TikTok Content Categories

Since TikTok launched in 2016, over the past years it has gained tremendous popularity and a user base exceeding one billion monthly active users. Perhaps the greatest credit goes to the platform’s precise, high-quality algorithm, but a large share of the credit belongs to the diversity of communities that gather audiences with shared interests.

On TikTok there’s a place for everyone. There are dozens of communities of users based on the diversity of their backgrounds, cultures, jobs, and interests, and this diversity lets companies work with content creators to market their business and achieve precise targeting of the intended audience based on the type of content they receive and its relation to the company’s field.

In this article, we’ll talk about content categories on TikTok and how to leverage the communities on TikTok in digital marketing.

1: AdviceTok

AdviceTok is the content category users turn to when they want to get moral support and some guidance in dealing with everyday life problems. The content can be about how to cope with work pressures, study tips, or habits to follow to care for physical and mental health, and many other types of content.

Marketing on AdviceTok

This category can be leveraged to market companies that offer products or services that help solve the problems people face in their daily lives. For example: a company offering skincare products can work with an influencer who shares tips on protecting the skin from dryness and treating acne, or a company selling home-maintenance tools can work with someone who makes educational content on easy fixes people can do themselves, showcasing their products in the content.

2: ArtTok

ArtTok is the category that gathers artists and creatives, whether painters, graphic designers, video editors, or visual artists. The content they prepare includes showcasing their work, videos that show the sequence of stages leading to that, education for viewers, offering tips for beginners, and more.

Marketing on ArtTok

Companies can leverage ArtTok to market all artist supplies — including drawing tools, editing and digital design software, and any other products users can benefit from in their crafts and creations.

3: BeautyTok

BeautyTok is a category that deals with everything related to appearance and skincare, and educational videos about using cosmetics and styling hair. This category provides a safe environment that encourages people to share their challenges and glimpses of their lives, and urges them to love themselves and offer support to one another.

Marketing on BeautyTok

BeautyTok is one of the content categories that has seen the greatest growth — especially during the COVID pandemic, when people turned to self-care to cope with the emptiness and social distancing. Cosmetics and skincare companies have of course benefited from this  by  working with influencers who showcase their products in entertaining, spontaneous educational videos explaining how to use them.

4: BookTok

BookTok is the destination for reading lovers, where readers gather to discuss and rate the latest books they’ve read and take tips and recommendations about books and novels worth reading. BookTok is a community centered on people’s love of literature, romance, fantasy, and fiction.

Marketing on BookTok

Clearly, BookTok is the destination for writers and authors who want to raise awareness of their books and generate sales. An example is Book Of The Month, which lets users subscribe to receive an illustrated book monthly delivered to their address; this company works with influencers and content creators from this category to market their service and gain more subscribers.

5: CookTok

CookTok is the category for gourmets and cooking lovers, beginners and veterans alike, where people share cooking recipes and videos capturing the stages of preparing delicious dishes and sweet treats, plus reaction videos to other people’s cooking content and more.

Marketing on CookTok

Naturally, CookTok is the best fit for companies wanting to market their cooking-related products — sauces, spices, cooking equipment, recipe books, and any other materials or tools that help consumers in the kitchen prepare various dishes. Companies work with cooking celebrities on TikTok to feature their products in their content and showcase some of the recipes in the cookbooks they sell.

6: DanceTok

Dance is the nerve of TikTok and the most popular and engaged-with category by users — starting from simple, easy-to-learn dances to the harder, more complex ones. There’s a place for amateur and professional dancers on this platform.

What sets TikTok apart from other social media platforms in this respect is the creativity of its users. Many dances are invented by them in tune with famous global songs and music, until these dances catch on and become a trend — imitated by millions of other users on the platform.

Marketing on DanceTok

The possibilities for companies collaborating with creative dancers to market their products on TikTok are almost limitless — whether a company selling sports equipment, a music studio, or a coffee-shop chain with a signature drink. The secret lies in collaborating with a talented content creator to prepare a distinctive dance so it goes viral and popular, becomes a trend that users on the platform imitate, and reaps millions of views.

7: DIYTok

Do It Yourself is an educational, informative category. Its focus is users making videos that teach others things they can do themselves — whether crafting household items, routine car maintenance, quick and easy recipes, home decor and styling work, and many other topics. What’s beautiful about this category is the value people offer each other and the help they give in solving daily problems.

Marketing on DIYTok

DIYTok is the category targeted by companies selling craft supplies, manufacturing equipment, and maintenance tools to market their products. By working with a skilled craft content creator who can showcase their products in their crafts through entertaining educational videos, they reap significant engagement on TikTok.

8: FashionTok

TikTok is a place where fashion thrives and creativity in styling comes through. Users gather in this category to show off their personal approaches to picking outfit pieces that work together, or to get the latest updates from experts in the world of fashion, plus preparing try-on videos of the latest clothing they’ve bought and sharing them with their followers.

Marketing on FashionTok

It’s completely clear that FashionTok is a marketing field for clothing, footwear, and accessories companies. Similar to marketing on DanceTok, companies work with well-loved influencers who have a large fan base to showcase their apparel and the latest fashion trends in entertaining or dancing videos, and try to turn them into a trend so they reach as many users as possible.

9: FitTok

FitTok is a place for lovers of sports and bodybuilding, beginners, professionals, and personal trainers alike. People gather in this category to share videos from their workouts at the gym or at home and get training programs and diet plans. FitTok is a source of inspiration, from which users draw positivity, motivation, self-love, and everything related to caring about physical health.

