A

Before we get started, I want to ask you something. Are you tired of feeling like AI is moving faster than you can keep up? Because I know what that feels like and I hear it all the time. Marketers keep telling me they're drowning in all the new tools and updates and features and must try frameworks and, and they got to do all this while they're also doing their job and trying to run their business. And that's why the AI Business Society was created. It's your personal curation team for AI. We tell you what deserves your attention and what you can safely ignore. And inside, you get live trainings from leading AI practitioners and interactive skill building sessions, bite sized learning libraries, when you just have a few minutes and a community of incredible marketers who are just like you, hundreds of them are on the inside and you can join right now and lock in an incredible special sale we've got going on. Visit socialmediaexaminer.com AI give it a shot. You got a 30 day money back guarantee, so you've got nothing to lose. Go to socialmediaexaminer.com AI and let's now jump back into today's show.

B

Welcome to the Social Media Marketing Podcast, helping you navigate the social media jungle. And now here is your host, Michael Stelzner.

A

Hello, hello, hello. Thank you so much for joining me for the Social Media Marketing podcast brought to you by Social Media Examiner. I'm your host, Michael Stelzner, and this is the podcast for marketers and business owners who want more exposure, more leads and more sales. Today, Jerry Potter and myself are going to be exploring important updates from TikTok with our special guest, Kenya Kelly. Jerry, take it away.

B

Thanks, Mike. It is great to be here. Today we're looking at what TikTok is doing as they seem to be rebuilding the entire marketing funnel in one platform, including TikTok's new AI tools that could dramatically change how brands are creating organic and paid content. There's one industry in particular that's gonna let people go from discovery right through to purchase. And the interesting thing is it's not a low ticket industry either. And an amazing AI tool that I have ethical questions about though, which is something I think that all of us have been thinking about as marketers using AI. We're very excited to be joined by Kenya Kelly. Kenya is a TikTok and Instagram Reels expert and runs a social media agency and is host of the if youf Create it podcast. Today, Kenya, Mike and I are going to explore what these latest updates from TikTok mean for small business marketers and owners like you. Kenya, welcome back to the show.

C

Yay. Thanks for having me. So excited to be here.

B

So first we got to talk about TikTok Symphony. And this is their generative AI powered creative suite and they've added a bunch of new things to it. The whole idea is that brands and agencies can produce TikTok first content more efficiently. And this applies to both organic and paid. That's always like my first question, like, do you have to buy ads to use this stuff? And it's being described like a fully equipped photography or video studio. You can create video from text prompts from existing assets. For example, you can upload a photo of two of your products and then describe the person that you want using them in the video. You can translate your video's original voiceover into multiple languages. All of these different things. But I gotta ask upfront, Kenya, as somebody who obviously you create a lot of content too, as marketers, we obviously love new tools, but when you're already slammed, it can be hard to break out of your routine. Right? Like, no, this is how I do things.

C

Yeah.

B

So have you played with this? And if so, do you see smaller brands that previously didn't have much of a production budget kind of diving into this?

C

Yeah, for sure. So I haven't played much with it as it pertains to Symphony on TikTok. I know it's powered through C Dance and so I downloaded C Dance about a month or so ago and I started really playing with it and I was like, oh, this is going to be the new integration with TikTok. And so when I was playing with it, I said, oh, this, this is really cool. Because as someone who creates a lot of content, sometimes you just don't have it. You don't have it in you to do something like that. And I work with a lot of clients who they want to be able to create content like that on a regular basis, but sometimes they are just too busy. But for me, I feel like it's a really great tool for product based businesses, service based businesses, and just people that want to create content just from text or voice or just an image. So I think it's a really great addition to what TikTok is doing and what social media is doing. I honestly feel like TikTok is just leading the way on it, but I think it's going to come to other platforms sooner than later.

B

Can you share some examples of like, some of the videos you've been making with the Generative Video with Sea Dance?

C

Yeah, for sure. So for me, originally I was creating videos on Sora. You know how Sora was doing, what it was doing. I was so confused at times learning how to use Sora. But with Seed Dance, it feels very much like using like a chat, GPT or cloud where I just say what I wanted to create. I may put an image of me or a video of me. And I am finding that it is creating really great videos for. I mean, it's not perfect, obviously. A lot of times it gets my hair in this weird way, but I am finding that it is making using AI to create videos a lot easier within the app because obviously we know there's a lot of different tools out there that you can use to create AI generated content. But if I'm able to do it right there in C dance with TikTok, it's just simplifying the process of being able to do that. And I'm not having to pay any additional money to use another tool to create AI generated content for me and

A

or for products for folks that don't know. C Dance is part of ByteDance and ByteDance is the company that founded TikTok. And if you think about what ByteDance has done here, they have created an incredibly high quality video platform that they've trained obviously on all the TikTok and all the. I forget what the Chinese version of TikTok is called, it's got a Chinese name, but they have all this great content that's lived on TikTok and the Chinese equivalent of TikTok. The stuff coming from Sea Dance is some of the best video quality stuff that anybody has seen. As a matter of fact, I interviewed a guy named Jared Lu and that podcast episode dropped on my AI explored podcast on June 30th. I'm not sure exactly where that falls in with the publication date of this, but this is his favorite platform for people, for characters, and that is where it gets really interesting. So, Kenya, when you were messing around with Sea Dance, and we know Sea Dance is at the root of what is powering this symphony right inside of inside of TikTok, were you able to create an avatar of yourself and did it look and sound and act like you?

