Not many people talking about this new algorithm yet, but this updates came after the launch of new data laws in Europe. And yes, this update benefits those users the most. Do you still want the juice? Keep reading.

 

The TikTok Algorithm you know is built on an idea of interest-based targeting. The algorithm shows you content based on your interactions with old content on the app. Using your watch history, the new videos are targeted toward your ideal interests. Youtube & Instagram work the same way, what’s changed then?

 

The change is ability to turn off personalization on your TikTok Feed. This is a new rollout from TikTok because GDPR in EU is trying to protect user data from social media apps. Now, this feature will absolutely ruin your TikTok watching experience and not a single user will turn it on because from my research. The videos that you see on your “personalized feed” are popular with high engagement but irrelevant.

 

That’s the new algorithm update, allowing users to replace personalized Algorithm with Localised Algorithm. What’s a localized algorithm?

 

To explain, when I was in India even with my German TikTok Account. I was unable to use the platform. Why and how? Two main elements used by TikTok is location & User data given during account creation. That location part isn’t using your GPS or IP address, I personally tried to use VPN in India to bypass TikTok. And I failed.

 

Because TikTok uses mainly Sim card data or email account location. I assume you are not someone living in a country with a TikTok Ban. So, I want to focus on the strategy & business part. How can this new algorithm benefit you?

 

Now that you know TikTok uses location data to show content when personalization is turned off. The second metric TikTok uses is Engagement, you will only find popular & trendy videos from your city, region or country  on “Popular” feed. Yes, this feed is labeled popular by TikTok.

 

Use these two learnings, I built the TikTok strategy for Small businesses & Artists. The local element of this algorithm is a helpful way for marketers & businesses to find what the local audiences are liking & what their interests are.

 

Usually what most people do to create a tiktok strategy is: 

 

1/ Your FYP page reflects what you like. You use that research & bias to create a strategy for your business.

2/ The Viral TikTok content within your industry reflects what your ideal followers like.

These are two main research elements used to build a tiktok content strategy. And this workflow lacks “local targeting”. Because that part is where you can show more importance & build a better strategy that builds community.

 

Here’s what your new TikTok strategy should look like: 

 

1/ The Bias about your industry, niche & customers is built through FYP. Because you might think that what you experience or like is what others seek. I am not saying Bias is wrong, but validate it before building a strategy.

 

2/ The Virality in your industry & growth seen when you research on TikTok about few topics or your competitors. You learn a lot from doing that research, getting the knowledge about what goes viral. But what is viral doesn’t differentiate you, use the research & mix it with your branding.

 

3/ The Community & Local Word of mouth will be now built with help of  “Popular feed” on Tiktok, with personalization, turned off. What that means is studying the content you see there as it is local and popular within your region. Through that research you have the ability to see what makes the average tiktok user interact.
No-algorithm feed will teach you only the right thing, which is “what people react to?”.

Use these segments in your TikTok strategy to build a more loyal & segmentized audience. I feel the importance of doing so, because the more far your audience lives, the connection is still strong but not that effective. When you build local, you have more resources to empower your audience. Organising events, local referrals & PR levels up your business even more.

 

Comparing this to Youtube

 

As I cover the marketing & social media updates regularly in The Social Juice. Youtube also announced a similar algorithm update for everyone. The TikTok update is limited to EU only, this one is global. The feature is to turn off watch history, when you do that. Youtube can’t use your content interactions for new video recommendations.

Again, I know less than 0.1% of Youtube users will turn off their watch history. Especially when not many people are talking about this change. For context, while TikTok added “turn off personalization” due to privacy issues. Youtube launched this feature very randomly, giving users the ability to turn off watch history.

Again, This feature changes the algorithm & marketers can learn how Youtube pushes the content forward with no watch history & content interaction data.

 

More Insights on TikTok & Social Media Algorithms:

 

If you lack context about how social media algorithms work & how this change impacts the overall tiktok marketing experience. I would recommend you to read these two guides written by me:

 

1/ How Social Media Algorithms work

2/ TikTok Marketing Guide

 

I would say, we need more education on how machine learning algorithms are used to run social media & now AI does it. The change needs to be addressed ASAP. I should get on the job of writing a guide on Algo and how small changes like this new August TikTok algorithm update impacts marketing. In ML & AI, we should value even a 1% change because it matters.