The Growth of TikTok: Impact on the Outdoor Industry

By Sam Rokos, PR and Marketing Coordinator,

NEMO Equipment

Most brands have been caught by surprise with the overwhelming popularity and growth of TikTok over the past two years and many are scrambling to keep up with the trends. Forbes predicts that TikTok will surpass Instagram in influencer marketing spending by 2024. Consumers want short-form, authentic videos that they can relate to – a grid of polished lifestyle photos just doesn’t do it for them anymore.  

Outdoor industry brands have been slow on the uptake to switch to video format, REI being one of the few to have jumped in early and seen success in the TikTok space. While smaller outdoor brands may not have the resources or staff to churn out content every day, writing off video content completely means losing out on a new and extremely popular way to engage with consumers.  

When I attended the Outdoor Media Summit in October, a panel of prominent outdoor brands and content creators provided feedback on how to get a brand started in the era of short-form video. Here’s what I learned:

1. Less polished is better. The videos that perform the best are usually of lower quality. Even better if the video can be shot on a phone.

2. Capture the audience’s attention with a hook. Create a hook in the first 3-5 seconds of the video. Get to the point quickly and make sure there’s a resolution at the end.

3. Create a series. A main theme over two to three videos provides consistency for an audience.

4. Find your TV personality. Having one person “star” in your YouTube shorts or TikTok videos creates familiarity and can bring character to your content.

Personally, I think TikTok creates a massive opportunity for the Outdoor Industry to focus on storytelling in an authentic light and open the outdoor space to be more inclusive of how everyone prefers to recreate. Marketing that was once solely focused on clean and staged photography with professional models is now geared toward real consumer experiences. I’ll be following the trends with interest.