C

When I first started it, it wasn't that great. I haven't played with it in the last couple of weeks, but when I compare it to what Sora was, it was light years ahead of what Sora was doing and it made me want to create a very detailed avatar and I actually wanted to create the AI version of me. So it made me more excited about creating content, utilizing it. I just haven't done it in a couple of weeks to see what the new advancements are.

A

This is where it gets intriguing. And I know, Jerry, you might want to go here, but if you have a product, a physical product, let's say, and you don't have the budget to go hire, quote, unquote, real actors, we're moving towards this AI actor, right? Where you basically give this a actor a script. And if you think about this, this is how I rationalize this. If you were to hire a real actor or an influencer, you're going to give them a script, okay. And they're going to say what you want them to say, whether they believe it or not. Right. Because they're paid to endorse the product. So how is that any different than having an AI actor do a similar script? Right. It's different than an influencer, but it is effectively paying someone, in this case, that someone is not a real person to effectively act out a script for you. And I'm just curious, Kenya, what your thoughts are on that?

C

Honestly, I feel like,

B

you know, like, here we are. This is. This is the ethical thing I was talking about.

C

Yeah. So it's like, as. Okay, first, as an influencer, I feel like it's messing with the influencer's bank account. Because, like, now they don't necessarily need them anymore. As a business, I would be able to control exactly what is said, how it's said, how he or she shows up. If I want her wearing certain things or doing certain things where I want her and him or her in a certain environment, I can literally control exactly what happens in that particular ad. The downside of that is, is that there's a lot of manipulation that can now be taking place for the customer. On the other side of, like, if everything is being sold by abcdefg and it's not actually true. It's not like, for example, I have blush on my face. And if they have this AI generated brown girl with this blush, I'm thinking the blush is going to be great for my skin. And then it comes in and I look, like, ashy. Then it's like, it's not the real. So it's, you know.

A

Well, you know, in television ads, they put, like, actor endorsement on the bottom. So the real question is, you know, you'll still be held to the same standards of advertising. Right. I don't know. Jerry, what are your thoughts on all this?

B

I think this is a Discussion that we're all going to continue to have for the next couple of years. And I had to laugh when King said, yeah, I haven't tried it in a couple of weeks. So I don't know how it is now, because AI is getting better that fast. But when it comes to this, just to share a little bit more, they said that what it does is it lets you use avatars of licensed actors to voiceover a script available in over 30 languages. And I had the same thought you did, Mike, about, well, if I'm hiring an actor to play this customer, that's one thing, but is it any different if I'm hiring an avatar or I'm paying for credits or tokens or whatever? But the thing that struck me is on TikTok's actual page where they explained this, there's a whole demo there. And the script in the demo is this woman who looks like she's maybe in her early 20s, and she says, hey, guys, my friend told me about this amazing lipstick, and you've got to try it out. And to me, that's.

A

Where's your friend?

B

Yeah, exactly. Right? You don't have a friend. You don't even have lips at that point.

C

Right.

B

So to me, if you are saying, hey, I want to tell you about this lipstick, and here's why, it's healthy and organic and all of those things, and an avatar is doing that, that I feel okay with because it's like hiring an actor or a presenter. But if you're getting to the point where you are now making up a backstory, that's where we're getting questionable. Although they did say everything created will be labeled.

A

You cannot tell. Like, it's that good, Right? I mean, like, you would not know that that was AI generated, right?

B

No, other than they say it'll be labeled.

C

Yeah.

A

So it is interesting. But here's the applications. What if you don't show the face? What if you just have a voice? What if you just have a narrator, you know? And if you show your products now, all of a sudden you have a really cool voiceover ad that could focus on a particular product. I don't know. I just think this is where we're heading. And I do think that consumers are going to be more okay with it as long as it's done in an honest way. But we'll have to see how it works, you know, and what happens.

C

Yeah, I agree. That's like, I used to have this about, like, ChatGPT images that were coming out on social media, and there's kind of being knowing that everybody's looked the same until I kept creating more images for myself. And I'm like, no, this is really saving me so much time. And my customer does not care that this was generated in ChatGPT. They want the thing that I'm advertising. And I think that our audience will become. This will be a normal part of things. It's like I watched the recent Jurassic park and you knew a lot of AI was happening in that movie. We didn't care. We wanted to see the thing eat the person and we wanted to see the ending. And so I think that it's going to be to the point where people don't really care as long as it says AI generated, same way as a commercial says paid actor.

