Viral Growth
Tiktok app’s rise has been meteoric. Here’s how they did it.
2B installs. 800 MAUs. Monthly engagement rate of over 70%
Let’s see how they did it.
1. Learn from competitors
The ones that failed → Learn what didn’t work and fix it
- Dubsmash: Plagued with copyright infringement claims; music creators felt cheated. Tiktok actively strikes licensing deals with industry-leading music publishers.
- Vine: Couldn’t find a decent advertising strategy, had to be shut down. “Tiktok for Business” offers marketers a comprehensive set of options to run successful campaigns.
- Musical.ly: Dealt heavily with music, dancing, and lip-syncing. Tiktok allows for a wide array of expressions: cooking, investing, videogame clips, sketch videos — something for everyone.
The ones that succeeded → Learn what does work and iterate on it
- Tinder: Vertical-only infinite scrolling
- Dubsmash: Brandmark with creator username for easier discoverability
- Vine: 60-second max video length
- Instagram: Captions, not titles
- Musical.ly: Pre-recorded audio
Lesson Learned: Heavily research your competitors — both past and present ones and use strengths and weaknesses to your advantage
2. Make content creation simpler
Ready-to-go content creations tools
Everything you need to get started is all in one place.
- What background track should I use? An endless library of audio tracks are available on demand.
- What about dance moves? Replicate other creators’ dance moves, video formats, and don’t forget to add your own flair!
- How do I trim/layer my videos? A robust video editor is available in-app.
- I have no original ideas, where do I start? Perform a “Duet” on any video and record your reactions. Boom, content!
Infinite Content Loop
You can reply to a comment with a video.
Create a new video, pick a comment, reply with a video, and the cycle repeats.
Lesson Learned: Build scalable growth loops by eliminating common obstructions faced by users
3. Make it easier to discover and consume content
Binary Choice
Vertical-only scrolling — it’s either watch or skip— a binary decision.
For You Page
It so quickly adapts to your taste and shows you exactly what you want to watch. No Paralysis By Analysis.
Time to value
The videos are 60 seconds long — no fancy intros/outros.
Compare that with Youtube, where the actual video starts at 5 mins in.
Lesson Learned: Minimize the effort-to-value ratio
This is how viral growth looks like. Try to learn from your competitors and the ones that failed and iterate. Iterate over and over until all the pieces fit together and your users can’t get enough of it. ‘Till next time.
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