SCREENSHOT’s TikTok account was created to make the latest trends, viral moments and complex topics in the news engaging and digestible for younger audiences – with a focus on 18-24-year-olds.
In today's fast-paced digital landscape, young audiences are inundated with a relentless stream of global information, leaving them feeling lost and uncertain. As a digital media company, SCREENSHOT steps in as a beacon of clarity on TikTok, providing breaking news, cultural insights, and engaging street interviews. Our concise videos aim to captivate, educate, and empower 18-24-year-olds to stay informed.
Our content strategy revolves around an in-depth understanding of TikTok's dynamic platform, leveraging various formats and features to target diverse topics. From news and entertainment to cultural trends and important conversations, our content and the individuals presenting it never speak down to young audiences. Instead, it unpacks what’s happening in the world from an angle that is fresh and relatable to its followers, in turn building a community that values knowledge, empowerment, and relatability.
News and digital content is moving faster than ever, as are the audiences that consume it. More traditional forms of media often struggle to engage younger audiences because they do not properly understand their needs and interests – and therefore fail to produce content that resonates with them.
At SCREENSHOT, our TikTok strategy is pretty straightforward – to produce engaging content that informs and empowers an audience of young individuals, with a focus on 18-24-year-olds. This means striking a balance between current affairs and politics, and trending topics and internet culture. It is also important for the strategy to hone in on engagement, producing content that keeps up with the fast-paced news environment.
Another key part of our TikTok strategy is a forensic understanding of our audience and the platforms they spend their time on. Content must be relevant to the interests of younger audiences, but it also needs to be socially native – which means being relevant to younger audiences on TikTok specifically. Often, traditional media platforms alienate Gen Z by taking an all-in-one approach, giving thought to neither platform optimisation nor audience engagement. SCREENSHOT’s recent survey of 6,000 18-24-year-olds revealed that 24% prefer funny TikTok content, and 18% prefer creative. We’ve used this data to our advantage in the execution of our TikTok content strategy.
This informed the creation of four key series. Each one is topical to the news and interests of our consumers while taking advantage of TikTok-native features, such as the music and editing choices that mean the content is optimised to reach the right audiences.
These series are Explained By A Blonde, a witty presenter-led breakdown of confusing topics into bite-sized videos that are informative and shareable; Reel Talk, a vodcast where two SCREENSHOT gen Zers react to and dissect viral videos that are trending online; On The Spot, a vox pop series that passes the mic to Gen Zers to get their thoughts and opinions on news and pop culture moments; and Our Takes, a half and half format where SCREENSHOT presenter Med breaks down a trending news topic to bring our audience fresh takes that cut through the noise.
On top of these recurring series that make up our brand identity and TOV on TikTok, we also understand the value there is in covering timely breaking news. We do so through ‘breaking news’ explainer videos and single-clip videos. Our regular surveys of relevant target audiences mean that we are producing content directly aligned with their thoughts and preferences, whilst being socially native to TikTok. The ever-changing news environment and social media landscape call for agility, and our data is our strength here.
Since launching our TikTok page in mid-2021, we have seen consistent growth in follower count, reach and engagement. Now, we have over 312,000 total followers (and counting) who are actively engaged with our content at a rate of 5.39%, which is above the average 4.15% engagement rate.
SCREENSHOT has amassed 21.2 million likes - a clear sign that the content we produce isn’t just passively absorbed and scrolled through, but actively consumed and enjoyed.
We set out with TikTok to actively engage younger audiences with content that informs and entertains. The fact that 64.3% of our audience is 18-24 years old, and 20.4% is 25-35 years old is a testament to this - our content makes the news accessible and engaging to Gen Z and lower millennial audiences, a portion of the population that is so often misunderstood by more traditional media platforms.