A

Well, and let's be honest, you're not going to say AI generated all the time because everything is going to be AI generated. Let's.

C

Right.

A

I think it's contextual, right. Like instead you're going to say real actor, you know, you're going to actually have a real human, you know, instead of AI generated. Because if an image is AI generated, as long as the image is useful anyways, we've gone down a rabbit hole, but interesting discussion, you know.

B

Yeah, this is going to be an ongoing discussion and I think Kenya, just to reiterate, I think you nailed it. As long as the consumer knows, I think they're fine with it. And it's when they're misled, that's when they're offended. I have friends that watch, you know, influencers on TikTok and Instagram that they know is all an AI generated, manufactured character. And they don't care because it's entertaining, as we said. So another part of this too is they've added a part where it will actually give you. They call it your daily video gener. And it'll give brands a fresh auto generated video option every single day, customized for your brand and products based on past activities that you've done inside of Symphony Creative Studio. So, I mean, this, it's like there are no limits here.

C

Yeah, it reminds me of like Cloud cowork. You know, you can go into Cloud cowork and say every day, every week, give me X, Y and z. And now TikTok is making it easy for brands to be able to do this with their content. I think it's really smart because TikTok, even though people know TikTok is still a little guy in the back room in terms of advertising, this is not like the number one place where people go. And because people feel like they don't know how to create content on TikTok or whatever, I think this is a really smart, innovative thing that C Dance and ByteDance and TikTok are doing for innovation for brands and advertisers.

A

There is a phrase called AI slop. Okay. Which if you haven't listened to some of the shows that we do on AI, this is a real thing. And my concern about a daily here's something you can just publish kind of thing is that we're going to see our feeds completely full of slop and then will people even want to go on the platforms anymore? I mean, I honestly feel like that's the flip side of this. If they just auto generate stuff for you every day, that effectively makes it so that you don't have to do anything. I feel like that's kind of a line I don't want to cross.

C

I can see that. I wonder if it's going to be auto publishing or if it's just going to be living in the back of the back end of their.

A

Even if it's not published and you choose to publish it because you think it's better than what you can produce.

C

Yeah.

A

Let's just say hypothetically that 5% of people on TikTok are content creators and that's probably very generous. What if it goes to 20% as a result of this? What's going to happen is a heck of a lot of trash, right?

C

Yeah.

A

Or there's never going to be any views on those kind of things. So anyways, that's just my thought.

C

That's what I was going to say. I was going to say even if people start putting out this kind of slop content, I think that they're going to see where this is not working. It's like sometimes when people take a zoom, a zoom class and they'll like turn it into short clips and they put all this stuff out on Instagram or TikTok and it doesn't go anywhere. I think that people will initially just start putting out content and going like this is not working and they'll stop doing that and the consumer is going to be telling them we don't like that. Because like, one of the things that TikTok has right now is like when you put out content, if it feels like it's promotional, there's a little banner that pops up and asks you, hey, is this promotional? And I think eventually when people are posting those AI generated videos that the person who watches it is going to get that pop up that says, what do you think about this? And it's going to really tell TikTok if it's keeping people on the platform, platform or not. And I think they're gonna, I think they're testing it, but I don't think it's gonna last in terms of like the auto generation because it's going to be terrible for the experience of the person being on the platform watching.

A

But if this is for ads, that's a whole different story. Right, right. So this is for ads and there's like a new ad it creates for you every day and it's intelligent enough to cycle out the ones that aren't performing or bring in the high performers. That would be really interesting.

C

Yes, I agree 100%, but I think

B

that's the dream for some businesses and it feels like we're going that way where you literally go in and you go, so here's who I want to reach. Here's my product. Bring me buyers and it does everything.

C

I would run more ads on TikTok if it went in the way that my ads person would go in and check and see what performing best. Turn on, turn off. I would run way more ads. And if ByteDance TikTok can do that, I think that they're onto something.

B

There you go. Well, the other thing I'm intrigued about is this multiple language thing. So you can not only, you know, have an avatar speaking all these different languages, but you can also do this with your own videos on a lot of platforms, I'm pretty sure on TikTok, certainly with third party tools. Have you seen anyone using the same content in multiple languages? Kenya?

C

I have not seen that. And it might be because I am an English speaker.

B

Yeah.

C

But no, I haven't seen that. But I'm sure it's happening, but I haven't seen it yet.

B

Okay. And with this type of, you know, world, if you're building yourself in where you're creating the content, you're publishing it, you're. You know, we always say don't build your business on rented land. You know, should we be concerned about turning more and more of what we're doing over to a single platform?

