How We Helped TikTok

Overview

TikTok’s rise to global prominence has been meteoric, and behind much of its successful meme marketing strategy in key regions, agencies like Rehman Media have played a pivotal role. We partnered with TikTok to execute campaigns aimed at increasing app downloads and brand visibility by capitalizing on the viral potential of memes and funny videos across social media platforms, particularly Instagram.

This case study explores how Rehman Media's collaboration with TikTok helped the platform leverage meme marketing and Instagram-based funny video campaigns to accelerate its growth in downloads and popularity.

Challenges

  1. Highly Competitive Social Media Landscape: TikTok entered a crowded market with established social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube already enjoying massive user bases. TikTok needed to stand out to attract users away from these platforms.

  2. Cultural Adoption in Key Markets: Although TikTok saw early success in China (as Douyin), it required focused marketing efforts to penetrate other markets, particularly in Western regions, where it was relatively unknown at launch.

  3. Appealing to Gen Z and Millennials: The younger demographic (Gen Z and Millennials) were crucial for TikTok's growth. However, these generations are notoriously difficult to market to through traditional methods, requiring campaigns to feel organic, authentic, and humorous.

Rehman Media’s Strategy

Rehman Media’s approach focused on meme marketing, viral content strategies, and cross-platform promotion using Instagram as a primary channel to promote TikTok. They understood that to capture TikTok’s audience, humor and virality were key. The agency’s strategy revolved around the following pillars:

  1. Creating Meme-Focused Campaigns: Rehman Media identified that memes were highly relatable, shareable, and perfectly suited for TikTok’s bite-sized video format. By focusing on creating memes that reflected TikTok’s core themes—creativity, humor, and entertainment—the agency helped TikTok develop viral content that was strategically shared on Instagram.

  2. Influencer Partnerships and Meme Pages: To maximize TikTok’s reach on Instagram, Rehman Media partnered with popular meme accounts, influencers, and content creators who specialized in humor and viral content. These influencers, with large followings on Instagram, shared TikTok’s viral content and memes, driving followers to download the app.

  3. Repurposing TikTok’s Best Content for Instagram: Rehman Media repurposed TikTok’s top-performing funny videos and memes, optimizing them for Instagram’s format. By sharing TikTok content directly on Instagram, with TikTok’s watermark and logo prominently displayed, the agency effectively promoted TikTok as the origin of viral content, enticing Instagram users to download the app.

  4. Viral Hashtag Challenges: Rehman Media helped launch viral hashtag challenges on TikTok, which quickly gained popularity on Instagram as well. By sharing clips of users participating in challenges like #RenegadeDance and #FlipTheSwitch, Instagram users were inspired to download TikTok to join in the viral fun.

  5. Humor-Driven Instagram Ads: To complement their organic efforts, Rehman Media developed and ran humor-centric Instagram ads. These ads highlighted the funny and creative nature of TikTok’s content, making the platform seem like a must-download for anyone looking for fun and engaging content.

  6. User-Generated Content (UGC) Amplification: Rehman Media also encouraged TikTok users to share their TikTok videos on Instagram, particularly focusing on meme-worthy and humorous content. This cross-platform promotion significantly increased TikTok’s visibility, as users naturally spread TikTok videos on Instagram.

Execution

  • Meme Themes: Rehman Media created campaigns that tapped into TikTok’s signature themes—spontaneity, humor, and creative expression. The memes they created or repurposed focused on relatable topics for Gen Z, like awkward social interactions, online dating, and school or work humor.

  • Influencer and Meme Page Campaigns: Popular Instagram meme accounts such as @fuckjerry, @daquan, and @kalesalad shared TikTok content. These pages posted funny TikTok videos or meme-based content directly related to TikTok trends, helping TikTok content go viral beyond its own platform.

  • Funny Video Ads on Instagram: Rehman Media developed short, hilarious Instagram video ads that showcased viral TikTok videos. These ads were designed to reflect TikTok’s fun, quirky nature, inviting users to "join the fun" by downloading the app.

  • Cross-Promoting TikTok Challenges: When challenges went viral on TikTok, Rehman Media ensured they also gained traction on Instagram by posting clips of top influencers and users participating in those challenges. This created a feedback loop, where Instagram users were drawn to TikTok to participate in the viral trends themselves.

Results

  1. Massive Increase in App Downloads: Thanks to Rehman Media’s targeted efforts, TikTok saw a huge surge in downloads. By the end of 2019, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the Apple App Store, surpassing well-established apps like Instagram and Snapchat.

  2. Explosive Growth in Brand Awareness: TikTok's brand awareness grew significantly as a result of the viral meme marketing and funny video campaigns. The association between TikTok and viral, humorous content was solidified, particularly among younger users.

  3. Increased Engagement Across Platforms: Not only did TikTok’s app downloads increase, but its content also gained tremendous engagement across multiple platforms. Memes and videos that originated on TikTok quickly went viral on Instagram, Twitter, and even in mainstream media, positioning TikTok as a leader in creative content.

  4. User-Generated Content Boom: Rehman Media’s efforts contributed to a boom in user-generated content. The humorous campaigns encouraged users to create and share their own videos, which in turn fed TikTok’s growth loop by drawing more users to the app to participate in challenges or simply view viral content.

  5. Cultural Impact and Virality: TikTok, with Rehman Media’s help, became a pop culture phenomenon. Meme marketing and viral challenges originating on TikTok spread across various social media platforms, ensuring TikTok remained at the center of cultural conversations around viral trends.

Key Takeaways

  • Cross-Platform Meme Marketing is Powerful: Rehman Media’s strategy of promoting TikTok content on Instagram highlights the effectiveness of cross-platform marketing. By leveraging one social media platform to promote another, they successfully drew users from Instagram to TikTok.

  • Memes and Humor Drive Engagement: Memes and humor, when used effectively, can drive immense engagement, especially among younger audiences. Rehman Media helped TikTok build a strong association with viral and funny content, which was crucial for user adoption.

  • UGC as a Growth Engine: User-generated content is a powerful tool for viral growth. Rehman Media capitalized on this by encouraging TikTok users to share their content on Instagram, amplifying TikTok’s presence and fostering a sense of community across platforms.

  • FOMO and Viral Challenges: Viral challenges tapped into users’ fear of missing out (FOMO), enticing them to download TikTok to participate in the latest trend or challenge. Rehman Media expertly capitalized on this dynamic to fuel TikTok’s growth.

Conclusion

Rehman Media played an instrumental role in helping TikTok grow into one of the most popular apps in the world by leveraging meme marketing and funny videos on Instagram. Their cross-platform promotional strategy, influencer partnerships, and viral content campaigns allowed TikTok to capture the attention of Gen Z and Millennials, rapidly accelerating its app downloads and boosting its global presence. This case study demonstrates how effective meme marketing and humor can be in driving app growth in today’s digital age.

Previous

How We Helped Hinge