Until recently, brands have been overlooking TikTok as a viable marketing platform. The only demographic and unique ways that TikTok algorithms work has been primary factors for brands now considering TikTok.
With over 800 million monthly active users, TikTok has become the fastest-growing social media platform. It is hard to ignore that.
Still, the question remains is a TikTok marketing campaign the right choice for your company? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. This article will take a deep dive into understanding how TikTok and marketing can work together.
Is TikTok a Valuable Platform for Brands?
The growth of TikTok has many brands wondering if they could afford to miss out on using the platform.
There have been numerous successful pivots to TikTok by brands who have found their presence on the platform to be hugely rewarding and profitable.
Unlike other social media platforms such as Instagram or Snapchat, TikTok is still relatively unpredictable. You never really know what will blow up on the app. Rarely is brand-new content trending. This can prove to be both good and bad when it comes to TikTok for business marketing.
There are three ways brands can use TikTok as a marketing tool. The simplest option is to create a business channel and upload videos relevant to their marketing campaigns. This provides an opportunity to experiment with different types of content.
1. Follow trends
Following trending hashtags is an excellent way to gauge what the audience is doing and get in on the fun. Remember that just abiding by corporate brand messaging will not work on TikTok—authentic content is the key to success.
Besides, you can make the most of all the branded Augmented Reality (AR) content, such as branded lenses and stickers that other TikTok users can insert into their videos. This allows your brand to be stamped on other user content, bringing in a larger audience.
2. Work with influencers
No one is better at utilizing all the tools TikTok provides than the platform’s most successful influencers. TikTok offers the Creator Marketplace an official forum for creators and brands to meet and collaborate to facilitate this process.
3. Advertise on TikTok
Finally, brands can directly pay to advertise on the platform. This option’s benefit is that TikTok is still not as saturated with advertising as Instagram and Facebook.
You might be able to generate more impressions and clicks at an affordable rate. However, paid advertising on TikTok is still in its early stages, and so far, this has been the least popular option among most brands, who are choosing to wait for the market to become more established.
Most businesses who want to run marketing campaigns on TikTok are likely to use all three options to assess where to direct their focus directly.
What Type of Content Works Best on TikTok?
The obvious answer would be to say – video content. But that would be an oversimplification of the type of content TikTok represents.
If you want to know how to develop a TikTok marketing strategy that works, it is crucial to understand that TikTok has a massive trend culture.
While there is countless original content, one of the most popular concepts is taking catchy ideas and creating your fun spin-off.
This is most prevalent in TikTok dance challenges that the biggest brands and celebrities use to promote their products. Sometimes, even the most straightforward concepts go viral and quickly become trends users turn into their content.
How to Develop a TikTok Marketing Strategy for Your Business
Although smaller and bigger brands alike may be wondering how to create an effective TikTok marketing strategy, this platform will not be the right fit for every company.
At the same time, however, it might just be the best place for you without you even realizing it. TikTok can seem a bit overwhelming at first and even somewhat random, but there are ways to strategize an approach to merge TikTok into a marketing plan.
Spending time on TikTok
If you have not had experience with TikTok before, it is imperative to understand that you cannot use the same marketing approach you would for other social media channels.
Allow yourself to go down the rabbit hole of TikTok trends and see where the content takes you. The chances are that after a while, you will become comfortable with how TikTok could work for your brand.
Find your target audience
Many assume that TikTok is just for younger users. More specifically, anyone over 24 years of age is too old for the app for tweens and teens.
Statistics show that this is an influential demographic, with a slight bias towards women, that does not mean that there is not an abundance of millennials and even boomers on the platform.
This is where extensive research of the platform would be beneficial. Even if you zero in on the target audience, make sure you understand the nature of the content they predominantly follow on the forum.
Check out the competition
Before you start a TikTok marketing campaign, look for your competitors on the platform and find out what they are up to.
Perhaps you will find that you are missing out on a significant market, or maybe you will come across available space you can use creatively.
Keep in mind that TikTok is all about the content creators, and finding the right person to represent your brand could be one of the best TikTok marketing strategies you can use.
Set a business goal
No doubt, creating TikTok videos becomes a fun activity that offers endless possibilities to be creative. But in terms of TikTok for business marketing, you should have a clear goal in mind.
Similar to other social media platforms, TikTok provides analytics for business accounts. You can use the dashboard to review the metrics, assess how to reach your audience, and develop more engagement with potential customers.
Provide space for experiments
A TikTok marketing campaign can take off when you least expect it, but it can also flop without any apparent reason or warning. The point is that you cannot bottle a content formula that will work every time.
However, if you allow space for fun and creativity and “go with the flow,” there could be some unexpected results waiting for you.
Advantages and Disadvantages of TikTok Marketing
The two most significant benefits of using TikTok for business marketing are its international nature and the fact that it is currently experiencing exponential growth. These two factors alone could be enough to consider TikTok to be worth your time and money.
A downside to TikTok marketing is the possibility that no matter what you do, your product or service’s target audience would not be there. This is why thorough research is essential.
Is TikTok Marketing Right for Your Company?
The final question all brands must determine is if TikTok marketing feels authentic for your business.
A small business might be reluctant to spend money on the platform. TikTok provides a sense of longevity in how the platform works. In any case, if you do choose to execute a TikTok marketing campaign, spend some time discovering the forum and enjoying the fun videos and trends first.
For more information on marketing your brand, read more on our website, The Playbook for Social Media Branding.