C

Yeah, I love TikTok. That's like my favorite platform. But I'm convinced I misses rented. And so I don't think anybody should be putting all their eggs in either any basket, whether it's CDance, TikTok or Facebook, because stuff happens. I just had my Facebook gone for me for two weeks and so like I think that people should use TikTok and what they're doing with this as a way to test, as always, because one of the things that you can like, like we've done for years, it's like you're testing content on TikTok to see what performs well, and then you run it as an ad on Meta. I think that it still should be a lot of brands testing platforms, and then if Meta allows for AI generated content, then they should bring stuff over, but still use TikTok and all of them as your lead generator for, you know, your email or text message list, everything else.

B

Yeah.

A

And just, just a couple thoughts on this meta. Facebook, right. Instagram, they're making major bets in AI, as is ByteDance. And they're going to create tools that are optimized for the platform. And they're also, if they do it well, they're going to create tools for people that do not use the platform. It's in our best interest to use tools that are platform agnostic, I believe, down the road, because that way we can create whatever we want to create on these agnostic tools and then we can port them wherever the heck we want to go. But what these platforms are trying to do is create a lock in effect. Right. So what they're trying to do is create special things that most people only know that you can do on this platform.

C

Yeah.

A

But the truth is that there are tools that can do all these things that live off the platform. And as someone who creates content, ideally you want to use the best tool and then you want to figure out where to publish that content. Y so in this particular case, I would recommend people go mess with Sea Dance if they want to learn how to create video rather than using TikTok symphony. Because sea Dance will allow you to do whatever you want and you can publish it.

C

Yeah, I'm a fan of that. I don't edit in Instagram edits. I don't edit in TikTok. I edit in Cap Cut because it lets me put my content anywhere. So, like when I with Sea Dance, I have the app cdance on my phone and that's how I'm playing in it. I'm not playing with it on the platform because I'm like, I don't know what metadata is going to be on that from the actual TikTok. So I'm like, let me just play so I can have control, but I'm sure somebody else will come out with something. But for right now, I use Sea Dance on my phone without tick tock.

B

It's interesting because obviously people, oh, well, when I use the Edits app, I get more reach on Instagram or I believe that. And part of this was TikTok actually came out and said, if you make your content in Symphony Creative Studio, it has no connection with the TikTok algorithm at all, which is the first time I feel like I've seen a company just say that proactively, upfront.

C

I don't think it's true.

B

Wait, did you see? I don't think it's true.

C

I don't think it's true. I think that they all say. That's like Instagram says all types of things, you know what I mean? But, like, if I take a video from Edits and put it on TikTok, it's going to stay at zero. You know what I mean? So it's like, I think that they say that, but it's in their best interest to get people using Symphony. It's just so. I don't know. Whatever. We'll see.

A

And you're saying it's marketing hype.

B

Yeah. Yeah. That's all right. That's all right. I can totally see that.

A

Hey, before we get back to the show, I want to talk to you about something I've been thinking a lot about lately. You already use AI, and if you're like me, every single day, you're using it. And you're not someone who needs to be convinced that it matters. But here's what I've learned from working with hundreds of marketers inside our AI business society over the last two years. The problem is almost never AI. It's trying to do it all on your own. You're testing tools that you're likely not using again. You're rewriting prompts because they don't sound right. You're probably watching tutorials that give you lots of ideas, but you have no idea what to do with it. And you're working harder with AI, not smarter. And that's exactly why I built the AI Business Society. Every live training is led by an expert practitioner who uses AI in their marketing all the time. And I'm personally there on every single one of these training sessions to make sure that nothing gets too crazy or abstract. You leave with something you can implement that very day. Plus you're surrounded by a community of marketers who are just like you, and they're all there to support each other, and you get to be part of this awesome community. The investment is $497 for the full year. And if within the first 30 days you decide it it's not for you and you join, then just ask for a refund. We're not going to ask any questions, but at least you gave it a shot. Head over to socialmediaexaminer.comai that's, that's socialmediaexaminer.comai and now let's get back to the show.

B

One of the big conversations at our most recent social media marketing world was around social search, which has continued to grow along with an AI business world, obviously AI search and showing up there. And TikTok is now leaning further into search with what they're calling search hubs. And these are branded search destinations that appear at the top of TikTok search results. And essentially you can control the search experience, experience with videos, banners, creator content, calls to action and official accounts like all around your brand. So Tina, you said you've been seeing these out there and I mean, what's been your experience with them so far?

C

Yeah, I think it's really cool for a brand because initially what would happen on TikTok is I would search lip gloss or whatever and then whatever top video would come up on the feed would be whoever indexed their video the best. But now what is happening is that if I search red table T shirt or what have you, the brands are able to have those, I guess those keywords connected to where the first video I'm going to see may be from a content creator, but right next to it and then the banner below it is that brand where you see their actual product, you see the creators who may be promoting their products. And it's just like it reminds me of like Google search. You go on Google and you type in whatever you search and then bam, the things that you're seeing up top are the sponsored ones. And so it feels like like that is what that is what's happening on TikTok. I don't feel annoyed by it at all. I feel like, what is this? I feel more intrigued to go look at that brand's product because, yeah, the creator can say what they want, but the brand is right there. And as an influencer, my brain immediately goes to is this product on TikTok Shop? Right? Because if it's on TikTok Shop, I may buy it there and promote it. So as a business, I think it's really a really cool way because people are going to TikTok to search for more things than ever. And so now it's like the Google, the Google version of like you're searching for body wash and if Dove, you know, is doing what they're doing with the hub, then they're getting pulled up in the search a lot faster and easier than whoever else is not in the search.

