Kate Bush's "Running up that hill" became a hit again after its use in the latest season of "Stranger Things." The TikTok hashtag #Runningupthathill has 1.3 billion views. Photo: Netflix.
It's a question with many variables, but there are industry insiders who are beginning to understand it. Or, at least, are developing strategies that allow them to gradually test whether any of their products or songs can achieve success and go viral, crossing borders. A trend increasingly embraced by brands.
TikTok, the video platform that revolutionized the social media industry - so much so that took to its main competences to copy a large part of its features and even interfaces-, follows the lead at a steady pace. Platform usage has increased by 361% in the last year, and it continues to captivate young users. And it has become, in an unimaginable way, the best tool for launching hit songs, series, or choreographies, among others, into trends. But how does something become a "trend" on the platform?
"Anyone who isn't on TikTok today isn't doing anything. If it's an artist, it will be much harder for their single or album to take off: it's proven that, for them, that's the platform with the most distribution of their material," he asserts. Diego Sagredo, manager of Polimá Westcoast, artist at the head of “Ultra alone”, the most listened to Chilean song this year and one of the most popular trends on the social network.
To date, the hashtag #Ultrasolochallenge has 3.2 million views, thanks to a choreography that has even been replicated by the actor of the series “Elite”, Aron Piper, performing the steps in a Spanish nightclub while he was with to the artist Dua Lipa. The video of both dancing to the song was a video that also went viral on networks.
“Aron is our friend, and that's where it all came from,” the manager admits. “We were also in Spain with him recently, and he told us Dua was crazy about the song. He was a great help, and rather than showing it to her, they sang the song and played it every day in the car, so she was left wondering,” he admits. In any case, even though it was a combination of events, he maintains that there's a strategy behind every success on TikTok.
He recalls that in 2019, along with another musician he works with, Harry Nach, they released another hit. “That was in April, and that same month the following year, an influencer started bringing it to life with dances through TikTok, and it went viral worldwide, with Mexicans, Argentinians, Spaniards, and Germans doing the choreography,” Sagredo says. In fact, his song “Tak Tiki Tak” was a hit on Spotify, at the time the most-streamed Chilean song in the world, and TikTok videos featuring his song exceeded 15 million.It worked without anyone putting it into operation and it went viral.", says.
To become a trend, says Sagredo, you need easy steps, whether dance or whatever needs to be replicated, so anyone can do them. Also, the environment must be a place of everyday use, because that makes it easier to imitate and go viral. After the success of Harry Nach, they have a more elaborate vision of how to use the platform. He calls it the "secret strategy."
“We know which areas to target, who are the influencers that have the greatest reach, who has to activate the trend so that it is totally viral and organic and We have studied it with the Sony marketing team, and we have a structure designed for a song to go viral."It's an activation strategy, he summarizes in a nutshell, in which the trends are reviewed every 10 days or so to see if they're working. "Then we see if they worked or not, and if so, we begin to apply them in the countries with the greatest visibility and reach, and we start to play with all those factors, which these platforms provide us with algorithms and statistics," he adds.
Generally, he says, that's when they go looking for the influencers who have the most engagement And they work with them on a trend. "Because they're the ones who will make it go viral," he says, but warns that "if you already have 20 major influencers creating a trend and it doesn't go viral, it's because it didn't work. But if you run a campaign with them and it does go viral, in three days it could be all over South America or the entire Latin American world," he asserts.
TikTok, in its organic form, is a platform that surprises. Not everything necessarily becomes a trend. And not everyone who has a first hit will have a second. In that sense, it's a social network for constant reinvention. Francisco Orders, executive director of MEAT GroupA few weeks ago, he uploaded a video of himself strolling through a supermarket. Within two days, it had nearly 13,000 views on TikTok. "And that's very difficult to achieve on Instagram if you don't have investment, a strategy, or logic," says the creative.
