A Guide to TikTok Marketing
Today, we’re talking about TikTok. Yes, TikTok! The social media platform for creating, sharing and discovering short videos. But how can you use it to build your brand's social media presence? Whether you're a marketer for a big brand, charity or a small business owner - TikTok could be a really effective channel to use. Let's discuss...
For anyone born after 1996, there’s probably no need to read on. You get it. But for the rest of the world, we’ll break it down for you.
How do you use it? And what for?
TikTok started in 2016 as a dancing and lip-syncing app for teens (back then it was known as Musically) but today you can find anything from animal videos, day in the life videos, cooking videos and pool cleaning videos...Yes, you read that correctly. There’s no rule book and that's the best bit! We recommend downloading the app to get a feel for the format and type of content.
Why is TikTok gaining popularity within marketing?
Monetized social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram have reached a point where it’s hard to get a brand’s message across to their target audience organically. TikTok, on the other hand, because it’s new, allows you to reach new audiences organically. This will not always be the case though, platforms have to evolve as new users join and algorithms are part of that evolution. But, fear not! You just adapt and change your strategy to suit the algorithms.
Is TikTok right for your brand?
If you want it to be!
Finding less invasive ways to advertise to users is always the goal and TikTok is currently the best platform to do this on. You don’t have to spend lots of money on beautifully shot videos to gain views. Don’t be afraid of posting raw and unfiltered content, this is what thrives on TikTok.
You always want your content to be native to the platform and seamlessly blend in. But what does that look like for TikTok? It looks like engaging video content and jumping on appropriate trends and challenges to find your audience.
Examples:
British Red Cross use a young brand ambassador to appeal to a younger audience. This makes the content more relatable for their target audience. They also make the information accessible by presenting it in fun ways and utilising the trending effects and sounds to make sure they reach that younger demographic.
RyanAir are very quick to jump on trends and use trending sounds which is a big reason for their success. Doing this makes their content relatable and humorous. They also show a lot of behind the scenes of the job which makes for interesting content. The #RyanAir hashtag even has 401.7 million views!
British Red Cross and RyanAir are good examples of how to be native to a platform. The TikTok algorithm is designed to reward videos that use certain trending sounds, effects, or hashtags and this is the reason for their popularity on the app.
But it's not just big brands. Even small business owners have found TikTok helps them to grow their business. From Ceramic pottery business owner Abbie (BigJugsAbbi) who grew her audience by showing the highs and lows of building her small business. Remember, humans like humans, not businesses.
To Dan from Doodles From My Brain who has grown his Etsy business and entire following of 297.3k on TikTok in the last year. He uses TikTok to show his audience the behind the scenes when creating and using his fun products whilst still utilising trending sounds.
How do you navigate TikTok?
TikTok allows you to create videos up to 3 minutes long. You can add different songs, sounds, and record voice overs. You also have a library of effects and filters to choose from, it’s video creation made easy!
When you join TikTok you will see a menu bar at the bottom:
Home page - your homepage has your ‘for you’ page, and your ‘following’ page, once you start following people videos will begin to show.
Discover - next to your home page you have the ‘discover’ page, here you will find trending videos, hashtags and sounds to discover.
Video - the middle button with the + is where you film and upload videos.
Inbox - here you can see all of your notifications, follows likes, comments and direct messages.
Profile - this is where you can see all of your followers, public videos, liked videos and your draft videos.
So, is TikTok worth it?
In a nutshell, if your goal is to attract a younger audience, show more behind the scenes of your business and get a more engaged audience, then yes TikTok is worth a go! We recommend downloading the app and having a scroll to get to grips with it (just keep an eye on the time, there's a reason it's called TikTok 😉). Look out for trends, hashtags, and trending sounds and have a think of some ideas for your business. And if you’re unsure then drop us a line to hello@socialforgood.co.uk.