B

Now my brain skips right over the sponsored results at the top of Google. And so you're saying you read those and you like, I mean, is that just me?

C

Well, I'm saying like back in the day, like when, when whenever it came up on Google, we, we, we trusted those initially until we started realizing, oh, these are like sponsored. Right. Um, but the people who were advertising that got bang for their buck. And so Right now with TikTok, the average person that does a search for body wash doesn't really know that this is kind of like branded or marketed content. They're just seeing like, oh, this is the best thing. Let me click there and look at that particular thing. So it's a really cool opportunity for businesses. While people have no idea, quote unquote, why that is happening, to really take good market share with, with that type of feature. Eventually will people say, oh, let me scroll and find, you know, yes, but I think it's gonna be a long time before people realize what's actually happening there. Cause I didn't know it was a thing until we started doing this episode. And I'm like, oh, that makes sense. Why this and this. And I'm like, oh, that's smart. How can I get my products up there?

B

So you feel like jumping in right now is great because I saw a screenshot, but my concern as a marketer is that I would search for something and I would feel like I was presented with an ad. But it didn't feel like an ad. It felt more like a well designed search result or.

C

Well, they've been doing it for quite a while. I think that they've just, they're perfecting it more. But it's been going on for years where I would search about lip balm or what have you, and I would see the top video that of the creator, but then right next to it would be an ad, right? So if I, if I type the word circuit, like the circuit printing thing, I would see the top creators video and then right next to it, you would see the ad of the brand. That's been happening for years, but now they're doing it to where, I guess when you've got more creators who have created content around that particular brand's product are listed there with the. So it's like the first top videos and then videos here and then the actual brand's profile is underneath. So that is because that is newer, that's happening. But I don't think that we're feeling any type of way about it happening because we're like, I searched for this thing and here it is because it's so new and most people are not, most brands are not participating in it right now. So we're not really feeling like it's an ad so much. But we're already used to I search this. Here's a creator and here's an ad because it's been going on for like, like four years.

B

Oh, wow. So it's kind of, it's a nice pattern interrupt right now. And there's four types of search hubs. One is a branded search hub, which is if somebody searches for your brand. Another one is an E Commerce branded search hub. So if you're a TikTok shop seller, you can actually like, you know, go after certain search phrases and have your TikTok shop sitting there right at the top. Another one is to own a category. So this would be kind of more keyword based. So then if people are having conversations around certain topics that are not your brand, you can still show up for those. And then the last one and they just call a sponsor search hub. And this is. It sounds like just premium placement where whatever the top cultural, you know, tent pole type things that people are searching for, major events, you just come up for those. And I can see certain events you'd want to be associated with, you know, for certain brands.

C

Yeah, for sure. It's like FIFA's happening or getting ready to happen. And in Houston there's so many things going on around FIFA and so. So I'm sure that a hotel would love to be able to. When someone types the word FIFA, FIFA, Houston, I'm sure a hotel will want to pop up or a certain event or like the first thing that came to mind was like Alex Hermosi's million dollar funnels or whatever his thing is called. And I'm sure he would love, if someone types in funnel marketing that not only can his video pop up, but his profile and the link to his particular product, especially if it's there in shop. A business would absolutely love this. And then as someone who is searching for a particular product, I think I would rather see the best thing come up first than just a bunch of stuff until I really know what's good. It is a part of my journey today where if I'm buying something, the first thing I do. I used to go to Amazon Now I go to directly to TikTok shop. Right. Because if it's in shop, not only can I buy it or get it for free, but I also can promote it and make money. So I think creators on the platform are to going, going to love this. Business owners are going to love it. Eventually we'll get annoyed. But not right now.

B

Not right now. And you know, I mentioned how it's social search and AI search. What. I don't know what phrase we've settled on for that, Mike. Is it aio G G A E I O. We'll just call it AI Search for now. But I feel like the AI search noise is louder or the hype is louder. But you, you're saying social search is here to stay or do you think it's certain industries that are still more social or demographics or.

A

Or what?

C

I think because we are in the AI world, marketing world, we have a heightened awareness. I don't think that people have that big awareness about AI search. I don't think they really know what's going on as much as we think that they do. Does that make sense?

B

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, obviously we are in our own AI echo chamber here.

