by Komaker | Sep 15, 2020 | Articles
TikTok users can stream live broadcasts, record short video clips, add favorite tracks, and post the results on social networks. The idea to combine music, video and social networking in one mobile application came to Alex Zhu, a TikTok creator when he saw that teenagers used different apps for listening to music, taking selfies and recording short videos and sharing them with friends
He thought that the new generation needs a music app an innovative format.
- Today TikTok is one of the most prominent valuable startups.
- On average, users spend 52 minutes daily on Tik Tok.
- The app is popular among teenagers, and 41% of TikTok users are aged 16–24.
- Tik Tok’s primary revenue stream is in-app purchases that bring $3.5 million per month.
- In the first half of 2019, global Tik Tok revenue reached $39 Billion.
It’s impressive, right?
Now, let us take a closer look at how Tik Tok works and find out why the app became so popular.
The most notable TikTok features overview
TikTok allows users to interact with each other by following, liking, and re-sharing content. But it also provides users with additional features, including:
Video uploading. Users can upload ready-made videos to their TikTok account, rotate or crop them, and even change the playback speed.
Video editing. Just like Snapchat, TikTok has an impressive toolset of AR effects for changing the color of the eyes, hair, and even adding makeup. There are also many stickers, animations, and masks.
Live streaming. Using this premium TikTok feature, video creators can make live streams and receive virtual goods from their fans purchased with TikTok Coins.
Social sharing. TikTok users can share all their videos edited in TikTok on their Instagram, YouTube, and FaceBook profiles.
Soundtracks. Users can add a favorite song to their short videos from the built-in TikTok library.
QR code scanner. To allow users to subscribe to each other, the app provides them with a unique QR code.
Duet Option. All users, who like to sing, enjoy this feature. TikTokers can create a video, add a #duetwithme hashtag, and ask other users to duet with them.
Geolocation. With geolocation, the app displays users currently active bloggers broadcasting live, nearby, in an instant.
Now let us see how to create a music video app and make it profitable.
Five steps to develop an app like TikTok
Below we share the most useful tips on how to transform your idea into a popular app like Tik Tok.
1. Research your target market
The first step to your goal is to find out more about your prospective users. For that, you should do the following:
- Demographic profile. You need to learn the average age of your users, where they live, what devices they use, and so on.
- Behavioral trends. Such trends include decreasing the user’s desire to download something, rapidly decreasing patience for slow loading times, low tolerance for lack of security, high value on the app utility, and so on.
To create a better product that will respond to your users’ wants and needs, we recommend creating a buyer persona, a detailed portrait of your ideal users.
2. Choose the monetization model
Now that you better understand your prospective users, you can select the right business model for app monetization from below:
- Fundraising
At the initial stage of your project, you can attract investment with fundraising, i.e. collecting money as donations from individuals and businesses. Fundraising is one of earning premium mode even for TikTok. Recently, high-class investors funded the app with $3 billion.
- In-app purchase
TikTok allows its users to support live broadcasters with virtual currency, bought with real money. Users can exchange virtual currency or coins for gifts.
- Advertising
This app monetization option includes the following in-app advertising types:
- Cost Per Click charged each time the user interacts with the ads in their app.
- Cost Per Mille charged advertisers for every 1,000 impressions of their ad run the app
- Cost Per Action when advertisers pay only for the specified action, such as an app install or newsletter signup
Now, when you know your future business model, let us dip into the app development process.
3. Cooperate with the app development team
With the target audience research and business model in hand, you need to contact the development team and start the project discovery phase.
In the first phase of a software project, Discovery Phase involves business analysis and requirements elicitation, technology stack choice, cost estimation, and project planning.
During the Discovery(Inception) Phase, we usually conduct the following activities, which might vary more or less depending on requirements:
- Define the project scope, main features of the future software, and business priorities;
- Create an app development workflow, taking into account the monetization strategy;
- Identify main app features and user roles;
- Design a future app concept.
Next, the team will prioritize the app’s features, create project milestones, and start to develop the app MVP.
4. Create an MVP
The social video app development is a complex project. Thus, instead of building a fully-functional and costly app, we recommend launching your project as an MVP or a minimum viable product. In this way, you can find out how users like your app and consider their feedback for further app improvement.
Below we have put together a feature list required for social video app MVP and estimation in hours.
YOU WANT TO CREATE A MOBILE APPLICATION LIKE TIKTOK ?
