TikTok What’s Next Report 2023 Pegs Next Year’s Trends

TikTok released its third annual trend forecast Thursday, TikTok What’s Next Report 2023, aimed at giving marketers some insights into how consumers’ wants and needs will change in the upcoming year and how they should adjust their off- and on-platform strategies.

The video creation platform wrote in a blog post Thursday, “Throughout the past 12 months, the global TikTok community reimagined entertainment. They shared real, personal stories that brought communities together and helped others discover new ways of thinking. Brands of all sizes across the globe—from #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt favorites to global car manufacturers—have created all kinds of content on TikTok to engage their communities.”

TikTok shared its findings in what it called three forces—”large-scale transformations that demonstrate how TikTok is shaping culture”—and the relevant signals that show emerging behaviors and interests across vertical sectors.

The three major trend forces the platform sees for 2023 are: Actionable Entertainment, Making Space for Joy and Community-Built Ideals.

Actionable Entertainment

Four out of five TikTok users said the platform is very or extremely entertaining, and content is curated based on what communities find to be entertaining, so the most effective messages from brands have been uplifting, funny and personalized or entertaining.

TikTok said brands can turn to editing techniques such as syncing sounds to transitions or adding text overlays to retain viewers’ attention.

The company called out e.l.f. Cosmetics, saying that its in-feed ads on TikTok “felt fun, engaging and native to the TikTok community, and adding that it worked with Tinuiti, a TikTok Marketing Partner, to effectively double spending month-over-month while dropping acquisition costs for its add-to-cart strategy by 56%.

Making Space for Joy

TikTok research found that 90% of users who took an action off-platform as a result of TikTok said the application makes them happy and never gets boring, so brands should ensure that their messaging in 2023 and beyond aligns with the TikTok community’s desire for levity and empowers them to add joy to their lives.

“Creating TikTok content that helps people carve out joy for themselves—or even provides joy through humor, relaxation and relatable points of view—could be the difference for brands in 2023,” the company wrote.

The platform put the spotlight on BMW and the custom song the automaker crafted with K-pop artist and TikTok creator Henry, which used sounds from the BMW eDRIVE, such as plugging in the electric charger or tapping on the hood.

The hashtag challenge associated with that initiative resulted in more than 45 million video views from 3,400 participants, as well as 6.29 million engagements.

Community-Built Ideals

TikTok pointed to how communities on its platform let people share hyper-niche interests, bond with each other and broaden each other’s horizons, saying the platform is 1.8 times more likely than traditional social platforms to introduce people to new topics they didn’t know they liked.

The company wrote, “TikTok is not a town hall meeting. It’s a collection of tiny clubs where people can find new ideas on how to explore their passions and live their lives … People use TikTok to start conversations in their community and find unique answers to satisfy their every curiosity. And it’s not just about learning and aspiration. It’s about individuals from around the world coming together to build a likeminded community built on shared ideals and interests, and the inspiration that comes from them.”

The #SneakerTok community has tallied more than 1.1 billion views worldwide, and TikTok said more than two out of five users said watching creator content made them feel like part of the brand’s community, so brands should “tap into niches and not be afraid to get specific. Once a brand understands its key groups, it can then amplify the voices that define them and augment those honest, authentic conversations that people care about.”

eBay tapped TikTok’s Voting Stickers to encourage users to vote in its annual #SneakerShowdown, and 1.2 million of them did so, with the campaign delivering a 54% lift in comment rate.

TikTok global head of business marketing Sofia Hernandez said in the blog post, “2022 was the year people realized they didn’t have to live their lives as they always have done, with different points of view and ideas transcending cultures on TikTok. Next year, we’re going to see more of this as our communities get more confident and inspire positive change together. Against the backdrop of the increasing cost of living and its associated challenges, our What’s Next report indicates that people will be seeking new ways to achieve success, happiness and wellbeing—and TikTok will be a tool to help them find it.”