Andrew joined the State of Digital Publishing team in 2021, bringing with him more than a decade and a half of editorial experience in B2B...Read more
We’re a few days away from my first dedicated hosting gig for an SODP Office Hours event and I’m getting excited.
The session will cover TikTok publisher strategies, both on the content side of the business as well as how publishers can make money. It’s an incredibly interesting subject, especially given the growing numbers of news publishers flocking to the space.
Joining me will be Corinne Podger, Director & Principal at The Digital Skills Agency, a mobile journalism expert who has been advocating the benefits of TikTok for some years now.
Publishers are finally beginning to take TikTok seriously, thanks to the fact that the social media network reaches 40% of 18–24s across all markets (PDF download). Indeed, 67% of US teens aged 13-17 use TikTok.
While I can’t say I was an avid TikTok user (showing my age here) before delving into the subject, I have to admit I have been somewhat impressed by it. One aspect that most impresses me is the algorithm’s almost ruthless approach to content recommendations.
Posts are not promoted based on what content creators have made, but on the content’s popularity and as well as how much time each individual user spends with a content category. Now, don’t get me wrong, this definitely has downsides such as rabbit holes. But for somebody like myself, who thoroughly enjoys pruning the YouTube algorithm to fit their needs, this is less of a concern.
The trick I’ve found with YouTube is to never like, comment or subscribe, while also leveraging the “not interested” feature. From a purely anecdotal perspective, I’ve found content recommendations to be incredibly on point.
Anyway, in researching publisher TikTok strategies I’ve had my eyes opened about what news is within the TikTok ecosystem. I have a rather old school perception of what news is — reports on current events that provide the viewer/reader with all relevant facts.
News on TikTok feels like a very different beast. There isn’t the attention span for that kind of oldschool news provision, with each of the largest providers only posting a tiny percentage of their daily coverage there.
TikTok is a better fit for bite-sized news morsels (with some exceptions naturally) and explainers that provide quick commentary and analysis briefings on trending topics.
Having stumbled on several content strategies during my time with this subject (more musing to follow later this week in a dedicated members-only post) I’m thoroughly excited about the opportunity to pick Corinne’s brains on the subject.
If you’re interested in joining us, the event will be live streamed from 5.30pm AEDT Tuesday March 28. If you miss out on the live session, then the video will be available on demand for our members.
