To TikTok or Not to TikTok? A Guide for Brands Looking to Explore TikTok
TikTok is a social media app created by the Chinese tech firm ByteDance that allows you to create and share short, looping 15 or 60-second videos with musical overlays, sound, and visual effects. The short duration of the videos is what makes the app so effective.
If you don’t like the content you’ve viewed, you can simply scroll past it. The app’s second schtick is its autoplay and auto loop. It is fast paced, with catchy songs and it leaves you itching for another round of entertainment.
TikTok is the undisputed champion in keeping its users scrolling and engaged. For example, you may have clicked on YouTube to watch a Ted Talk only to end up watching Sisi Yemmie’s Jollof rice tutorial half an hour later. It can happen to anyone, and this tends to happen frequently with TikTok’s content.
To state the obvious, TikTok is taking over the social media landscape, transforming it into a gold mine of short, digestible content and if you’re not marketing your brand there, you could be passing up a huge opportunity. So here is the marketing guide for brands looking to explore Tiktok. You’ll discover what distinguishes it as a platform, the kind of content to create to direct people away from it and onto your landing page.
Why TikTok?
TikTok’s ability to shape the cultural sphere has been evident since it powered “Old Town Road” to the top of the charts, giving artist Lil Nas X a significant boost.
Central to the TikTok experience is authenticity and lightheartedness and unlike on other social media platforms, businesses and brands are viewed as members of the community rather than just advertisers on TikTok. Their content is authentic and portrays the positive energy of the regular TikTok users. Hence, the shared experience enables its users to recognise TikTok as an unparalleled platform.
Globally, “an average of 79% of TikTok users find content on TikTok to be unique or different, 68% of TikTok users find the advertising content to be unique or different from any competitive platform”.
Despite seeing the same content across other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter etc TikTok stands out as a place to discover new and entertaining videos. And one of the app’s greatest strengths is the sense of community it fosters among its users. This is demonstrated by the viral challenges that its users tend to participate in.
As of January 2022, Women made up approximately 57% of TikTok global users while Male users on the popular social video platform accounted for approximately 43% of the total and this varies widely according to country and region.
During the pandemic, Tiktok’s popularity grew exponentially. Not only in terms of viewership, but also in terms of demographic diversity. In the last 18 months, adult users have become more than just passive observers. They are also having fun and creating original content.
How The TikTok Algorithm Works
If you want to run a successful marketing campaign on TikTok, you must first understand how the algorithm works. TikTok is revamping the linear sales process and focusing on driving scaled growth.
The”infinite loop” is a smoother and more seamless customer experience from their unique path to purchase. TikTok users enter, exit, and re-enter the buyer’s journey at the stage that aligns with their needs and wants, rather than a sales funnel with a defined start and endpoint.
TikTok’s tremendous success may be attributed to the fact that it follows its users’ lead, builds around their behavior, and delivers relevant content based on where they are in the customer journey.
Hashtags and the user’s watching habits have a significant impact on TikTok’s algorithm. TikTok will take note of the types of videos you consume and the niche communities from which they come. It will recommend similar videos based on your content consumption and geographical location.
For example, if you can’t get enough of DanceTok, the algorithm will keep recommending related videos to you and for brands trying to boost the reach of their videos they could try incorporating trendy songs, hashtags, and dances in their videos.
More so, Tiktok’s For You page algorithm is a feed powered by a recommendation system that provides content that is likely to be of interest to a specific user. Part of TikTok’s magic is that each user has their own personalized feed, and while different people may see some of the same standout videos, each person’s feed is unique and tailored to that specific individual.
Which kind of Content Works ?
Here are examples of the most solid options for dispersing your message to your target demographics through TikTok marketing.
In-feed ads
In-feed ads are the traditional way to promote your brand. You can pay to have your message displayed on people’s screens, just like a banner in a newspaper or a TV advertisement.
This is a good strategy because it ensures exposure to your target demographic. It may not budget friendly and people may have negative feelings about your brand breaking up users’ experiences.
Unfortunately, keywords cannot yet be used in Tiktok ad content. However, a cool trick you can use for your ads is to have your content appear above the “what others search for” section in the “search” section.
This effectively accomplishes what properly tuned keyword placement accomplishes: It places your brand in the feeds of your target audience. And now that your brand’s image is in front of the right person in the right place, the trick is to create content about how to solve problems your target audience is experiencing or how they can achieve their goal. After you’ve piqued their interest, you direct them with a CTA to your landing page, where they can complete the task they were looking for initially.
However, if you have little to no marketing budget, you must carefully consider whether it is worth your time to invest in this.
Influencer marketing
A good TikTok marketing strategy can put your brand and product in front of a massive new audience and a slew of potential new customers.
You must ensure that TikTok is used by your brand’s target audience.
