TikTok’s ‘Uninterrupted’ Ramadan Guide for Marketers & Brands

Uninterrupted Ramadan webinar series is hosted by experts and builds on TikTok for Business’ commitment, and ongoing efforts to support businesses of all sizes grow on the short-video sharing platform. The webinar series aims to further educate brands and marketers on the best ways they can create content that blends instead of interrupts, by focusing on familiarity, reliability, and noticeability.

To better reflect on how this educational series will help content curators and businesses on TikTok, Communicate dives into an in-depth discussion with Jochen Bischoff, Head of Consumer Business Partnerships GCC, Global Business Solutions.

What will these webinars discuss and who will they exactly include? Where and how will the webinars be held and posted? Are they accessible to everyone or a particular audience only? Who are the target audiences for this initiative?

The Holy Month of Ramadan is one of the most important cultural occasions in the region and one that is eagerly anticipated every year by observers as well as the wider community. Brands are no exception. In fact, the preparations for this period start in the weeks leading to the occasion, and consumers, who are seasonal shoppers, tend to buy more. But most importantly, they do that together. This community consumption trend is reflected in the high traction on the platform and makes TikTok one of the most powerful tools for marketers.

While it is natural for brands to want to take part in this journey, it is important to keep the essence of the month in mind. It is a period of joy and togetherness, which is exactly what the platform is all about. TikTok is the destination for people to share during Ramadan in the form of short videos. And when they do so, they don’t want ads or disruption. They want content that seamlessly blends into their edutainment time. That is why, we launched a series of webinars hosted by TikTok experts, to guide brands towards creating content that fits in naturally with the content the community enjoys – in other words, bringing to life an Uninterrupted Ramadan experience through content that is noticeable and will break through the clutter. Content that consumers ultimately become familiar with and can relate to during this blessed period.

The webinars are available to all marketers and brands who want to make an impact and bring authentic experiences to their audiences. These are accessible on the TikTok for Business LinkedIn Page and the TikTok for Business Ramadan microsite. The webinars are led by an intro to the concept of an Uninterrupted Ramadan, followed by a deep dive into the three key pillars of familiarity, reliability, and noticeability.

How will TikTok help brands leverage from this initiative?

When we brought TikTok for Business to life, our objective was to help brands of all sizes grow and we constantly work on developing new tools and approaches to keep empowering them on our platform. This is particularly important during key occasions such as the Holy of Month of Ramadan, which according to an IPSOS study, is considered the favorite time of the year for 53% of consumers in the MENAT region.

Accordingly, we launched this initiative months ahead of Ramadan to give brands the time they need to build their campaigns. It is then up to them to leverage this knowledge and optimize this captive audience on the platform, as well as the tools provided to them. 

Brands have the responsibility to connect authentically through compelling content during this blessed period. The ones that bring the community the type of engaging experiences they are after, can score high on this occasion and beyond.

What are the specific Ramadan trends that you are observing this year?

There are specific seasonal spikes where people tend to buy more, and this is in the two weeks leading up to Ramadan and the two weeks ahead of Eid Al Fitr. TikTok sees this reflected on the platform: people don’t just buy more, they buy together, and over the years we’ve seen the increase in digital media channel influence on the purchasing funnel, from brand discovery through to the conversion phase.

There has also been a paradigm shift and content creation has been democratized; TikTok has provided the tools to allow anyone and everyone to be a creator, resulting in exponential growth in content categories and genres. Consumers are also more in control than ever over the content they consume, since TikTok serves them content that is relevant to them at the moment based on their own consumption patterns and interests, rather than those of the people they follow.

With this in mind, brands have a great opportunity to genuinely connect with the community and provide them with content that is relevant to them and that can then be shared organically and authentically. This is extremely important, particularly in a key cultural moment such as Ramadan, since historically, the commoditization of media has produced repetitive, forgetful, and sometimes generic advertising at a time when the space is quite cluttered. For brands to create meaningful and relevant connections with the community, they must not only talk to the audience, but they must also talk through them.

Hence, brands evolving their creative to be a lot more authentic, interactive, and in tune with how creators and consumers see the brand during Ramadan, not how brands would like to be seen, will create relevance during the Holy Month and beyond.

What is TikTok planning to do differently for the creator community this Ramadan?

This Ramadan, and during key cultural moments, our aim is to facilitate the journey for consumers, brands, and creators. Accordingly, we’ve launched a one-stop hub for everything related to Ramadan. The microsite includes case studies and success stories that aim to support brands that leave an impact while honoring the essence of the month.

During Ramadan, the nocturnal community is empathetic and optimistic and comes together to share their experiences with others online in the form of short videos. This year, through our #RamadanonTikTok hub, creators can discover new trends, entertainment, and key content pillars such as food, offering users a one-stop-shop for Ramadan content and driving a wider understanding around its significance.

On the CSR front, TikTok will be partnering with food banks and charity organizations to run a matching donation program, while showcasing the efforts of such entities through video content on the hub page. In KSA this will be in tandem with Saudi Food Bank and the Emirates Red Crescent in the UAE.

What sort of a branding approach is TikTok looking at this Ramadan?

This year our overarching message for brands during Ramadan is encompassed in Ramadan Uninterrupted. Essentially, we want brands to understand the importance of being part of the community during this period, rather than disrupting it.

By sharing content that is familiar, relatable, and noticeable and leaning into the community, brands have a chance to take part in relatable rituals or inspire new ones, building real, relevant connections with their audiences, and driving real-world business impact.