TikTok marketing: passing fad or long-term trend?
Contents · 10 sections
In September 2023 I asked whether TikTok marketing is a passing fad or a long-term trend. At the time, advertising on the platform was not available to Bulgarian companies, and many business owners saw TikTok as an app for dancing teenagers.
Almost two years later the answer is clear, and it shows in the numbers. In this updated version we look at where TikTok stands in 2025, how advertising works in Bulgaria, what content succeeds and which risks to keep in mind.
Where did TikTok come from?
The platform’s story is remarkable. The app was built in just 200 days and launched in September 2016. It took exactly one year to hit staggering success: by September 2017 it had 100 million users. That’s when it got its new name, TikTok, and went international. In early 2019 TikTok introduced its first e-commerce features. A year later, by mid-2020, it had 800 million users.
What explains this meteoric rise? The formats people use to express themselves on social media have been evolving for a long time. At first, text was the foundation and photos were more of an add-on. Then the focus gradually shifted. On newer networks like Instagram, the image took center stage and text faded further and further into the background.
That shift is hardly surprising. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and research backs it up. Studies show that 90% of the information we’re exposed to every day is visual. As a result, we’ve evolved to take in this kind of information much faster. In fact, the brain can process visuals a full 60,000 times faster than text!
Over time, video began to replace static images. That’s no surprise either. Posts with an image get 650% more engagement than text-only posts. But video on social media gets 1,200% more shares than text and image posts combined!
So why is TikTok leading this revolution, and not, say, YouTube, a platform with a much longer history?
The first reason is the app’s powerful video editing features and remarkably intuitive interface. They let anyone express themselves through video and make fun, interesting or informative clips that look good. You don’t need any editing experience to do it, not even the basics.
The second big advantage is its unique mix of creativity, humor and spontaneity. That style speaks directly to teenagers and Gen Z. It’s exactly why TikTok can rewrite the rules for companies that want to reach new audiences and engage the customers they already have.
In short, TikTok’s success comes down to a combination of strengths:
- an almost nonexistent barrier to entry;
- an exceptionally intuitive design with a gentle learning curve;
- rich technical capabilities;
- a unique culture of spontaneity and fun that it encourages in its users.
TikTok in numbers in 2025
- At the start of 2025 TikTok's global ad reach was about 1.59 billion people according to DataReportal.
- In the European Union the platform reports about 159 million monthly active users, around 35% of the population.
- In Bulgaria TikTok reports, under the Digital Services Act, about 2.4 million monthly active users for the second half of 2024, up from 2 million a year earlier.
- Bulgarians are among the most active users in the world, spending about 39 hours a month in the app, sixth globally.
In 2023 I estimated there were 1.1 to 1.25 million users in Bulgaria. In less than two years the audience has practically doubled.
Who uses TikTok?
TikTok’s demographics are fascinating. Young people dominate, with 58.4% of content creators aged between 18 and 24. Across the whole user base, that age group accounts for 38.5%, and another 32% are between 25 and 34. That makes TikTok not only one of the newest social networks, but also one of the “youngest.”
Everything about this platform is unconventional, including its global footprint. TikTok is available in 154 countries, but five countries ban it nationwide: India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. The last one may surprise you. TikTok’s home country has its own version, called Douyin, with slightly different features from the international app. Here’s another curious fact: the country where the social network is used the most is Saudi Arabia, where 87.9% of residents over 18 are active TikTok users.
In Bulgaria the audience is no longer just young. A survey by the media regulator shows that 97% of teenagers aged 13 to 18 use TikTok, but more and more users over 25 and over 35 come to the platform for recipes, reviews, travel, money and career tips. According to MSL Sofia's 2024 study, 39% of Bulgarian consumers follow influencers on TikTok, up from 23% in 2022.
Types of TikTok content
TikTok owes much of its success to the sheer range of topics it covers. There really is something for everyone. By topic, some of the most popular areas are motivation and self-help, food, education, fashion, culture, sports and fitness. By format, a few big categories stand out: humor, educational videos, trends and challenges, influencer collaborations, and local content.
Humor
Humor is TikTok’s signature. It has a style all its own, often with a healthy dose of parody and sarcasm. Funny content hooks users, and brands that use it well can get closer to their audience, tell their story and show off their culture.
Educational videos
Many people think TikTok is pure entertainment. Far from it. The platform is full of educational videos. Some of the best examples are doctors who use their channels to teach followers about health care and prevention in their specialties. The best known include gynecologist Dr. Jones (@mamadoctorjones), family physician Dr. Mike (@doctormike) and dermatologist Dr. Adel (@dermatology.doctor).
Trends and challenges
Trends and challenges were around on social media long before TikTok. Remember the #icebucketchallenge, the 2014 campaign that got the world talking about ALS and raised $220 million for research? But TikTok takes them to a whole new level. A new trend pops up almost every week, and challenges come in every flavor: dancing, singing, cooking and more.
Influencer collaborations
As influencer culture grows, so do collaborations. Sometimes they pair two well-known online personalities. Other times a brand teams up with a celebrity who promotes its products. As on other platforms, the goal is to build trust in the brand’s products, grow its customer base and strengthen its reputation.
