Top 10 TikTok Trends in Malaysia This 2021

Hi SushiVidFam, 

It’s still very early in 2021, but we have seen several of our predictions from meticulous research for our previous blog post: The Influencer Marketing Demands & Trends For 2021 In Malaysia are in motion. Head over to our blog to read more on the content viewers are itching to see this year. We talked about bulk posting, live streams, and so much more. 

In this blog, we want to update everyone with the demands and trends for TikTok in Malaysia for 2021. TikTok has been around for years. According to Globaltimes, TikTok downloaded by nearly 200 million users in Southeast Asia, a region with populations close to 630 million. TikTok launched in 2016, but it’s not far behind Instagram with 500 million monthly active users. Instagram ranked 6th place with over 1 billion monthly active users. TiTok is not far behind Instagram, and its only been active for four years. Henceforth, we highly advise brands to start incorporating with TikTok in their influencer marketing campaigns. 

TikTok proved its potential of influencing the public in Malaysia around the first Movement Control Order in 2020. In a split second, it seemed like everyone at home started creating content on TikTok. Amongst the trends that were spread far and wide was the #NoRush phenomenon. Everyone we knew was creating the before and after makeup TikTok with the No Rush song with their friends. Before long it was made into various editions like the Pilot edition and the Siblings edition.

We have listed a few other upcoming trends and demands in Malaysia that we foresee for 2021. 

1. Lipsync TikTok

Lipsync is more than just lipsyncing to a song. The beauty of TikTok is you’re able to lipsync to any song, movie, news, drama, or even to any videos from social media platforms. 

TikTok removed the limitation that was in Musical.ly. People are now able to lipsync for other purposes of entertainment. Influencers are now lipsyncing to funny audios and even creating creative content from the audios. One of the influencers for our Watson’s campaign Imalraz with 2,000 followers on TikTok, was able to achieve 70k views on TikTok for his Watson TikTok campaign. 

Full video - https://www.tiktok.com/@imalrazz/video/6844875909300751618?lang=en

In the above TikTok, Imalraz used Taylor Swift’s song “Trouble” remix to promote Watson’s Buy 1 Free 1 campaign. TheTikTok got over 3,000 authentic likes without having to use the FYP hashtag to trend. Don’t be scared to get creative with your TikTok content. Search for any hashtags that are funny and re-use them for your content. The beauty of TikTok is you’re able to give credit to the creator of the audio and its totally legitimate without any copyright issues. 

2. Dance moves TikTok

One of the reasons why TikTok became so popular was for the easy and funky dance moves that have become viral. TikTok provides video editing features to make music easier by providing an option to slow down the track while it’s playing. This way even the average Joe can pull off any dance moves. Another upside is it has created a new opportunity for professional dancers to become influencers. Hence, the reason most influencers in Malaysia with high follower ranges are dancers or have a basic dance background. 

In case you haven’t heard, Jason Derulo is the king of dance moves on TikTok. His PR team has used his outstanding dancing skills and utilized TikTok for the promotion of his single Savage Love. Savage Love has over 81 million views on Youtube. 

Full video here - https://youtu.be/lThkYjK1hJw

The song became so big that before long other influencers and celebrities were hopping on the train as well which helped boost the popularity of the song. 

Some local artist like Sonaone has also created a similar marketing campaign for his debut song Bomba. During the last MCO, Sonaone launched his SIngle Bomba and with the power of a few influencers and celebrities dancing to it, the song became a hit. It has over 700k views on Youtube. The song was later remixed shortly after by every rapper from Def Jem Records founded by Joe Flizzow. That video was short of 400k views. 

Full video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceRs0iuR4cI

3. Memes TikTok

In case some of you are unfamiliar with the term, according to Wikipedia a meme is an idea, behaviour, or style that becomes a fad and spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.

An example of a TiKTok meme can be found below : 

Full video -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iShlEkpEB18

The videos that categorized under a TikTok meme need to be funny and/or relatable to the public. This type of TikTok will make your brand more approachable and relatable to the public. 

However, don’t make it too obvious that you’re selling a product. Maybe give influencers the ideology behind the meme but give a few scenarios of situations that your product or brand comes in handy for all. An example can be as simple as getting your menstrual cycle in class and you’re nervous about it but remembered you have sanitary pads in your bag which just so happens to be from the brand Sofy. 

This is a clever way of disguising your ad in plain sight. 

4. Informative TikTok

TikTok has also been known to be a channel to find information on news, history, and others. Even Unicef is active on TikTok with over 300k followers. A number of doctors and experts have a large number of followers on TikTok. Society trusts them for factual information and updates and appreciates the knowledge shared by these experts. 

Dr Harang has over 1.9 million followers on TikTok because he would share health tips. 

Full video - https://www.tiktok.com/@drharang?lang=en

Information is not just limited to serious factual events. As TikTok is a reliable platform for the spread of information, brands should also ask influencers to create informative content on their brands or products depending on their creativity. 

The skincare brand The Ordinary was able to trend last year because it was promoted by a few influencers who promoted the benefits of using the products. People were frantically heading over to the website wanting to achieve the same effect as their favourite influencers. 