Marketing on FitTok

FitTok is the category targeted by fitness clubs, personal trainers, and companies that sell nutritional supplements, sportswear, and equipment. These types of companies work with sports content creators and gym enthusiasts to showcase their products and talk about the features and health benefits followers can gain.

10: KidTok

KidTok is a category with family-oriented content, encompassing everything from funny, entertaining videos for children through to videos of parents sharing child-rearing tips or funny moments while dealing with their kids.

Marketing on KidTok

KidTok is the ideal place to market everything related to children, such as: children’s dolls, educational toys, and all the supplies parents need to raise and entertain their young kids.

11: MovieTok

MovieTok is the stronghold of movie buffs, where users discuss the latest films they’ve watched and share ratings and reviews of them, and take tips from film experts about the best films worth watching. Comedy, thriller, romance, horror, and sci-fi — there’s a place for the connoisseurs of every one of these movie types on MovieTok.

Marketing on MovieTok

MovieTok is the ideal category for promoting films before their release, whether meant for the big screen or streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock, and many others. These platforms work with TikTok’s veteran film reviewers to promote their latest films and share clips from them to encourage followers to watch them in the venues showing them.

12: MusicTok

For discovering new songs or talking about beloved singers, MusicTok is the category music lovers turn to in order to share their favorite playlists, follow the latest releases from artists, and discover underground artists whose work is worth listening to.

Marketing on MusicTok

Singing stars, production companies, and song-streaming platforms such as Anghami, Spotify, and Apple Music are the biggest beneficiaries of MusicTok, by working with content creators from this category to promote the latest songs and albums and share this news with their follower base.

13: NurseTok

NurseTok is a category for spreading health knowledge and awareness, where nurses share plenty of useful information about caring for health and preventing diseases, and the challenges they face working in the healthcare sector. This content category gained significant popularity and interest, especially during the COVID pandemic — which became a global concern and important to everyone.

Marketing on NurseTok

Clearly, the beneficiaries of NurseTok are companies selling equipment that helps nurses do their work, in addition to companies of nutritional supplements, immunity boosters, sanitizers, and others. These companies work with nurse content creators to showcase their products and grow followers’ awareness of their brand.

14: ParentTok

ParentTok is somewhat similar to KidTok, where parents share tips and tricks on raising their children and dealing with them at every age stage, and share stories and funny videos of their kids.

Marketing on ParentTok

Companies that sell products helping parents raise their kids — including educational apps and children’s toys — benefit from this category, working with content creators to spread awareness of their brand among parents and generate sales.

15: PetTok

Who among us doesn’t love videos of cute cats and dogs? This category is one of the most popular and watched on TikTok, and it brings together pet owners and others alike. Users publish funny, cute videos of their pets, plus tips on training and raising pets and caring for their health and cleanliness.

Marketing on PetTok

This category is the best from a marketing standpoint for companies selling everything related to pets — pet food, toys, dolls, tools for cleaning and grooming fur, and others — plus veterinary clinics and all medical supplies and vaccines to preserve these animals’ health.

16: PlantTok

PlantTok is the category for gardening lovers, where experts and hobbyists gather to showcase their experiences in gardening and landscaping, using ornamental plants in home decor, and sharing tips and methods for pruning and caring for plants.

Marketing on PlantTok

What’s beautiful about PlantTok is the audience engagement — all users in this community are genuinely interested in plants, which makes it an excellent marketing channel for companies selling everything related to plants, such as ready ornamental-plant pots, seeds, seedlings, and fertilizers, plus gardening and pruning tools and the other supplies gardeners need to care for their plants.

17: PrankTok

Pranks are among the oldest forms of entertainment content on social media platforms, and this category has certainly found a place on TikTok, where content creators prepare pranks on their friends and film their reactions to bring smiles to followers’ faces — one of the most engaged-with content forms on the internet.

Marketing on PrankTok

There’s no clearly obvious field for companies to work with content creators from PrankTok, but given the large follower base these creators have — especially among teens and young people — this can be leveraged to spread brand awareness for companies offering energy drinks, for example, by featuring these products and incorporating them into the pranks they set up.

18: SelfCareTok

Amid the noise of life and work pressures, it’s essential to carve out some time for self-care to renew energy and guard against physical and mental burnout. This content category is dedicated to that, where users share skincare and haircare routines and tips on the importance of meditation and pursuing hobbies, plus many other matters related to physical and mental health.

Marketing on SelfCareTok

This content category is targeted by companies offering any product related to self-care — moisturizers, skincare creams, cosmetics, cleansing oils, and oral-care products such as teeth whiteners and mouthwash, and others.

19: SportsTok

Amateur and professional athletes and fans of sports teams from various sports — everyone has a place on SportsTok, where they share news of beloved sports stars, clips from matches, and their analyses, and look for tips and guidance for beginners in some sports.

Marketing on SportsTok

Marketing this category resembles somewhat marketing on FitTok, where companies of gym equipment, nutritional supplements, and sportswear work with sports content creators to market their products and spread awareness of their brand.

20: TVTok

This category is somewhat similar to MovieTok, where lovers of series, TV shows, and live shows gather to talk about their favorite series, analyze and discuss them, and look for suggestions for series worth following.

Marketing on TVTok

Many types of companies from different fields can benefit from this category by working with content creators, such as: companies selling screens to talk about their products and the features they offer, companies selling snacks favored while watching TV series, and most importantly streaming platforms like Netflix and others that collaborate with influencers to promote the latest series they’re offering.