How Many Farmers Use TikTok?
If you’re looking for a quick answer, somewhere between 15,000 and 25,000 U.S. farmers are actively using TikTok. But the journey to reach this conclusion is a story unto itself, with surprising implications for ag marketers.
We’ve recommended that clients keep an eye on TikTok as it’s grown, but until recently, we haven’t recommended it as a tactic to reach production agriculture. There were simply too many negatives, not the least of which is that the channel seems to be produced by and for teenagers with short attention spans.
But TikTok is on the rise. It’s projected to earn $11 billion in ad revenue this year – more than Snapchat and Twitter combined – and reaches more than 1 billion active users worldwide. Surely that would include some farmers, right? You can find many sources for basic demographics on the channel; 57% of users are female, 32% are between 25 and 34 years old, etc. However, drilling down to identify farmer use required reaching out to the ag community.
Based on their data, Coegi, estimates 22,000 farmers are on TikTok. Assuming that there are roughly 200,000 full-time farmers in the U.S., ten percent is probably a fair depiction. Randall Reilly ran a data set and came up with 12,000 to 15,000. Meanwhile, Amplified Ag ran something that undergirds why this question matters. Within the farming population, when you look at farmers under 40, TikTok and Snapchat are the top indexing channels. Facebook and Twitter aren’t in the top four. If you want to reach young farmers, they might have Facebook and Twitter, but they don’t use them.
So, is it time for ag to embrace TikTok?
Yes, but with reservations. TikTok is still a young person’s channel, and you don’t know what kind of content will pop up just before and after your video in the feed. Few ag companies can walk the brand safety line required to participate on the channel. And even fewer ag companies have the time, money and energy to speak to the channel’s users authentically, which is critical.
But if you’ve been waiting for TikTok to reach critical mass, it’s there. It’s simply too big to ignore. It used to be a social phenomenon; now, it’s a marketing phenomenon. This is a key time for you to bring a unique approach to a unique audience with short, well-produced, personable, and entertaining content.
If you have questions or aren’t sure where to start, we’d love to have a conversation.