TikTok is still considered a new and fresh medium, although it was founded in 2016 – less than 5 years is a very long time in this world. However, this does not change the fact that for years TT has remained a bit disregarded in the western world, mainly due to the initial product targeting mainly on the Asian market. Whatever the reasons, 2020 definitely belonged to TikTok. In the first quarter of this year, it was the most downloaded application in the world.

TikTok – what is it about?

TikTok is a mobile application for Android and iOS, thanks to which we can publish short films in various forms. In 2017, the company managing TT, ByteDance, acquired the competitive Musical.ly application for nearly a billion dollars, which also allowed for the publication of short videos, and the available tools allowed for their simple editing – including synchronizing the character’s mouth movement on the video with the lyrics (the platform offered a large database of available songs thanks to an agreement with Warner Music Group and Apple Music). A few months later, Musical.ly was officially merged with TikTok.

The convenient and fast mechanism of editing and sharing films made the platform extremely popular, mainly among the youngest users of the Web, i.e. Generation Z. As a generation from an early age familiar with the use of computers and smartphones, they consume content slightly differently than the previous generations, which had to slowly learn the internet world. The average age of Facebook users is growing, so it seems natural that the youngest generation of internet users is looking for a field of expression elsewhere – in mid-2020, according to Statista, nearly one third of TikTok users in the US were under 20 years old, and over 60% were under 30. It should be noted, however, that TikTok itself does not officially confirm the data on the structure of its community and such data should be treated as an estimate.

As a platform based mainly on mobile solutions (it is possible to use the web interface on computers, but the vast majority of users “tick” on smartphones), TikTok is with users almost anywhere and at any time. It can be considered that TikTok and its mechanics are to some extent a catalyst for the implementation of the Stories format in subsequent social networks – after all, relations were introduced not only a few years ago by Instagram and Facebook, but – quite recently – also by LinkedIn and Twitter. TikTok movies are, in a sense, an extension of this form of communication – fast, dynamic and fleeting.

Pre-publication video on TikTok can be freely edited and processed thanks to built-in tools and filters. The short form of the films (up to a minute, if we use films created directly in the app; films uploaded from external sources may be longer) means that post-production does not require much effort, and watching the video itself is not time-consuming. It is on TikTok that challenges, i.e. various types of challenges, are experiencing their second Internet youth – sometimes sensible, sometimes less of course. We can also find here millions of home music videos, dance routines, charity actions, but also films with painful accidents or vulgar quarrels. Great opportunities to interact with videos posted by other users make the online life on TikTok very dynamic and engaging. According to a study by Businessofapps, in 2019 the average TT user spent nearly an hour a day on the application.

TikTok’s advertising and marketing potential

Due to the large community and the implemented advertising system, TikTok is an application that allows you to promote your own content and display it to a wide audience. As a “new” medium, based on slightly different solutions, it is a field with huge promotional potential, not yet fully exploited by marketers. The number of brands using ads on TikTok, however, is steadily increasing. With Shopify integration, advertisers can also easily promote their products in the app.

The individual TikTok ad formats and their specifications are described in an article on our blog: dimensions of graphics in social media.

TikTok allows brands to collaborate in two ways. The first is the traditional auction model using TikTok Ads Manager, based on very similar principles as, for example, Facebook’s advertising manager. Another solution is the reservation model, under which all activities are planned and agreed with one of the partnership managers cooperating with the platform – this is a solution dedicated to larger campaigns.

Like Twitter, TikTok promotes the most popular hashtags, which are called Trends on this platform. It is an excellent tool for using real-time marketing and “hooking” to the most dynamically growing topics – in short, TikTok seems to be a good place for the brand to always be there where something is going on.

TikTok and controversy

As is usual in the world of social media, several technological and ethical questions arose. TikTok has received heavy financial penalties from the US and South Korea for collecting personal data, separate proceedings are underway in other countries. The platform also struggles to some extent with the difficulty of verifying certain content, especially considering the fact that teenagers are a large proportion of users. In social media, great responsibility comes with great marketing power.

