For Quebec and Canadian businesses, TikTok is no longer an emerging channel: it’s a strategic lever for visibility, brand awareness, and customer acquisition.
The app, which boasted over 1.59 billion users worldwide in 2025, has evolved from a space reserved for Generation Z to a platform enabling businesses to solidify their brand image, demonstrate their relevance within their industry, interact in real time with their consumers, and reach new audiences.
It goes without saying that TikTok is an essential tool in developing a comprehensive marketing strategy… provided you understand how it works and stay informed about its latest updates.
Here’s your guide to a winning TikTok strategy in 2026!
Changes on TikTok in 2026
Once favoured by Gen Z, with 16-24 year-olds representing approximately 60% of the user base, TikTok is increasingly diversifying its demographics.
Millennials (30-45 years old) represent about 24% of the Canadian audience
For brands, this means that TikTok is no longer reserved for youth-focused brand awareness strategies: it is becoming a relevant channel for professional services, real estate, healthcare, education, and B2B, and for customers of all ages.
It is also worth noting that in 2026, the initial distribution of content appears to be more focused on testing engagement with a small audience first before expanding its reach across the FYP. The quality of the retention rate and interactions in the first few minutes plays a crucial role.
TikTok Trend Report 2026: Authenticity, Curiosity, and Emotion
In the 2026 trend report, Sofia Hernandez, TikTok’s Global Head of Commercial Marketing, states that users are now driven by curiosity. They no longer consume content passively and expect a return on investment: learning, discovery, and skill development.
The mission for brands will therefore be to clearly demonstrate the added value of their actions online and combine human understanding, powerful AI tools, and rich data to create relevant and truly engaging content, rather than simply viral videos lacking real thought or meaning.
In its report, TikTok identifies three major trends coming to the platform this year.
Reali-TEA: Fantasy is fading. In 2026, audiences will realign through the chaos to forge new realities together.
In 2026, escapism and idealization are no longer enough – audiences are looking for content grounded in reality that celebrates joys and finds humour, authenticity, and a sense of belonging, even in difficult times.
Oreo builds a strong connection with its audience by adapting to their language. For its collaboration with Reese’s, the company leveraged the concept of “merging with your best friend,” creating a carousel where the two brands literally blended into one. This post became Oreo’s second-highest performing ad of 2025.
What this means for your business:
Users are looking for human experiences more than ever; content must be grounded in their reality and relevant to the times. Experiment with different tones and formats, and foster authentic interactions, empathy, and a deep understanding of your audience’s culture.
Curious Detours: In 2026, curiosity becomes the new currency as audiences dive deeper into new journeys of discovery.
On TikTok, the journey is as important as the destination: users search for a specific type of content, and along the way, they discover a wealth of stories, tips, and tricks that enrich and make the experience more memorable. In short, there’s no single search query to reach your brand.
Duracell didn’t just find fans, it found devoted ones. By analyzing user searches on TikTok, the brand discovered an unexpected connection between its batteries and the K-pop community, which relies on Duracell to power the glow sticks of its favourite idols. What began as a niche discovery has transformed into a powerful growth driver and a top priority for 2026.
What this means for your business:
Brands now need to not only be present where their consumers are looking for them, but also surprise them where they least expect it. Identify adjacent spaces and cultural moments that naturally align with your brand to engage with, fostering niche communities, which represent an exceptional accelerator for brand awareness and audience growth.
Emotional ROI: Impulse will lose to intention in 2026 as shoppers reward the brands that justify the why to buy, first.
Consumers are returning to basics when it comes to their spending… but they are also redefining what basics mean, and emotions are tipping the scales. They now place as much importance on emotional ROI as on financial cost.
81% of users say TikTok gives them reliable insights into the products they’re interested in; consumers are turning to trusted brands and influencers for context, not just a sales pitch.
Audible cracked the code to emotional ROI by asking its community for five-star book recommendations, generating 376% more reach than its channel average thanks to the hashtag #BookTok, which flooded the comments with passionate choices. The company then went from a storytelling authority to a brand at the heart of the story.