C

Yeah. Like every time I go to a conference and people talk about AI, I'm like, that's the AR rumor. When I, I leave that room, they have no idea what's going on. So, like, most people have no idea that I can search milk dog bones or whatever, and then the creator is going to come up, plus an ad. Most people have no clue of what's happening because they're just on the platform consuming. Right. That's kind of like when Facebook had those skyscrapers, remember when they used to just pop up on the side and we didn't really realize what was going on there, or we didn't realize the ads were happening until years later. We're like, oh, these are ads. Ads. Right. So I think that right now the consumer just has no idea what's going on.

A

And Jerry, just to level set, you know, the AI search thing, basically the hypothesis is there's a lot of consultants who claim they can get you to show up in ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude when you're in the chatbot interacting with it. And the truth of the matter is that most of it is hogwash. But there is truth to it, because all these AI models are out there a couple times a year, scraping the entire Internet to set up their learning database. But when it goes to the social platforms, all the platforms have different algorithms. Right? So, for example, TikTok probably has an algorithm, when we know they have an algorithm for the main feed, whatever they call that the for you feed or whatever. And then if you do search, they've got a search algorithm. Right. And then they have an ad algorithm and all these things kind of play together. And the truth of the matter is that, that I think what we're saying here, Kenya, is that when you search now inside of TikTok, there's always been some sort of a algorithm behind the scenes that's decided what to show you at the top.

C

Correct.

A

But now it sounds like advertisers can kind of integrate into this in such a way that it almost feels natural.

C

Yeah.

A

And this has to do with all these different algorithms. And I don't think anybody understands how these things work if they claim they do. They're always changing, they're always evolving. Right. And there's just no way to predict how in the world you're going to show up in in any kind of feed on any kind of platform. That's my take on it.

C

Yeah. Unless they're. They're paying for it, which is. What's it called? Search hubs. Yeah. So I think that because it's so new, I think that people just have no clue that folks are paying for that particular spot. Because when I see it, I'm like, oh, this is cool. I'm like, how do I. Because I asked myself, how can I get that spot for coaches, you know?

B

Yeah. And you're right. If you pay for it. Yeah, you're going to get to be there. And I do worry a little bit about the smaller brands that won't be able to compete. I mean, previously they could have had a really well loved video on TikTok that might come up at the top of search results. Are they going to get squeezed out, you think?

C

I think they may get squeezed down a little bit, but for the most part, like, I think we as people who consume content on TikTok, we don't necessarily go, here's this video. I'm gonna go exactly what they said. No, I think that we'll look at what's up there and then we're gonna scroll down and just see other things. Right. Like if there's an educator who's teaching me, like, I was talking about menopause, hair thinning, and I was like, I searched. And the lady who I love talking about menopause. Oh, I watched her video and bought what she said. But if I see hers or whatever comes up and they've got an ad talking about whatever. I'm not just gonna go and just buy from them just because they came up first. It's just that I just saw them first. But I'm still gonna go and do my due diligence of watching other content just to make sure I'm gonna click on their page, click on their shop, click on their reviews the same way as I would on Amazon do I think that smaller brands, brands will have to like make more money to get in those. Yes. But I think that brands on TikTok, they, if they're really focusing on, especially using the AI content creation, if they really learn how to create great content, that they're not gonna have a problem when it comes to the search because the search is one thing and the FYP is something totally different. And then when you're in TikTok shop, that's something totally different. So there's all these opportunities for big and small brands to be seen, but anytime you got more money, obviously you're gonna going to have a bigger stake in anything.

B

Yeah. One of my favorite things about TikTok is that, you know, somebody small can get on there and blow up and blow up quickly. You know, it sort of levels the playing field. So some other updates that we're seeing on TikTok that we should talk about. One, along with these search hubs, they are also adding basically something called keyword amplifier. So you can actually own certain search terms and it'll actually turn comments and recommendations into clickable search links, which I think is really, really interesting. Another one, new music auto fix. So if you've ever had a video on TikTok go viral, but it uses a Taylor Swift song or some other unlicensed audio, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, let's monetize this or let's make it into an ad. Obviously you find out that you can't do that, so I love that. Another new one is what they call the collage carousel, where it showcases multiple products upfront with clickable visuals linked to the product pages, which is one of those things I think they maybe had for a bit. And then also smart plus automatic placement, which gives advertisers manual place selections options across TikTok lemonade, TikTok pangle, which I had to Google, which is I found it as the ad platform that's in other apps and games and you can do all of that inside of TikTok ads manager.

A

So is Lemonade still a thing? I mean, like really?

C

Yes. People are wondering what that is, I feel like Lemonade is the. Is like the Instagram version. So it's kind of like Lemonade is more, so way more images than it is video. So it's, it's anybody who creates content that is image based. So mostly carousels. And if a person is trying to build a business, build a brand as an influencer, or just sell a product or service through images. Amazing. And anytime you create content on Lemonade, they ask you for the option of sharing it on TikTok. And if you have content on Lemonade and you said yes, then your content could feel. Could show up in. It could show up in the, in the FYP form feed. And then the crazy thing about it is, like, if you have a profile on lemonade and on TikTok, they're constantly referring people to you. So like, I have eight posts on Lemonade, but I have 50,000 followers because all of my content that is on TikTok. What'd you say?

