While TikTok is primarily the domain of younger audiences, older users are also becoming increasingly active on the platform, according to recently published insight from TikTok.

In a pitch to marketers on the potential of the platform for reaching parents, TikTok has shared some new data on how older people are using the platform to stay connected, and how brands can tap into these trends to maximize their campaign performance.

As explained by TikTok:

“Every day, millions of parents, teens, grandparents and in betweens come to TikTok to share snippets of their day-to-day life. Here’s what’s unique: often, the whole family participates together – even teens don’t shy away. It used to be a challenge getting everyone to sit still for a photo; now we see perfectly choreographed dance routines from the whole family, including grandma.”

I mean, I would assume that if you were marketing to grandmas, TikTok wouldn’t be the ideal vehicle for your approach – but still, TikTok’s data shows that older audiences are indeed active around certain topics and trends.

Exemplifying this, TikTok highlights these popular hashtags:

• #family – 67B views
• #familytime – 8B views
• #parenting – 4B views
• #momsoftiktok – 44B views
• #dad – 25B views
• #momlife – 20B views

The latter tags, TikTok says, see many parents sharing “tips, tricks, and in-depth knowledge” on the platform, which has become a key niche both for entertainment and product recommendations.

So what products are parents looking for on the platform?

“Compared to TikTok users who are in the same age group but don’t have children, TikTok parents are more likely to post about home appliances, snack products, business, cars and grocery products.”

The numbers still show that TikTok is overwhelmingly used by younger audiences, so the reach to these groups may not be as significant as other platforms. But there is also an audience crossover which could be a valuable consideration for marketers, with short product recommendation clips like this doing very well in the app.

That, of course, will also become more relevant as TikTok’s user base gets older, and increasingly moves into these different consumer categories. Which could make the platform a much bigger focus for marketers moving forward – but even now, given the engagement stats, it may well be worth checking out the above-listed hashtags, and scanning through the app, to see whether people are engaging with content related to your product niche.

There could be new opportunities – and with TikTok poised to hit a billion users in 2021, rivaling Instagram, it’s looking like becoming a more important platform moving forward.