2023 on TikTok has been defined by life hacks, throwback tracks and thriving small businesses as the community continued creating, connecting and celebrating authenticity throughout the year. Engaging with that content is an increasingly curious audience, seeking new perspectives, communities and stories. Brands have long been a welcome participant, helping to shape the trends we celebrate every year.

Today we're launching the TikTok What's Next Report 2024, our fourth annual trend forecast, which will arm marketers with key knowledge around our community's changing wants and needs in order to shape the year ahead.

In 2024, the TikTok community will ignite a transformative mindset: we call it Creative Bravery. Fueled by a blend of curiosity, imagination, vulnerability and courage, brands demonstrating Creative Bravery on TikTok will build deeper community connections. Breaking through on TikTok means shifting from occasional displays of Creative Bravery to infusing it into their daily behaviour and strategies. Brands that will see the most success will regularly pique global curiosities, flip traditional story arcs and deepen trust with their audiences.

Sofia Hernandez, Global Head of Business Marketing for TikTok said: "2023 has seen our TikTok community of over 1 billion people regularly coming to TikTok to find community, surprise and delight. In an era where storytelling has become predictable, TikTok showcases creativity without a typical beginning, middle or end. In 2024 we're going to see the TikTok community build on this in ways we've never seen before. Fueled by a blend of curiosity, imagination, vulnerability and courage - creative bravery will be infused into our daily lives."

You can view the full global 'What's Next' report here. 

For this report, we have focused on the most actionable and enduring trends, in the sweet spot of what we call Trend Signals. Trend Signals are defined as content patterns that show emerging behaviours and interests that brands can leverage to inform their longer-term content strategy. These Trend Signals can be broken down into three categories:

  1. Curiosity Peaked
  2. Storytelling Unhinged
  3. Bridging the Trust Gap

Curiosity Peaked

People come to TikTok looking for far more than a single 'right answer.' Every curiosity and interest leads to relevant perspectives, uncharted discovery and IRL action thanks to the perfect blend of discovery and an active mindset. In fact, TikTokers are 1.8x more likely to agree that TikTok introduces them to new topics they didn't even know they liked(1).

Beauty trailblazer Clinique embraced the magic of TikTok in a full-funnel campaign that captivated minds and faces by leaning into the power of discovery, creativity and communities on the platform. Clinique was among the first to tap into TikTok's dynamic search platform - teaming up with creators to endorse its latest product lines. The brand's success in driving consideration through search translated to a remarkable 441% increase in conversion rate and a massive 51% increase in click-through rate.

There have never been more options to discover new ideas or things, but it's also never been more taxing to find relevant answers. For brands, this means creating hyper-relevant, delightful and useful content that piques every curiosity, even the ones communities didn't know they had.

Storytelling Unhinged

Ends of stories are starting first. Multiple story arcs can happen at once. Communities are making up fictional celebrities and narratives. Against the backdrop of what's often felt like an overwhelming reality, TikTokers have embraced a shared community of what's been dubbed #delulu or delusional comfort. Rooted in fandom culture, #delulu is a blend of fantasy and manifestation - adopting a fake-it-til-you-make-it persona for audiences to tap into, fantasizing about their hopes, dreams or self-defined delusional realities.

From co-created content to 'staying true to #delulu', on TikTok, the shift where everyone can have a voice has unleashed creativity for all - where diverse voices, collaborative formats, and subject matters are flipping everything we know about traditional storytelling on its head.

IGG embraced this philosophy when launching its new game, Viking Rise, on TikTok. From TopView to Reach & Frequency (R&F), the brand showcased a variety of “let’s play” creatives, getting gamers excited about the new launch. IGG also rolled out a Branded Mission with a unique “spin the wheel” Branded Effect that invited users to experience what it’s like to unlock certain characters in the game - reaching 400M TikTokers in the process.

It's the most intriguing narrative structures that guide viewers past the first few seconds and deeper into the story - ads intended to make users curious keep them watching 1.4x longer(2).

Bridging The Trust Gap

There continues to be a growing trust gap between consumers and brands igniting audiences to seek engagement beyond a one-time sale. They're also looking for brands to lead positive societal change and transparency. Establishing clear brand trust and values are non-negotiables. On TikTok, brands have an open line of communication with their consumers and community.

Canadian brand Endy built a loyal following of customers who appreciate their commitment to high quality and affordability. Seeking to drive conversions on TikTok, Endy used TikTok-first creatives focusing on the quality of their mattresses. With the right targeting solutions and a consistent strategy, the videos made it to the For You Pages of their intended audience and the campaign garnered incredible results like 141% higher average ROAS and 58% reduction in CPA, driving real business impact.

For brands, it's key to consider each campaign and organic piece of content as an opportunity to share, listen, and learn, building brand trust and values together to generate deeper loyalty on and off-platform. After seeing an ad on TikTok, viewers trust the brand 41% more, are 31% more likely to be loyal to the brand and are 33% more likely to say the brand is a good fit for who they are as a person (vs. before seeing ads on TikTok). This is driving action IRL, as well as on the platform.

A Note on What's Next Methodology
This report is heavily supported by data from the Global TikTok Marketing Science team gathered across multiple third-party commissioned research studies utilizing mixed methods approaches often including quantitative online surveys, exposure to stimuli in a mock TikTok environment and/or advanced analytics. In this report, we've focused on studies from 2022 and 2023, which are most relevant, innovative and speak to the larger trend forces at play in 2023 and 2024. Some of these research studies are so new they're making their global debut in this report!

TikTok Marketing Science References

  1. TikTok Marketing Science Global Entertaining Ads Study 2022, conducted by Marketcast
  2. TikTok Marketing Science Global How to Hook Study [US, UK, GCC] 2023, conducted by Metrixlab
  3. TikTok Drives Brand Trust Study 2022 commissioned by TikTok Marketing Science Global and executed by Edelman Data and Intelligence