A

It's like threads in Instagram almost, right?

C

Yes.

A

Where, you know, Instagram is always pushing threads and stuff. Interesting. And, you know, eliminate. I feel like it came out a couple years ago.

C

Yep.

A

And I don't feel like I've heard anything about it in a very long time time. So. Interesting.

C

I'm pretty sure that the US Version of Lemonade was a part of that acquisition. And I think the US version of capcut was part of the acquisition too. I think. I'm not quite sure, but I've been seeing more promotion on TikTok about lemonade. Like in my feed, I've been seeing more saying, like, Jerry's on Lemonade and this person's on Lemonade. So they had been doing that a lot. They were forcing. It was the opposite. Now they're telling people to, like, come to both platforms and a person who is not really into video. Huge platform to be able to grow on because it's all image based.

B

That's interesting. I have an account. I know I have an account. I don't think I've ever posted anything. But it was one of those things. I think I heard you say, yeah, watch this one. I think it's going to grow. And I was like, okay, let me grab my account now. This music auto fix thing, I think solves a real pain point for a lot of people because sometimes you get all this reach for a brand and then you go, oh, well, they're not going to let me use my Kendra Lamar song or whatever it might be. So, you know, in here where we are right now, will content still perform well when it no longer has a hit song behind it? Like, is that, how important is that? Do you feel like? I guess. In other words, should brands start trying to make their content without a hit song if they have the choice or what their organic content.

C

Yeah. So it used to be a huge deal that you added a training audio to your video. Then you got like a big boost. Now I'm not seeing as much anymore. Like I rarely put music on my content anymore because it just, it seems to perform well with just organically shot content. Now if a brand is thinking about using music, they have to use some cool stuff. You can't like just do that weird elevator stuff. But I don't think brands need as much of the music as they used to because if you come on a TikTok, it's a lot less music happening than it was a year, two, three years ago. But would it be beneficial if they had some copyrighted music to it? Sure. Because especially if something's popping like when Taylor Swift when she launched her album, or like I think Taylor Swift just launched the song with Toy Story. I think something like that, anybody that's using that audio, obviously you get quite the boost on your content because it's like it's being pushed out. But I don't think it's necessary as it was anymore.

B

Okay. Okay, yeah, that's good to know because especially when, you know, both you and Mike are saying, hey, make your stuff on third party platforms. And obviously you get into all kinds of copyright issues if you try and put commercial music elsewhere and then upload it to a platform and maybe they don't have the same, you know, the same licensing rights and all of that. So.

A

Well, and real quick, it's worth saying that a lot of these AI platforms will add ambient sounds and music to the back of it. It's going to be something it creates from scratch kind of thing. Right. So like a lot of these AI video tools will just, they'll add sounds or music or whatever, but they're not, they're like custom, you know what I mean? They were created with video. They're not like pulling from some sort of audio library or anything like that. So the good news is you won't necessarily run into these kind of licensing issues because for a lot of people, they don't even realize. But there's, there's a whole AI music industry, you know, out there that is completely original music that's been trained on unfortunately real music. But this is going to be less and Less of an issue. I think down the road if people do want to use music, they'll be able to create really cool jingles and stuff like that down the road for ads.

C

Yeah. And TikTok has been working with creators for I think about 18 months now to create music for brand brands on the platforms. So it's like they'll. I constantly get these messages asking me to promote certain songs, but it's like Tick Tock is partnered with some creator on the platform and they're creating audios for brands to be able to use. And I will say that like recently I didn't know what happened, but I was creating something in Capcut and it added music to it and I was like, what's going on? And I was like, oh, this is non licensed music. And that I could bring to Tick Tock if I wanted to. So like you were saying, Mike, like that is. They're already starting to bring music now I take mine off and bring it to TikTok. But you know, I could probably test and see what happens with that music. But yep.

A

So TikTok does allow you to add a music layer. I mean, I'm obviously not on TikTok, but it does allow you to take a video, export it out and then add a music layer over the top of it so you don't have music baked into it. Is that effectively what I'm hearing you say?

C

Yeah, absolutely. And then one of the things that's happening the last six to eight months is that the moment you put a picture or video on TikTok at automatically tries to match the music to whatever's happening in your, in your content. So that's kind of cool just watching them like, you know, because there's this funny trend where it says upload a video of yourself, upload a photo of yourself and see what, what sound TikTok gives you. And some of them are like really bad. But for the most part TikTok is learning how to like match music to your actual video. So like if I'm doing a get ready with me or I'm like, whatever it is, it really has learned how to add great music to my videos. And I'm like, I don't need to change it, but turn the audio down because they've learned me they can see my content. It's like, it's really cool.

B

That is cool. I just want to play with it now. Like just upload a headshot and be like, what are they, what are they gonna, what are they gonna. You know, it's Gonna be something about

C

a goofy one and see what it does. You'll be amazed. I'm like.

