iPhone

Photo: Pixabay

TikTok launches SA’s first in-app talent competition

TikTok recently launched its ‘SpiritsUP Battle’ which calls upon local creators to battle it out for the top spot across various categories.

iPhone

Photo: Pixabay

The leading short-form mobile video platform, TikTok, is excited to announce the launch of its first-ever in-app talent competition in South Africa, which calls upon local creators to battle it out for the top spot across various categories including dance, fashion, comedy and sport.

Yes, between 16 July and 14 August, the top 10 creators within each category – based on video views and an increase in followers – will make it onto the leaderboard, and from there the TikTok community will decide who takes the crown for the week based on how much they engage with the creators and their content.

Also read: New South African music style shoots to fame on TikTok

SpiritsUP Battle

Aptly named SpiritsUP Battle, the competition builds on the SpiritsUP campaign, which was launched last month and saw award-winning musician Sho Madjozi release a hot single to encourage locals to remain positive in these unconventional times. Now, as the nation moves into 100+ days of lockdown, TikTok wants to continue keeping spirits alive by inspiring its community of creators to express their most creative selves through dance, fashion, comedy and sport. 

Boniswa Sidwaba, TikTok Content Operations Manager, Africa, says TikTok’s mission has always been to inspire creativity and bring joy to its users, which is why a talent battle is a perfect fit.

“Through this battle, we want to encourage creativity through the easy-to-use video capturing and editing tools, allowing creators to develop innovative content. We want to support the immense local talent and provide a platform for the community to present their creativity to a wide audience.”

This battle is open to everyone within the TikTok community and Sidwaba highlights that people don’t need to be professionals in any of the categories to enter.

“All you have to do is create your specialised video and post with the hashtag relative to the category that you want to enter into – either #DanceUP, #HumourUP, #SwagUP or #SportsUP. Winners within each category will be selected based on two criteria – either as part of Most Popular Creators (based on overall score) or New Rising Creators (based on the overall score but by creators with less than 100K followers).”

At the end of the competition, two creators within each category will be awarded an online voucher to the value of R5000. In addition to the awesome vouchers up for grabs, winners will also be promoted in-app via dedicated campaign banners, helping to grow their profiles even more.

Showing off their talent

Sidwaba adds that some local celebs have also jumped on board to lead the campaign, calling on their followers across various social media platforms to keep their Spirits UP and show off their talent! This includes dancer – Kamogelo Mphela (comedian), Lasizwe (fashionista), Kefilwe Mabote and sports star, Wayne Parnell.

In order to join in on the fun, all you have to do is choose a category and create the most innovative content you can to be the winner of this battle.

Categories:

1.       #DanceUP: Have you got the moves? Show off your dance skills.

2.       #HumourUP: Spread joy by sharing your comedy or meme talents.  

3.       #SwagUP: Show off your beauty and fashion talents by sharing skills, hacks and/or tips.

4.       #SportsUP: Show your talent around fitness/soccer/cricket, etc.