TikTok has been exploding lately and some trend analysts say it is the largest growing social platform. It is the sixth-largest social network, and some reports say it has over 1.65 billion downloads. So, it’s high time you get on the TikTok train. If you have been thinking about your marketing strategy, especially on social media, it would be useful to include TikTok as your new social media network.
However, remember that this social network might not fit with every brand, especially if your customers and TikTok user demographics don’t overlap. First, do some demographic analysis on your brand and the TikTok users and see if there is overlap between the two. If there is none, there is no point in you spending your time and money on a network that won’t bring in the right customers.
If there is an overlap and if you are thinking about starting to post on TikTok, then read on.
Opening a TikTok account
TikTok recently opened a TikTok account for businesses and rolled out pro accounts for businesses and creators. This option lets you add more information to your profile, and access audience insights and metrics so you can better analyze your audience and develop the right marketing strategy.
To create an account, download the app, log in with your email, set up the account, and under Settings, click on Manage Account and choose Switch to Pro Account. There, select the type of your business and add your company’s website. You can also create an ad account for TikTok Ads Manager.
How to get started?
TikTok is a social media platform that is different from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It is a platform for short-form mobile videos. Videos range between five and 60 seconds in length. If you want to advertise on it, you need to customize your marketing strategy to fit with the style of and audience on TikTok. As with other networks, the algorithm uses AI to make personalized recommendations for each viewer.
What is maybe a bit more specific to this platform, is that TikTok influencer marketing is a big part of the app’s ecosystem. You can create and watch videos, engage in live streams, add visual filters, time effects, green screens, stickers, GIFs, emojis, and many more cool features. Influencers are a big part of the app’s content.
So we gave you a short intro, but now let’s get more into the specifics for your marketing campaign.
How to use TikTok for business? 12 useful tactics
1. Hashtags
Like some other social media platforms, TikTok relies on hashtags. If you want to reach a wider audience, you need to use hashtags to amplify the reach of your content, identify your competitors, and get more followers. However, avoid generic hashtags as you will likely get swamped in a sea of content. Use hashtag analyses to identify the potential ones that could bring you more interested users and potential customers.
2. Challenges
Set hashtag challenges. Branded hashtag challenges seem to be the most popular way for brands to engage with users on TikTok. These videos encourage users to create videos around a specific hashtag and actually, around 16% of all videos on TikTok are challenges. The branded hashtags also appear in the Trending section (brands can pay extra to secure the upper banner position).
3. Working with influencers
Try to discover rising stars or influencers in your niche. Many brands often team up with influencers to promote hashtag challenges, products, and TikTok can even provide a list of potential creators to brands. This can help you reach a wider audience.
4. Popup advertisements
Brand takeover ads pop up when someone opens TikTok. They can be 3-5 seconds long and are a full video screen, GIF, or image that links to an external website or a landing page. Moreover, TikTok allows one advertiser per day for this format, which can lead to 5 million daily impressions. This is a great way to reach a new audience and get more followers.
5. In-feed ads
In-feed video ads are five to fifteen seconds long ads in a video format. They can also lead and drive traffic to internal or external pages and users can like comment, and share them. You can also add Order Now button on the ad to encourage action or add more context to who you are as a brand by linking to your website or a landing page.
6. Top-view ads
Top-view video ads combine the takeover and in-feed video ads and last up to fifteen seconds. This is another type of video ad we have mentioned before and this also allows you to wind your audience and thus spread your reach on the platform.
7. Branded lenses
Branded lenses is an option that allows brands to partner with TikTok to create 2D and 3D lenses for users to try on and share. This will also land your brand in the Trending section for 10 days. Just to prove this strategy works, according to TikTok, 64% of its active users have tried lenses. This option is great for clothing or footwear brands or retailers.
8. Branded songs
Branded songs are another good way to interact and engage your viewers as songs are a big part of TikTok. Many brands have used or created songs that went viral on this platform and turned into challenges. Which as we already mentioned boosts your brand image and makes the brand seem more approachable. And that’s great quality as it resonates with many younger viewers.
9. Comments
Comment regularly and encourage comments on your posts. Make comments on other people’s videos and go through a list of comments on your videos and reply to them to engage your users in a more honest conversation. This will show you as a brand that cares about its users and followers.
10. Posting often
TikTok rewards users for more frequent posts. Basically, the more you post, the higher the number of your followers. It will also be simpler for users to find you if you post more often. The videos you make need to be interesting and have clear descriptions. Videos can be up to a minute long, which means you don’t have much time to get your message across.
Remember to provide value to your audience and not just upload videos or create ads. Writing good descriptions is also good for SEO. Basically, you want TikTok to know what your video is about when it indexes your clip and suggests it to your audience. Use your keywords and use short snappy descriptions as you don’t have much space to write.
11. User-generated content
User-generated content has dramatically increased as brands have realized the power and importance that user-generated content has. It is probably the best way to present your brand and it is one of the easiest ways to do so. You just ask your followers to promote your brand and create and upload content. Your audience is also more likely to believe their testimonies than what you write on your product page.
12. Effects
Use TikTok effects when creating your content. Most influences use a range of effects and filters. If you don’t, you won’t engage with your followers. That is why you need to create content that will suit your brand and engage them, keep them interested, and coming back for more videos.
TikTok offers a range of effects which you can find under the Effects Tab and they are split into categories (trending, new, interactive, beauty, funny, animal, and more).
This is just a short summary of the best ideas you can try on TikTok. Since it is a new social media platform, many still don’t know how to best use it for their marketing tactics.
TikTok marketing guide
TikTok Marketing, Ultimate Guide is an e-book that offers advice on starting using TikTok to promote your brand. Since TikTok is a new social media platform and many marketers and brands are unsure how to use it, this guide can turn out to be a very useful tool for you.
It will teach you how to set up ads, how to run them, and how to differentiate between different ad types. Moreover, you will be able to see how to analyze influencer marketing opportunities and how to advertise by using influencers (since they are a big part of TikTok).
Also, you will get tips on how to grow your own following by studying and taking tips from actual influencers and their study cases.
Since this social media platform is on the rise, it is only a matter of time when you will have to start incorporating it into your marketing strategy so start early and get up to speed on running ads, growing a community of followers, and engaging with your audience.
Conclusion
We hope that this article was helpful and that you learned something about TikTok. As is the nature of anything digital, keep up with the latest trends and developments. Use your knowledge to adjust your marketing strategy and keep learning.