A

Because it'll add like, yeah, yeah.

C

It'll add music, it'll add trending audios, it'll do all types of things. And you'll just be like, how did they know? And it's like, because they know everything.

B

Yeah, yeah. Well, Kenya, I want to ask you about TikTok Go. Like we're seeing this happen where it seems like more of the funnel is moving inside of TikTok, at least potentially. And so TikTok Go is a new in app experience. So it's the same app and it's available in the US right now, but it's letting users discover and book travel, hotels, attractions and tours all inside of TikTok. And TikTok is already a place that people get influenced for where they want to travel all the time. So have you seen this in action at all? I mean, what are your thoughts on this, the whole thing being right there?

C

I get four emails, seven notifications a day from brands trying to get me to do things with TikTok Go because I'm always on the go doing stuff. Like I was on a cruise last week and I got a message about book your Virgin boys, just cruise. And I was like, dang, I already booked mine. You know, so it's a really cool way for hotels experiences to be. It's kind of like Expedia, except it's on TikTok. Right? So it's like if you wanna, if you wanna book a hotel in New York City with this particular hotel, oh, here's how you can book that. But also you'll, you'll receive some money because you booked it and you talked about it as a content creator. But also if you end up booking that, sometimes I think the, whoever the partner is with that particular brand might reach out to you to do a more deeper partnerships. Like, I'm amazed by how many messages I'm getting of companies trying to get me to promote this product, this, this location or this location or wherever. Like when I was coming to social media marketing world, I was getting so many notifications about everything that was happening in Anaheim or Southern California because they could tell where I was and I was like, this is nuts.

B

That's a big piece. Is that location piece is obviously makes this even more powerful. And do you think we'll start seeing this in other industries where the entire booking funnel. Cause you mentioned Expedia, that's integrated Booking.com is part of it. Is this the future of marketing.

C

Yeah, I think we're going to be able to. The same thing we can do on Expedia, which is book a flight, rent a car, do excursions. I think you're gonna be able to do all of that on the inside of TikTok without ever leaving the app. Like if I was in Bali and I have this trip, that's fifteen hundred dollars for your flight, hotel and seven night stay. If I can get that on the inside of the TikTok app and person never has to go anywhere, that's perfect. Right. And so I think that TikTok's goal and any. All the platforms are like, how do we get you here? How do we keep you here? How do I make money as TikTok? How do you make money as a creator? How does a brand make money money? It makes total sense that like they're starting with the hotels. I'm now seeing cruises and it's gonna be, it's gonna, I think it's already happening. We just don't know it yet that they've had bigger experiences that are happening with bigger creators. But we're start. We're only seeing the infancy stages of it because you know, platforms only tell you a little bit until it's something's perfected. And since syntax Go has been happening for well over a year, I think they're already doing these bigger experiences with creators on the download and we're gonna hear about them like maybe in the fall.

B

What do you think, Mike? You ready to sell a social media marketing world travel package including tickets, all access passes on TikTok.

A

I just can't get over the name Go. It just is flashing me back to Pokemon Go. You know, I would go around with my phone and try to get these little.

C

Yeah, yeah.

A

I don't know, I mean like, yeah, I think there's something here. There's a lot of people that travel, travel industry is huge and I think it's really cool that if you as a creator can actually go to a destination and get, make enough money to help pay for your trip, all of a sudden this is kind of a fun thing that I could see a lot of travel creators going nuts with.

B

Yeah, yeah. And I, I have a friend, I don't think she's taken a trip that she didn't learn about on TikTok in about three years.

A

Wow.

B

So for some people it's definitely already there.

C

Yeah.

B

Well, Kenya, this has been a really fascinating conversation. Thank you for joining us today. If people want to explore working with you where's the best place to find out more?

C

So guys, I am on every single platform and LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Kenya Kelly or my website Kenyakelly.com Kenya and

A

Jerry, thank you so much for being on the show today. Hey, if you missed anything, we took all the notes for you over@social mediaexaminer.com 722. If you're new to the show, be sure to follow us. If you've been a listener for a while, we would love a review. And do check out my other show, the AI Explored Podcast. This brings us to the end of the Social Media Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Stelzner. I was joined by my co host Jerry Potter. We'll be back with you next week. I hope you make the best out of your day and may your marketing keep evolving. Catch you next time.

B

The Social Media Marketing Podcast is a production of Social Media Examiner.

A

Before you go if you're tired of figuring out AI all on your own and testing tools that don't seem to work the way you want them to work and constantly rewriting scripts and prompts because they don't sound like you, the AI Business Society was built for you. Every week we cut through all the noise. Every training is led by expert practitioners and you're surrounded by marketers who are just like you. And right now you can join for $497, which is our special sale price, and your rate is locked in for life. And you got 30 days to ask for a refund if it's not for you. So what have you got to lose? Check it out@socialmediaexaminer.com com AI and I'll catch you on the next episode.