Why TikTok Marketing is Essential Now

TikTok is no longer just a dance app for young people. As of 2025, TikTok has evolved into a massive cultural and economic sphere that businesses cannot ignore. New trends are emerging on this platform, significantly affecting consumer purchasing behavior.

The purpose of this article is to provide a concrete and practical explanation of the 7 crucial points that you absolutely need to know to succeed in TikTok Marketing 2025, based on the latest official data and expert analysis.

1. Overwhelming Scale: The Reality of TikTok's "User Base" and "Usage Time"

The scale of TikTok and the enthusiasm of its users surpass those of other platforms. It is essential to face this reality when formulating a marketing strategy.

• Monthly Active Users (MAU): Expected to reach 1.92 billion globally, with a forecast of 2.14 billion by the end of 2025.

• Average Daily Usage Time: Global average of 73 minutes, reaching 82 minutes in the United States, indicating deep user engagement.

• High Engagement Rate: TikTok’s average engagement rate is **8.9%**, which is significantly higher than Instagram Reels (2.0%) and YouTube Shorts (0.64%).

Pro Tip: What does this data mean for marketers? It signifies value beyond simply being "seen by many." In addition to the immense reach potential, the environment is highly receptive to advertisements and brand messages because users actively engage with the content. This demands a shift towards a more fundamental strategy for marketers: building brands in a place where culture itself is born, rather than merely expanding advertising opportunities.

2. The Core of the Algorithm: The Power of "Micro-Viability" and Niche Communities

The key to understanding TikTok’s algorithm lies in the concept of “micro-viability.” This means creating content that resonates deeply within specific niche communities (e.g., #BookTok, #SportsOnTikTok) rather than aiming for unpredictable large-scale viral hits.

This algorithm makes TikTok a "democratic platform" where, regardless of the number of followers, content can reach the right target audience as long as its quality and relevance are high. This means that even new brands can achieve significant results with just one piece of quality content.

A distinctive feature of the TikTok algorithm is its emphasis on the relevance of content over the popularity of creators. This structural choice democratizes reach, allowing new users with zero followers to gain significant recognition if their content aligns with the algorithm's audience predictions.

3. Maturing User Demographics: Debunking the Myth of "Only Gen Z"

The notion that "TikTok is an app for young people only" is now outdated. Data clearly indicates that this perception is no longer valid. Data from 2025 explicitly shows that the user demographic is expanding into economically mature generations.

Analysis: This demographic shift has a significant impact on marketing strategies. Especially noteworthy is that the largest volume zone is the economically active "25-34 year olds," demonstrating that TikTok is an attractive market not only for brand recognition but also for advertisers seeking actual conversions (sales). The fact that this high disposable income group constitutes the largest user base serves as the economic foundation supporting the phenomenal growth of TikTok Shop explained in the next section.

4. Evolution to Full-Funnel Commerce: Completing Awareness to Sales Within the App

TikTok has dramatically evolved from a tool for brand awareness to a fully-fledged e-commerce platform, centered around "TikTok Shop.” Users can complete their journey from discovery to purchase seamlessly within the app.

• 70% of users discover new brands and products on TikTok.

• 3 out of 4 users report they are likely to purchase something while using the app.

• The gross merchandise volume (GMV) of TikTok Shop is projected to exceed $20 billion in 2025, and its growth shows no signs of slowing down.

Practical Advice: To leverage this immense commerce flow for your business, specific actions are necessary. For example, combining various techniques such as selling products in real-time through "live commerce,” directing users to product pages through "shopping ads,” and creating credible word-of-mouth through "affiliate partnerships with creators" is key to success.

5. The New Norm for Content: Crafted Ads Lose, Authenticity and "TikTok SEO" Win

Overly polished ads that have worked on other social media do not perform well on TikTok. TikTok users seek authenticity rather than crafted perfection. Successful content must possess two essential elements:

1. Authenticity: Naturally “TikTok Native” content that feels like a friend's post is overwhelmingly preferred. This "authenticity" is not just a style but the key to inducing the “micro-viability” discussed in Section 2. The algorithm prioritizes disseminating authentic content that resonates within niche communities over crafted ads, so authenticity is a prerequisite for maximizing SEO effects.

2. TikTok SEO: Many users, especially Gen Z, utilize TikTok as a search engine just like Google or Yahoo! By strategically including searchable keywords in the video’s “captions,” “audio,” and “text overlays,” the chances of being discovered not only through algorithmic recommendations but also through users’ active searches significantly increase.

The data speaks for itself. "High-quality TikTok-first content has viewing times 72% longer and follower growth rates over 40 times compared to low-quality uploads," illustrating that content quality is the primary determinant of success.

6. Strengths and Weaknesses as an Advertising Platform

What characteristics does TikTok advertising have when compared to other major platforms? The data below objectively illustrates the cost performance of each platform.

Strategic Insights: This data reveals TikTok's clear strengths and challenges. With an overwhelmingly low CPM (cost per thousand impressions), TikTok boasts high cost efficiency for campaigns aimed at driving brand awareness (top of the funnel) impulse buys. On the other hand, it currently lags behind Meta and Google in terms of final purchase conversion rates.

However, with the evolution of TikTok Shop, this gap in conversion rates could rapidly close. By 2025 and beyond, TikTok holds the potential to become the only platform dominating the full funnel from awareness acquisition to purchase decision. Therefore, at this point, using TikTok for brand awareness and Meta or Google Ads for conversions according to your marketing objectives is crucial for maximizing overall ROI.

7. Unignorable Geopolitical Risks: Challenges of Data Governance

Many marketing articles overlook an important risk that business leaders need to understand when utilizing TikTok: data privacy and governance issues stemming from its parent company, ByteDance.

In response to this risk, TikTok has made significant investments and implemented measures such as:

• Regulations and Fines in the EU: Fined a hefty sum of 530 million euros for violating GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation) by illegally transferring European user data to China. In response, they are promoting large-scale data localization initiatives, "Project Clover," to protect user data within the EU.

• Regulations and Measures in the U.S.: In response to legislative moves to require the sale or ban of operations in the U.S., TikTok is investing billions in comprehensive measures known as "Project Texas" to protect and isolate U.S. user data, including independent reviews and monitoring of source code by Oracle.

Conclusion: These geopolitical risks highlight the danger of "platform dependency" in long-term brand strategies, far beyond the risk of short-term service disruptions. Therefore, marketers must not only monitor these trends but also formulate a concrete risk diversification plan to always secure customer engagement across alternative channels, with a set percentage of their advertising budget for TikTok (e.g., 20%) as a ceiling.

Summary

The 7 points discussed in this article—①overwhelming scale, ②the core of the algorithm, ③maturing user demographics, ④commerce capabilities, ⑤rules for content, ⑥characteristics of advertising, ⑦geopolitical risks—serve as a compass for succeeding in TikTok marketing in 2025.

To achieve success in TikTok marketing by 2025, it is vital to deeply understand the platform's culture and algorithms and construct a data-driven "TikTok-native" strategy.

This is the core message of this article.

To analyze and optimize the increasingly complex and sophisticated TikTok marketing, specialized tools are essential. The AI-driven marketing and advertising optimization platform Cascade significantly reduces the analysis workload and supports optimal advertising operations based on data. Please consider implementing Cascade to maximize the performance across multiple media, including TikTok.