group, with 13% of agency professionals saying their clients spend a lot of money on TikTok. The answer is that they are spending a lot of money. Also, only 2% said their clients spend a very large portion of their marketing budget on the platform, further finding that agencies are investing less in marketing on her TikTok. .
It’s no surprise that agencies aren’t investing in TikTok given how they feel about the platform’s ability to drive conversions and branding for their clients. Simply put, a Digiday survey found that agency professionals rarely think TikTok serves either in the grand scheme of marketing.
Just 7% of agency pros told Digiday that TikTok is the best social channel to drive conversions, with the platform ranking first in this category with Instagram (which 43% of agency pros chose as the best social channel to drive conversions). ), which ranks 3rd after 2nd place. Place Facebook (30% choose). Believe it or not, TikTok has surpassed YouTube here.
Even fewer agency experts say TikTok is the best social channel for branding. 3% of agencies responded this way, and TikTok came in 4th place in this category (Instagram was the clear winner here compared to other social platforms, with 56% of agencies saying it was the best choice for branding) of social channels).
https://digiday.com/?p=539062