TikTok’s most important feature, like YouTube’s, is video sharing. So any TikTok influencer marketing campaign will revolve around influencers creating, sharing, and sometimes live streaming videos that promote and attract followers.
At its core, influencer marketing is like storytelling. You must give the influencers enough leeway to tell your story to their fans while remaining authentic. If the videos promoting your products are made in a different style than the influencer’s usual videos, the influencer’s followers may notice and react negatively.
Consider how Netflix collaborated with NeoReach to promote a new season of their hit show “Cobra Kai.” By collaborating with and allowing the creators to be organic and entertaining in how they shared their own excitement for the upcoming season, the campaign soared and received over 2.8 million views, as well as a 500 million increase in views of the popular hashtag “#CobraKaiChop” in the days following the promoted content.
It is crucial to work with influencers whose followers match your target market. TikTok, influencer marketing can be an effective form of marketing. You avoid the negative consequences of advertisements. However, your brand needs to collaborate with your influencers to develop a creative strategy that allows them to pique their audience’s interest in your brand and product.
As with most influencer marketing, metrics relating to engagement and awareness should be prioritized. These can be a great resource for determining brand loyalty.
You need to ensure that your brand’s target customers use TikTok.
Like YouTube, TikTok’s most significant feature is sharing videos. So any TikTok influencer marketing campaign will revolve around influencers making, sharing, and sometimes live streaming videos that will in some way promote your brand and make it attractive to their followers.
Influencer marketing at its heart is like storytelling. You need to give your influencers enough flexibility to tell your story to their fans in a way that keeps them authentic. The influencers’ followers will instantly know if the videos promoting your products are made in a different style to the influencer’s usual videos, and they are likely to react badly.
For instance, Netflix worked with NeoReach to promote a new season of their hit program, “Cobra Kai”. By working with and allowing the creators to be organic and entertaining in how they shared their own excitement for the upcoming season, the campaign soared and received over 2.8 million views and spiked views of the popular hashtag “#CobraKaiChop” by over 500 million views in the days following the promoted content.
As with all influencer marketing, the key to success on TikTok is working with influencers whose followers match your target market. Therefore, for influencer marketing (or indeed any other form of marketing) to be successful for you on TikTok you need to appeal to the TikTok demographic
Influencer marketing is likely to be the most effective form of marketing on TikTok. You don’t suffer from the negative implications of ads, and you don’t have to worry about building the right audience as you do with traditional videos on your company account.
You just need to work with your influencers to come up with a creative strategy that helps them pique the interest of their audience to build interest in your brand and product.
As with influencer marketing, you should take notice of metrics relating to engagement and awareness. These can be an excellent guide to brand loyalty.
Branded content
You can give your brand a vibrant personality and a captivating voice. However, remember to keep the platform’s true essence in mind. Tiktok is a social media platform for short-form content that’s intended to be authentic, fun, and conversational.
You can create humorous content that addresses your target audience’s problems in a relatable and humorous manner, with the solution serving as the subtext. In this way, you’re not directly selling anything; instead, your video provides relatable content that people want to see, and your bio directs people to your product’s landing page.
Hashtags
On TikTok, hashtags play a significant role. But keep in mind that your content should be unique and relevant to your audience.
By making your content or product relevant to these trending hashtags, you gain more visibility.
For example, e.l.f. Cosmetics wanted to create a campaign for Gen Z that would highlight the brand’s edgy and inclusive values.
They engaged Movers+Shakers to create their initial TikTok campaign. They wanted to capture Gen Z’s attention and set new viral records. The #eyeslipsface challenge was developed to promote one of their main brand pillars, “e.l.f. is for every lip, face, and eye. They created a music track based on recent hit songs, which perfectly matched the hashtag challenge, e.l.f. is for every lip, face, and eye.
It was a success, and Adweek named the challenge the most influential TikTok campaign. TikTokers contributed nearly 5 million videos, reaching 7 billion views.
They stoked organic virality across different social media platforms, several celebrities joined in, and the music was made available to DJs worldwide. An iconic moment in pop culture!
Finally, Instagram Reels is proof that TikTok’s success has compelled competitors to change their strategies. Despite the uncertainty of the app’s future, it has contributed some noteworthy new elements to social media. In addition to elevating creativity to new heights, TikTok has helped brands to express their personalities and voices on social media.
Currently, TikTok shows no signs of slowing down. Businesses have a great chance to benefit from the app’s virality and let it elevate their digital campaigns by utilizing it.
Start experimenting with TikTok if you believe it could add value to your marketing strategy. By doing so, you will be able to identify which content is engaging and or not before your competitors do. Due to the app’s newness, there aren’t many restrictions or standards regarding what you can post.
So far, TikTok has shown marketers that thinking outside of the box can help you connect with your audience and increase brand awareness.