Since TikTok is all about dancing and singing, artists are understanding it to such an extent, he says, that music producers themselves are contacting influencers To dance or make entertaining videos, they get paid to create a reel and, eventually, a trend emerge. “It's a different strategy than what you see on Instagram, where they're paid to show a product, and TikTok is far from that and is exactly what the young audience likes: it's a platform where a lot of material is shown, like cars, phones, houses, and technology, but it's not invaded by brands,” he says.
The demands on TikTok are greater. You have to keep your audience captivated. It's not just about uploading a video or trying to generate a single reel. It's about generating content every day. Of course, there are brands that are already on various platforms, but not necessarily on this one. Jeep Chile, Órdenes exemplifies, has various channels for communicating with users and showcasing content, but it doesn't have TikTok. "It's strange, because it gives the impression and clarity that there are no agencies yet in Chile equipped to generate content at such a level that the client can profit from it," he explains.
There are cases of brands, he assures, but at the national level "there are no frequent examples to talk about or how well they are doing things, because TikTok is still that 'clandestine party' that brands and sponsors have not yet reached," he affirms.
Juan Rossi, head of the Digital area of the MGC agency, says the first thing to understand is how the TikTok algorithm works. He explains that there's an initial assessment, which determines the ideal audience for a piece of content, and then a performance evaluation. If that content is successful, it starts to be shown to more people. If it's not successful, it stays there. And precisely what TikTok is calling for is to increase the frequency of content generation.
"They should have music or audio that's popular, trending, and generally from big-name artists. They can also be original sounds from users or conversations from TV shows or WhatsApp. Then, you have to be careful with hashtags and searches, because the algorithm is very good, and if it's well-categorized, it can become more relevant. It's also important to use the filters offered by the platform," says the creative. Each of these elements makes one piece of content more "trendy" than another.
TikTok makes a recommendation of four archetypes it has. “It can be nearby, which is entertaining and people can relate to; then there is the aspirational, which has to do with status and influencers, where everything is a perfect world; there is also the inspirational, who is always the protagonist and has a challenge; and is followed by the informative, which has to do with data and which explains topics about cities, scientists, and which come with the typical robotic voice,” the executive summarizes.
“You have to understand that not all brands are for TikTok., and it's important that they don't lose face or despair if something doesn't work so well, and there are those who can put in an investment, it stays there and can have results, and there are others who try to emulate or advertise," says Rossi.
The first thing is Know what things are being done to be a trend and what content is going viral.. To that we must add the use of currently popular songs, trying to use what the platform itself indicates and make short videos. “There are trends that serve to keep the audience on top of the content that is being made, particularly if you put 'Part 1' and so on: one sometimes joins trends and copies, but “No one has a clear formula for how to make them.”"There are some who have one hit, but then no more, and they become a 'one-hit wonder,'" he adds.
Just as with the releases of major musical artists, who, through their labels or agencies, can transform some of their songs into "trending" tracks with influencers, there are other situations and variants that can help achieve the trend level.
For example, in the first quarter, the song “That's not my name” by The Ting Tings went viral again because a group of actresses created their own “trend” with the characters they have portrayed. Alicia Silverstone, Drew Barrymore, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner and Zooey Deschanel performed it on their accounts, and the song's hashtag has 1.3 billion views. According to an article published by an American media outlet, the trend was pioneered by the singers themselves, trying to explain their careers to a new generation. Silverstone was the first, Barrymore cited her in her post, and Christina Aguilera joined in the revival of the song released in 2008.
Another example, and one that relates to a series, is Kate Bush's "Running up that hill," which became a hit again after its use in the most recent season of "Stranger Things." The TikTok hashtag #Runningupthathill has an impressive number of views so far this year: 1.3 billion.
“It's a globally proven product, and it's what people have to watch if they like series, and that drives them to stay hooked on the music and what's happening there when a new season comes out,” says Francisco Órdenes of MEAT Group. “Netflix always creates trends, as do sports brands: TikTok is where brands break out of their playbooks and create content that's different from the norm and more real,” adds Rossi of MGC.
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