If you haven’t heard of TikTok, where have you been? The platform is fast becoming one of the world’s most-used social media apps. Find out how to use TikTok to your brand’s advantage here.
From dancing teenagers to excited dogs, you have probably seen plenty of short videos on various social media platforms branded with with TikTok’s watermark in the bottom righthand corner. The popular video app is one of the great success stories of the last few years and it popularity only continues to grow.
What is TikTok?
Despite its meteoric growth, there are still plenty of people who are not familiar with the app, nor how to utilise its ever-growing popularity.
Simply put, the app allows users to record 15-second videos, while longer videos of up to 60 can also be comprised of 15 second clips.
Two video-sharing apps, TikTok and Musical.ly, merged in August 2018 under the TikTok title and the app soared in popularity. Comedians, singers, dancers and social media influencers alike all migrated to the app.
Today, the short-form video platform has been downloaded 1.5 billion times on the Apple App Store and Google Play. In December 2019 alone, the app had 75 million new users. TikTok has overtaken Linkedin, Pinterest, Twitter and even Instagram in its popularity
1. Create an Account and Upload a Video
This one sounds like a no-brainer, but there are only a handful of brands actually using TikTok. Brands should have a TikTok account both as a landing page, to upload their own content and to share influencer posts.
A Tiktok landing page is a good stepping stone to drive traffic to lead magnets. Don’t assume your niche won’t work on TikTok. Videos on fashion, food, technology and science gain traction on the platform.
Brands can also use TikTok’s paid advertisement feature, which allows videos to feature between videos. However, this feature is fairly new to the platform. If your advertising budget is limited, it might be worth waiting to see positive statistics from other brands who have paid to use TikTok’s advertising feature before investing.
2. Make Use of Popular Sounds
The app allows you to record their own sound clips or use those already uploaded by other users. All videos featuring a certain sound can be seen by clicking on the song or sound title displayed at the bottom of the screen, or by using the ‘Sounds’ search tool.
Using a popular sound played in many other videos is a surefire way to get more eyes on your content. When viewing all videos featuring a specific sound, users are able to quickly flick through and see what different people are setting a sound to, whether that’s an impressive dance routine, an angry cat or a fun video from your brand.
3. Get Involved in Challenges
Challenges are another effective way of getting eyes on your brand. Challenges like Chipotle’s #GuacDance or a simple dance routine like the #StairShuffle get more traction because popular TikTok influencers are usually some of the first people to hop on board and try the challenge out themselves.
TikTok challenges are generally easy and fun to join in. Keep an eagle eye out for trends, watch a few videos of other content creators doing the same thing and record your own. Otherwise, try starting your brand’s own challenge, like Chipotle did, to kickstart an advertising campaign. Influencers are useful to get people talking about and completing your challenge.
4.Have Fun
TikTok is about fun, silly, off-the-cuff content. Unlike edited and fine-tuned Instagram content, TokTok’s most popular clips are messy, raw and imperfect. TikTok provides an opportunity to re-connect with customers and show a real and relatable side to your brand.
Remember, the platform’s core audience is 16 to 25-year olds. More serious, longform content is better suited to other platforms. TikTok is the place to keep things simple. Think of TikToks as the bullet points, rather than the book.
5. Utilise Influencers
The same influencer marketing techniques that work on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are also applicable to TikTok. Just as with these platforms, TikTok videos can be used to show influencers wearing or using a specific product. Endorsements by influencers, even those with micro audiences, has been shown to be effective. For example, a teenage skincare TikTok influencer’s endorsement of a peeling solution from The Ordinary led to sales of over 100,000 serums.
Conclusion
The beauty of TikTok is that there is more room for brands to be experimental. Posting too often on Instagram can clog up your followers’ feeds and turn people off your brand. But TikTok shows its users a myriad of different content, both from accounts you follow and from new creators you’ve never seen before.
The app has promise and will likely continue to grow as a useful way to reach a youth audience. Whether through dance, instruction or recipe videos, it is well worth factoring TikTok into future marketing campaigns.
Contact us today for a FREE consultation on how your business can maximise its brand awareness and impact on TikTok.