Local content
TikTok is a global platform, but plenty of local communities thrive under its umbrella. Content built on local challenges, references, contests and hashtags gets much higher engagement, so it belongs in every successful TikTok strategy.
Successful TikTok business accounts
TikTok is a platform that rewards content that is fun, original, high quality and authentic. Every top account on the network shares these traits. Brands use the platform to educate, entertain and inspire, and the content they create keeps viewers engaged and helps them stand out in an endless sea of videos. Here are some great examples of TikTok marketing done right.
@washingtonpost
This hugely popular channel proves that TikTok works for a truly wide range of brands. The Washington Post is a world-famous newspaper known as a reliable source of information, and it uses short videos to cover the day’s news with TikTok’s signature humor.
@crocs
The brand’s divisive design is often the butt of jokes, but Crocs has turned that into an advantage. Most of the videos on its channel showcase products and announce new models, but the brand uses partnerships in a clever, highly strategic way.
One standout is #ThousandDollarCrocs, which challenged customers to deck out their Crocs as lavishly as possible. Celebrities like the singer Post Malone joined in, and the campaign racked up more than 3 billion views.
@redbull
The energy drink maker has always pushed the limits of original marketing. On TikTok it stands out again, because it’s one of the brands that don’t use humor to attract their audience. Instead, Red Bull relies on gripping, expertly edited videos of stunts by top athletes in a range of sports.
@kauflandbulgaria
One of the most successful brands on TikTok in Bulgaria is Kaufland, the German supermarket chain. Its Bulgarian channel takes a more traditional approach: the videos rely on a balanced mix of humor, celebrity collaborations, behind-the-scenes stories, recipes and useful tips. At the time of writing it has 206,200 followers, an impressive audience for a country the size of Bulgaria!
@plasticfreelifebg
Next to Kaufland, Plastic Free Life is a fairly small Bulgarian company. Yet it has built a strong, recognizable brand with real success online. Its TikTok strategy is less conventional: its videos are more educational than entertaining. Even so, it has 163,700 followers. The brand mainly showcases its products while explaining the harm plastic does and offering alternatives that are easy to work into everyday life.
Advertising on TikTok
To work, a TikTok ad has to grab attention in the first seconds and look like part of the platform, not like a TV commercial. Storytelling here is not a nice-to-have, it is a must. So create content specifically for TikTok rather than reusing your Facebook ads.
If you have experience with Meta ads, TikTok Ads Manager will feel familiar. It supports conversion tracking via pixel and a server connection (Events API), product catalogues, and payment by prepaid balance or card.
- In-Feed ads: videos in the For You feed that look like regular content.
- Spark Ads: paid distribution of your own posts or creators' posts with their permission; usually the most engaging because they look most natural.
- TopView: a video shown first when the app opens, for big campaigns.
- Branded Effects and Hashtag Challenges: your own effects and challenges for users to join.
- Promote: quick promotion of a post straight from the app.
TikTok also offers Symphony, a suite of AI tools including virtual avatars and automatic dubbing into other languages.
Are TikTok ads available in Bulgaria?
Yes. This is the biggest change since the first version of this article. Since 1 July 2024 TikTok Ads Manager has been available to Bulgarian advertisers. According to agency data, CPM in Bulgaria is about 20-30% lower than on Meta, click-through rates are 0.8% to 1.2%, and the minimum daily budget is about 20 euro per ad group.
My advice is to start with organic content to learn what your audience likes, then promote the best videos as Spark Ads. Working with creators also brings excellent results.
TikTok Shop: is it coming to Bulgaria?
TikTok Shop lets people buy directly in the app. In Europe it launched first in the UK, then in Spain and Ireland in December 2024, and in Germany, France and Italy on 31 March 2025. TikTok Shop is not yet available in Bulgaria. Until it arrives, Bulgarian online stores can use video ads with a product catalogue and drive traffic to their own site.
Risks to keep in mind
- Political uncertainty in the US. The law requiring the sale of TikTok's US business was upheld by the Supreme Court in January 2025. The app went dark briefly on 18-19 January, and the enforcement deadline has since been extended several times, most recently to 17 September 2025.
- EU regulation. On 2 May 2025 Ireland's data protection authority fined TikTok 530 million euro over transfers of European users' data to China.
- Brand safety. Trends change within days. Have clear rules about who posts what on behalf of the company.
These risks are not a reason to ignore TikTok, but they are a reason not to put everything on one platform.
Passing fad or long-term trend?
In 2023 I wrote that despite the many fads on the platform, TikTok itself would keep growing for a long time. The numbers confirm it: the Bulgarian audience has doubled, advertising has become available, and the platform has become a search engine where young people check restaurants, products and advice before going to Google. My answer is that TikTok is a long-term trend, and every brand with a vision for its future needs a strategy for it.
Petar Dyaksov
Entrepreneur, investor and managing partner at SEOMAX, with more than 15 years of experience in e-commerce and digital marketing. He builds businesses in technology and e-commerce, invests in companies and supports entrepreneurs. Speaker, trainer and mentor at dozens of conferences, seminars and entrepreneurship programmes.
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