What makes TikTok tick?  The rapid emergence of TikTok as one of the most dominant new social media platforms has taken the digital world by storm.  We had the pleasure with exchanging quickfire questions and answers with TikTok’s Angela Nader, Head of Beauty and Luxury Partnerships in Canada.

What is your role at TikTok and what does a typical day look like for you?

I’m responsible for leading the development of partnerships with key brands such as LVMH, Kering, L’Oréal Paris, Estee Lauder, and Proctor & Gamble (to name a few). I spend most of my time educating brands on their TikTok strategy, sharing new product developments on our platform, working through creative conception & storyboards to ensure they’re building for TikTok, and sourcing TikTok-first creators. Though my role is to advise on how brands should successfully show up on TikTok, we’ve built such a great relationship with our partners that they now come to us for just about everything from community management to conceptualizing campaigns for use across all platforms.

What do you find most interesting about TikTok?

The responsiveness of our algorithm will always be my favorite—and the most interesting—part of our platform. No two “For You” feeds are the same and it’s because we’ve built a product that recognizes each user is unique, providing a never-ending stream of content tailored to the viewer based on their viewing patterns.

What are three top tips brands should be aware of when thinking about a TikTok marketing strategy?

1. Learn to build “made-for-TikTok” content → what typically works on other platforms falls flat on ours
2. Select TikTok-first creators to be your “voice” on the platform → few influencers have had crossover success from other platforms on to ours so make a point of getting familiar with TikTok to understand what kind of creators our audience engages with
3. Spend time on our Discover page to understand which trends and sounds are taking off → TikTok is all about recreating existing trends and putting your own spin on them. The Discover page is a great source of inspiration to spark creativity.

Who are your favourite creators to follow on TikTok?

I’m huge on mashups so my favorite creators are @djhabibeats and @altegomusic. My favorite mashup at the moment is this Meg thee Stallion x Kid Cudi one.

What’s one thing people should know about TikTok?

TikTok is so much more than just a source of endless entertainment. Thanks to the creativity of our community, content categories like DIY tutorials and educational series are taking off and we’re seeing a new type of viewer opting to spend time on TikTok — reinforcing the fact that our platform is for everyone.