Informative TiKTok content also includes : 

• - 1-minute hack TikTok videos

• - Educational TikTok videos

• 
  

• 5. TikTok Challenges

The FYP page is almost always flowing with TikTok challenges like #BestfriendChallenge or the #SavageDance Challenge and even a #LevelUpChallenge . 

In the midst of the No Rush Challenge last year, the SV Group pitched the challenge to a skincare brand for their campaign. We asked KOLs to create their own version of the No Rush Challenge using the brand’s skincare products. The videos received a large number of views! 

We highly advise brands to hop onto a trending TikTok challenge and utilize it for your own game. Products to be promoted with TikTok challenges are limitless. The key here is to make the content appealing to the viewers. Below is an example of a No Rush Challenge done by a Singaporean company to promote their modest wear. 

Full video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSkL06e1WX8

We often see a lot of #BestfriendChallenge on TikTok. Despite being under the MCO, people are calling their friends frequently now more than ever. We encourage brands to plan a campaign around this challenge. A simple way of doing so is by sponsoring two or more KOLs and asking them to do #BestfriendChallenge via video calls. If you’re a clothing brand, send your clothes to both KOLs to be worn during the video. 

Look for challenges on TikTok that do not go out of style. Better yet search for a hashtag that has a large number of mentions. 

6. ASMR TikTok

ASMR has been around since Youtube and moved its way to Instagram and has now found its way to TikTok. People can’t get enough of ASMR videos. It gives viewers a sense of satisfaction and stress relief while watching it. Below are some popular ASMR videos on TikTok. 

Full video - https://www.tiktok.com/@asmr/video/6917323730091920641?lang=en 

A TikTok promoting Kat Von D, an American cosmetics company. 

Full video - https://www.tiktok.com/@asmr/video/6912830664786054402?lang=en

A TikTok promoting Yeezy Shoes, an American clothing company. 

Full video - https://www.tiktok.com/@asmr/video/6903127980923489537?lang=en

An ASMR TikTok made by Blac Chyna to promote her products and brands.

The visual of the ASMR TikTok plays a vital role to achieve its purpose. The audience will want to see what the influencer/KOL are using to make the sounds. This is a big opportunity for brands to showcase their products and captivate the audiences’ with visual and hearing receptive satisfaction. 

7. Styling TikTok

The fashion industry in Malaysia has been very fast-paced about utilizing TikTok as a platform to promote their products. From big brands like Pomelo and Levi’s Malaysia all the way to local brands like Qaysa Official. Below are some of the TikTok content made by Sleepylllama and AzurvvnSophia 

Full video - https://www.instagram.com/p/CGWcigOAi1K/

Azureen promoting @qaysaofficial

Full video - https://www.instagram.com/p/CIhq6ChArVS/

Azureen promoting Cashback

Full video - https://www.instagram.com/p/CKBfQG0JZib/

Nia promoting Zalora Malaysia

Society is now turning to TikTok for fashion advice. The key is to make your products noticeable and in order to do so, you’ll need quality influencers. The SV Group has a large pool of 17,000 influencer to choose from. 

8. Cooking TikTok

The Movement Control Order has positively influenced society to start cooking at home. Recipes are made simpler to comprehend on TiKTok. A local TiKTok called Masakan Simple has over 1.4 million followers. 

TikTok Profile - https://www.tiktok.com/@masakansimple?lang=en

A golden opportunity for brands within the food and beverages industry to pursue. More and more influencers are born each day with this trend. Reach out and sponsor these KOLs for food reviews or cooking tutorials with your ingredients. 

Food visuals are definitely becoming an aphrodisiac to viewers during the lockdown. Investing in an influencer that can convey your products into a high-quality gourmet meal will turn heads on TikTok. Go wild and send them shirts, hats, sunglasses or anything they can wear or display that reflects your product during the live with their dishes. 

9. Heart-warming TikTok

A heart-warming way to woo viewers is to ask influencers to create TikToks that connects to the public’s empathetic nature. In these types of TikTok, you can include your company or brand’s core values. 

At the top of our heads, we would propose a health product to use influencers to promote their product by incorporating it in their fitness routine during the lockdown situation. The influencer can also encourage their viewers to stay healthy and safe in the comfort of their homes or pay homage to our front liners fighting the pandemic.

Below are some examples of heartwarming TikToks compilations : 

Full video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udJa7dhxXm0

10. TikTok Ads

A number of big companies such as Lazada and Watsons are known to boost TikTok ads. An effective strategy to promote your brand to the mass market. This trend is immortal for as long as we use TikTok’s platform. 

TikTok for Business offers brands the ability to control cost, real-time monitoring, smart audience targeting and top-rated customer support according to their website. 

Here’s a step-by-step tutorial by Mike Sherrard for your reference : 

Full video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJrHLSkKHJ0

Conversion rates with TikTok ads are massive because of its 500 million monthly active users. Nevertheless, if you’re looking to score local birds with a reasonable budget and have it all done for you. Talk to us about managing your whole campaign. 

All in all, we know for a fact that TikTok is here to stay and this is just the beginning. If you’re still trying to figure out how to incorporate TikTok for your brand, talk to our experts at [email protected]. 

The SV Group has run TikTok campaigns and will be continuing to grow and embrace the platform. We hope you will too!