What this means for your business:
In 2026, selling without context no longer works. Brands must demonstrate the tangible impact of their products or services in real life (comparisons, demos, testimonials), with emotional connection becoming more important than price.
What the TikTok algorithm prioritizes in 2026
Content quality
- High-quality, clear, and professional visuals
- A hook that quickly grabs attention
- Drastic transition effects, such as changes in tone, zooms in and out, and sound effects, to maintain attention
- Calls to action that encourage users to save, share, and comment, both in the video and the caption
Engagement
- Community interaction (especially rewatches, reposts, and saves, but also the quantity and quality of comments)
- Active participation in TikTok trends
Technical signal
- Posts viewed in their entirety
- 1-to-3-minute videos with entertaining, narrative, or educational content
- Engagement within the first 60 minutes after a video is published
- A consistent posting frequency
- A strategic use of trending sounds
- High-quality native format
- Complete, SEO-optimized information for each post (caption, hashtags, description)
A personalized and tailored algorithm
The TikTok algorithm is constantly learning: it remembers the type of content you interact with and adapts your First-Person View (FYP) accordingly. It also considers your usage frequency and the times of day you post to decide whether or not to promote your content. That’s why it’s important to monitor your analytics and post when users are most active.
Buffer states that the three best times to post on TikTok in 2026 are:
- Sunday at 9 a.m.
- Monday at 1 p.m.
- Sunday at 1 p.m.
The platform also reports that Saturday is the best-performing day for engagement, and that views generally peak between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. across all days.
Of course, this data can vary from account to account depending on the industry, region, and community behavior; that’s why, at Storyline, we systematically analyze each account’s specific statistics before developing a posting strategy.
Do hashtags still make a difference on TikTok?
According to Sprout Social’s Q2 2025 Pulse survey, 41% of Gen Z consumers now use social media as their primary search engine, preferring it to traditional tools like Google. This shift has ushered in the era of TikTok SEO. Hashtags are no longer just for reaching a broad audience; they are now essential for indexing.
This evolution is transforming TikTok into a visual search engine. Businesses must now think of their captions like Google queries: clear, specific, and geared toward search intent.
Hashtags, on the other hand, must be specific and precise; for example, #BestAffordableComputer is preferable to just #Computer. Creating a hashtag specific to a brand or event can also become a strategic tool.
Hashtags can therefore be used to:
- Increase visibility and optimize SEO
- Boost engagement (better visibility = better engagement)
- Build a community
- Identify your competitors
- Identify trending topics in your field
In addition to using relevant hashtags for your field, your community, and your current and potential customers, you can also check the most popular hashtags everyday on the TikTok Creative Center and take them into account in your content creation strategy.
We recommend using 2 or 3 hashtags that are specific to your niche and 1 or 2 others that follow current trends. The most important thing is to choose them with an SEO perspective: what are your current and potential customers searching for on TikTok?
Winning Content Pillars for Optimal Growth
- Entertainment (40% of content) Content that surprises, amuses, and entertains without explicitly selling, to build a connection with your audience and increase sharing opportunities.
- Education (30% of content) Insights, tutorials, and tips that position you as an authority figure while offering tangible value.
- Engagement (20% of content) Interactive content that explicitly invites audience participation: questions, polls, challenges, and duets.
- Conversion (10% of content) Promotional content, product demonstrations, and calls to action aimed at driving sales.
This breakdown can serve as a strategic starting point. However, it should be adjusted according to your business objectives: brand awareness, lead generation, or direct conversion.
Key Takeaways About TikTok in 2026
TikTok in 2026 is no longer about virality. It’s about relevance, credibility, and strategic consistency. The companies that succeed won’t be those that follow every trend, but those that deeply understand their audience and create content aligned with their business objectives. At Storyline, we support our clients in this strategic thinking, moving beyond views to measurable growth.
Sources: Techwyse, Agorapulse, Sked Social, Wordstream, Sprout Social