Website positioning – key activities

If you want your site to appear in the deep depths of the Internet, then you need to ensure its proper SEO optimization. Every day, there are more and more website users who, through computers, smartphones and tablets, scour hundreds of websites daily, looking for information, shopping or strengthening social ties. The modern user is more and more demanding and it is more difficult to satisfy him, and thus – to stay on a given page. Competition in every internet area is growing all the time, which is why website positioning should be a priority for you if you do not want to be left behind.

That is why SEO activities are so important, which will be carried out consistently and reliably after some time. These practices should be started primarily with page optimization within on-site. Appropriate headers, friendly URL, internal linking, page loading speed, defining the group of recipients, using appropriate key phrases and of course substantive content enriched with photos. All these aspects have a positive impact on branding, website attractiveness and its value in terms of content. These actions, in effect, contribute to increasing the visibility of the site in SERP.

Google robots scan content, but they can’t see photos if they don’t have the alt and title attributes. Images on the site must be well marked and described to inform robots of their content. Well-optimized photos will be indexed and will positively affect website SEO.

What is the alt attribute?

Otherwise, an alternative image description, which can be found in the HTML of the page.

<img src = “image address” alt = “Alternative description” />

The naming of the alt attribute, which is an alternative description, is the key here. If the picture was not loaded on the page, then the completed image alt is still visible to Google robots and is subject to indexation.
Interestingly – it is the alt attribute that is read by programs that are used by people with very large vision defects or those who are blind.
All alternative descriptions on the site can be viewed with the help of the Web Developer plugin, which is installed under the browser. This way you can easily verify that the page is supplemented with alt attributes.

What content should the alt attribute contain?

Alt is read by programs for the blind as well as indexing robots. For these reasons, the alt attribute should specify the actual content of the image. However, in the era of website optimization for SEO this rule has changed slightly. The description should inform about what is on the site and what content can be obtained from it. However – like in the case of meta tags – they can not be decimal phrases, but specific queries or links containing keywords – but still refer to the image content.

What is the title attribute?

It is nothing more than the title of the picture, which is visible after moving the cursor over it (provided the picture contains an alternative description). It is also called auxiliary text and is slightly less important than the alt attribute.

<img src = “image address” alt = “Alternative description” title = “image title” />

The title of the photo can contain a description of what is in the image or a shortcut of the content of the page, for example, it can be called “Alt and title – effective optimization of SEO images”. A well-titled photo has a positive effect on the graphic positioning of the page, thanks to which it can increase the reach of the post and clicks on the page.

Optimization of images on the site

Smaller is better – follow this rule when it comes to the size of images on the page. A smaller photo is better for the page, because it will load faster. Loading your site too slowly affects the high bounce rate. The speed of the website is important for the user, but also for Google robots. According to the assumptions, the picture on the website should not be larger than 100 kb.

Content is important when optimizing the alt and title attributes. Like all available content on the site, the one in the pictures should be unique – especially within one page or subpage. The varied description for alt and title is good for Google reading pages. Such action will be reflected in higher positions in the search engine for given key phrases.

Image and iconography as an important medium of information transfer

Not only optimization, but also the “content” of the photo is important above all to the user. Images enrich the text wall, increase the attractiveness and transparency of the site. Good photos with properly described alt and title attributes – especially on shop windows – can have a decisive impact on whether a customer buys a given product.

Recently, iconographies have become very popular, which are worth using for specialist texts and on social media. Such pictures give the recipient a clear message, which is often condensed information related to the content of the page. Sometimes such a photo is a specific knowledge base for the user, which is why they quickly position themselves in Google graphics.

A properly optimized website has a chance to rank higher in the search indicators for given key phrases. From the very beginning it is worth ensuring the high quality of activities carried out on it. Website positioning is a labor-intensive and demanding discipline and consistency in activities in which you can’t forget to optimize images with the alt and title attributes.