TikTok’s new feature: Text posts! Yet another challenge for “X”. Here’s what it means for brands.

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To say we are anticipating TikTok's text post feature merely scratches the surface. The platform continuously demonstrates its capability to adapt and evolve, fostering a growing pool of creators, influencers, and ways to communicate. We’re already at work discovering best use cases for our clients.

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Our options for shaping client narratives have expanded. We can now engage in direct, personal text-based communication with audiences, meeting certain demographics or campaign goals in ways that will resonate most – an essential strategic dimension previously unavailable.

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The feature aligns with other platforms’ offerings such as Twitter's — strike that, X’s — tweets (?) or Facebook’s status updates, making cross-platform strategies easier for brands that have multi-network followers. It offers an opportunity for more profound forms of storytelling. We recognize that videos generate high engagement rates due in part to their visual, easy-to-digest nature, but some topics and insights need more nuanced, deeper expression. As always, understanding intent is key.

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As marketers and experts, evaluating new implementations critically is part of our role. Developing best practices on maintaining audience engagement with text posts is a challenge we take on with enthusiasm.

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Features like upvoting and commenting (like Reddit and Quora engagements) strengthen its potential capacity to foster deeper levels of interaction, conversation, and community-building. It may also appeal to a wider demographic, including users who prefer reading over watching videos.

As TikTok takes measures to control spam content in text posts with its “anti-spam rules,” our role is to create and promote content for our clients that aligns with these rules but remains engaging and original.

For agencies, any expansion of functionality on a platform like TikTok represents both an opportunity for creativity and a need for strategic thinking. It provides us more tools to tailor specific strategies (especially in light of Google’s SGE roll-out) that more capably consider brand objectives and audience preferences —  ultimately enhancing our position as a trusted partner.