With 800 million active TikTok users, leveraging the platform to support your YouTube strategy is an opportunity that can be both beneficial and easily implemented. Source: Oberlo
In the same way, creators and brands utilize Twitter and Instagram to notify followers about newly published videos, TikTok plays a supporting role in the social ecosystem. At best, it extends the content strategy and voice of your YouTube channel – adjusted for discovery on TikTok – and leverages that discovery to traffic viewers to the richer content and deeper engagement of YouTube.
How TikTok and YouTube are Different
Audience:
Unlike YouTube or even Instagram, TikTok is less focused on subscriber count – and more focused on momentary engagement. More like Twitter, TikTok discovery is powered by hashtags and transient trends – and one way creators have found success on the platform is by targeting a specific hashtag and winning views in that category. Conversely, YouTube creates an ongoing audience, and the consumption of your content by viewers leads to your channel winning organic search on the world’s largest and 2nd largest search engines simultaneously. As always, this ranking in organic reach on youtube (that cannot be bought) is the great reward of a properly managed YouTube channel.
Monetization:
YouTube monetization can benefit from the audience support of TikTok. TikTok’s appeal is rapid growth but offers limited monetization opportunities. YouTubers have used TikTok in a similar way to Instagram stories – showing clips of the YouTube video linked on their TikTok page. Think of the TikTok clips as a teaser to drive the audience to the full length which is monetized on the main YouTube channel.
Driving TuneIn:
TikTok can be used in a similar way to YouTube Premieres to tease an upcoming video launch.
Your Three Action Items: Supporting YouTube Channel Growth with TikTok
1. TikTok’s appeal is rapid growth with limited monetization opportunities. YouTube offers monetization and can benefit from the audience support of TikTok.
2. YouTubers have used it in a similar way to Instagram stories – showing clips of the YouTube video that is linked on their TikTok page. Think of the TikTok clips as a teaser to drive the audience to the full length which is monetized on the main YouTube channel. The image below shows how to link your YouTube channel to a TikTok account.
3. TikTok can be used in a similar way to YouTube Premieres to tease an upcoming video launch.
Concerns: TikTok Banned in India
In June 2020, TikTok was banned in India due to geo-political tensions with China (TikTok owned by ByteDance, based in Beijing). Influencers in the region lost access to their content and audiences overnight. But influencers that used TikTok as an extension of their other platforms like YouTube were able to maintain their status. This reinforced the need to share content across platforms so you develop a presence online as a whole instead of on any singular platform. Ongoing analysis of the major social platforms shows YouTube remains the most consistent when rewarding the efforts of creators and brands committed to building an audience on the platform.
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