Browsing by Author "Joenpolvi, Inka"

The short-form video platform TikTok has taken the world by storm over the last few years. Its unique ecosystem has gathered massive amounts of users and TikTok has solidified itself as a major competitor among other social media platforms. Subsequently, marketers are also discovering the potential of TikTok as a marketing channel. Due to its uniqueness, approaching marketing on TikTok requires new takes that are currently being studied. However, one industry that has so far remained relatively under researched is the food industry. This has led to a lack of understanding on what does food specific TikTok marketing look like, and thus making the platform appear rather daunting to food marketers aspiring to enter the platform. This thesis aimed to explore how food marketing is conducted on TikTok by Finnish food marketers. The aim was to create a descriptive view of the marketing conducted by Finnish marketers on TikTok and mirror the findings to those of previous research by identifying similarities and differences. So far, the existing research identifies certain features that are present in TikTok marketing. These finding can be used to create a rough outline of what TikTok marketing loos like on a general level. This thesis on its part assists in inserting the food industry to the existing outline. Two qualitative research methods were used to gather information from seven Finnish food marketers. In order to form descriptive views of the marketing, four companies were netnographically observed over the course of two months. Additionally, three companies were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. These were conducted in order to gain more supporting in-depth insights from the marketers themselves. The focus of the research was defined to only include Finnish companies that were marketing food products. The results were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The research concluded that Finnish food marketers approach TikTok without highly detailed plans of how the marketing on the platform will look like. A central part of the marketing is creating a personable view of the company that is easier for consumers to approach. The marketing follows guidelines from the company’s pre-existing identity and content is created to reflect that. The companies have a personalised approach that is still considerate of the unique circumstances of TikTok. Increased visibility can be seen as the primary strength of TikTok marketing as companies are able to reach new consumers from an audience differing from other major marketing channels. Additionally, the research found some similarities and differences between the marketing conducted by Finnish food marketers and the previous research. In accordance with the previous research, Finnish food marketers are also favouring entertaining short-form content that is posted consistently. However, influencer marketing, which is often highlighted on TikTok, is not present in the current marketing content of the Finnish marketers. Trend-based content, another feature identified in existing research, is more common in the initial stages of beginning TikTok marketing but the significance decreases as the companies find their own format. Gaining more understanding of what marketing in their specific niche looks like on TikTok can encourage more Finnish food marketers to consider joining the platform and in turn personally contribute to the future development of it.