Douyin has snowballed in popularity among Chinese users. Many people have asked us: What exactly is Douyin? How does it compare with TikTok? How to market on Douyin? If you have questions like these as well, then read on.
Douyin and Tiktok: What is the Difference?
Douyin and TikTok are owned by the same Chinese unicorn, Bytedance, worth $275 billion (data updated in Aug 2022). However, despite ByteDance’s efforts to make them appear as if they are one app, Douyin and TikTok are two different entities.
Douyin was launched by ByteDance in Beijing, China, in September 2016. Douyin was originally under the name A.me. In December 2016, the name was changed to Douyin. Next, ByteDance intended for Douyin to go global. ByteDance acquired Musical.ly to build a sizable video community and unveiled TikTok in September 2017. Finally, it relaunched the app after combining TikTok and Musical.ly.
These two apps were also created to accommodate China’s data localization controls. Tiktok is unavailable to Chinese users. As a result, to access Tiktok with a virtual location enabled, Chinese users in China need a VPN. Furthermore, Chinese outside China favour using Douyin over Tiktok for language and culture. In terms of e-commerce, Douyin has made more progress than TikTok. For example, users can purchase items mentioned in a video, book a hotel room after watching a recorded video or take virtual trips to local shops and restaurants to receive coupons.
How Popular is Douyin Among Chinese?
First and foremost, Douyin is a popular short video platform. Users of short videos have increased the most in China in 2022. The total number of users reach 962 million, an increase of 28.05 million from December 2021, making up 91.5% of all internet users.
Douyin has 680 million monthly active users and 420 million daily active users as of April 2022. In a survey of 1,538 participants conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily, 45.6% said they spend more than 2 hours daily on short videos, 41.5% reported 1-2 hours, and 12.9% of the respondents spend less than 1 hour.
The age groups of Douyin vary from primary students to elderly people. However, nearly half of Douyin’s Chinese users were under 30 as of October 2021. Meanwhile, more than 200 million middle-aged and elderly netizens in China are over 50. This group is willing to try new things from young people and share their own lives via Douyin.
What are the Marketing Strategies to Use on Douyin?
Douyin uses AI to recommend videos, songs, etc., the same as Tiktok. Content creation is key to success.
Content and timing are the two most important things to keep in mind when marketing on Douyin.
- Content:
1). Follow tightly with the latest campaign on the Creator Service Center.
2) Make videos of more than one minute in a 16:9 ratio. Yes, you read it right. Yes, make lengthy videos in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The standard aspect ratio for short videos on the Douyin platform is 4:3. But Xigua Video and Douyin are both integrated. Therefore, Douyin now promotes lengthy videos in a 16:9 aspect ratio, and you can make money with high-quality content.
3). Create relevant content for your target audience and make sure the content is high quality and engaging.
4). Follow and use hashtags that are relevant to your content to increase visibility. - Timing:
1). Be aware of when your target audience is most active on Douyin. You may check this from your dashboard fans’ data.
2). Schedule your posts accordingly so you can reach the most people possible.
