It’s the social media platform that’s taken the internet by storm – especially amongst Generation Z. There are a staggering 1.1 billion TikTok users, and it has the highest engagement rate of any social media platform. If you’re at all interested in promoting your product or service to a massive, highly engaged audience – which we imagine you are – then you need to do it on TikTok.
It can feel overwhelming – TikTok is very different to other social platforms that we’re all used to marketing on. It’s the only platform where all content is video, and although we can upload videos to Instagram and Facebook, we don’t have to. It can feel more daunting to create video content than a quick photo or graphic, so for a lot of people TikTok has been a bit of a beast to tackle. We’ve put together our top tips for marketing on TikTok, to help you get started and hopefully make it feel a bit less scary.
Before you dive in headfirst and start making content, we’d highly recommend you spend a good amount of time on the app as a user. Get yourself really ingrained and watch a variety of content. Social media users are savvier than ever when it comes to ads, and don’t like to see blatant advertisements in their feed. It’s important to get a feel for the platform so when you do start creating content, it feels like native TikTok content rather than a typical ad. Find some creators you enjoy and have a look at how they tackle advertising – chances are, if they’re promoting a product, they’ll do it in the style of their usual videos as opposed to simply talking about the product.
This is a really easy way to come up with content that’s likely to get a lot of views. Trends are a big thing on TikTok; there are always new ones going around, and all you need to do is copy it. A couple of simple ones that spring to mind are rating people’s lunch in the office, or what time staff members arrive at work. These wouldn’t take too long to film but provide you with easy content that follows a trend as well as showing part of your company culture.
What’s trending can change from one day to another, so it’s important to be quick off the mark. If you spot a trend you want to try, get on it straight away; don’t leave it till later in the week, else you might miss the boat.
Likewise, TikTok has a feature for trending sounds and music. Sometimes it’s a phrase or soundbite, sometimes it’s a particular song, or it could just be a sound effect. Using trending sounds in your videos, or creating videos to fit a trending sound, will significantly increase your reach. To find trending sounds, go to create a new video and click “add sound” at the top of the screen. You’ll then see an option for “TikTok Viral”, which will bring up all the current trending sounds.
If you’re trying to promote a product or service on TikTok, one thing that will definitely not work is a traditional advert. Trying to show off the benefits of your product and why people should buy it in the way you might with a Facebook ad simply isn’t engaging. The nature of TikTok means that a user can easily flick past a video, so you must grab their attention straight away. Stick to entertaining content that’s funny or interesting, or videos like tips and tricks that provide value to the user.
Remember that a large number of people still watch social media videos with the sound off. You need to make sure your content works without sound, and the easiest way to do this is to use text overlays and captions. This allows you to tell your story without the use of sound and will be far more engaging to viewers who are watching on mute.
So there you have it; our top tips for TikTok marketing. Hopefully this is of some use to you, and helps you get your head into creating content for TikTik. It’s also worth remembering that while we’ve focused on organic content in this blog, TikTok does have its own advertising platform, just like Facebook. If you have the budget for paid ads, this is worth looking into once you’ve nailed the content creation. Don’t worry if not though; you can achieve great results through TikTok marketing without spending a penny.