If you are building a social media strategy today, it is advisable to consider TikTok. With short-term videos that provide the highest return on investment and TikTok poised to reach 2.2 billion users by 2027, it is as powerful as any other “big” platform.
What is TikTok Marketing?
TikTok marketing is the process of promoting a brand, products, and/or services to consumers on TikTok. Common marketing strategies on TikTok include creating organic content driven by trends, using popular hashtags, and integrating TikTok influencers into promotional campaigns.
Why Use TikTok for Product Marketing?
The biggest difference between TikTok and other social media platforms, particularly Facebook and Instagram, is that the home pages of the latter two are largely made up of people you already know and channels you are currently following. TikTok reflects this, where videos from creators you have never seen before are favored.
The TikTok user interface is designed to keep people in the app for as long as possible, more than platforms like Facebook and Twitter. With TikTok, you can also add a “link in bio,” making the platform ideal for marketing and sales.
If you are trying to reach a younger demographic, TikTok is an especially useful tool – 62% of its audience falls within the 10 to 29 age range. Based on these statistics, you can tailor your videos to match the content enjoyed by Generation Z and leverage your understanding of the app’s algorithm to create viral spread.
How to Create a TikTok Marketing Strategy
To create your marketing campaigns on TikTok, follow these steps to ensure your efforts are focused and meet your business and marketing goals. Set Up a TikTok Business Account
A TikTok business account is a great way to learn trends and become an expert on TikTok. The platform provides a library of commercial music for business creators, performance data, audience insights, and a suite of web-based business tools.
Setting up a TikTok business account is easy and the first step in using TikTok for marketing. Start by downloading the TikTok app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Then sign up for a TikTok account and follow these steps: Go to your profile page. Click on the hamburger icon in the top right corner, then select settings and privacy. Under Account, click on Manage Account. Click on Switch to Business Account under Account Control. Choose the category that best describes your account, such as clothing and accessories, electronics, pets, etc. Complete your profile.
Identify Your Audience
We know that TikTok is a popular platform for Gen Z consumers, but that is not the only age group using it. Generation Alpha is an emerging demographic of future consumers on the platform, and TikTok usage has even increased among Boomers.
To identify your audience on TikTok, describe what you can to paint a picture of the most likely individuals to convert to customers: Location: Where do your ideal customers actually live? Even knowing just the country can help. But if you have a local business or only want to serve a specific area, you should narrow down those places. Age: What is the age range of your customers? Keep this as broad as possible unless you are sure your target customer is at a certain life stage. Gender: What gender do they identify as? This may be irrelevant or essential, depending on your brand. Interests: What are their interests/hobbies/passions? These interests help guide potential audience and content ideas (e.g., cooking, hip hop dancing, yoga). Occupation/Industry: What industry do they work in and what jobs do they hold? Again, this may not be relevant depending on your brand. Income Level: What is the income range of this ideal buyer? Are they price-sensitive or are they willing to spend more money on premium products? Relationship Status: Are they single, actively dating, or married? This might be relevant if you are in the wedding industry, for instance. Preferred Sites/Apps: What type of sites do they bookmark? Do they browse Instagram or Pinterest daily? Are there specific apps they cannot do without? Purchase Motivation: What reasons might this person have for buying your product? Do they want to sport a status symbol or manage despite a busy schedule? Purchase Hesitations: Why might they choose not to buy your product? Are they concerned about quality? Other Information: Anything else worth mentioning that hasn’t been brought up, such as education, life stage (parents with infants), events they attend, etc.
Understanding
The Debate
On TikTok, you have two types of competitors: your business competitors (who you may have already identified) and your content competitors. TikTok, like other social media platforms, is filled with both people and brands, so you’re not just competing with other businesses but also with other creators.
Take a look at your business competitors and see if they have a presence on TikTok. If they do, observe the types of content they post that achieve high levels of engagement. This can give you an idea of what their audience enjoys, which may be somewhat similar to what your audience likes. Just remember to create your own unique content – no stealing ideas here!
Then, spend some time exploring TikTok content itself to see what’s already out there in your niche. Look for hashtags, join groups, check out trending posts, and research topics relevant to your brand. Note any overlaps between these posts and your business competitors.
Defining Your Promotion Strategy
In addition to investing time and effort into creating your TikTok profile and videos, you can amplify your marketing efforts on TikTok using influencers and paid ads.
Influencer marketing puts your brand and products in front of someone else’s audience, acting as social proof. Influencer marketing is huge on TikTok, especially since it’s a creator-focused platform, much like Snapchat. Get paid by the brands you love with Shopify Collabs.
Shopify Collabs makes it easy to find brands that align with your style, build affiliate relationships, earn money for what you sell, and track everything in one place. Learn about Shopify Collabs.
Peace Out Skincare, an e-commerce company using Shopify, partnered with an influencer to promote its acne treatment line. The brand sent its products to TikTok influencers, two of whom collaborated on a video. The video garnered 12 million views, 2.4 million likes, and 60,000 shares, generating $15,000 in product sales in a single day. The video continued to spread for months after its original posting, boosting continued sales beyond that initial spike.
To work with influencers on TikTok in your marketing strategy, look for influencers on the platform to find those who align with your industry and audience. Reach out to them via direct messages on the platform and offer them free products in exchange for a video of them trying it out and giving an honest review. This is great for marketing and also for product teams.
When it comes to paid ads, TikTok Ads Manager gives you access to a suite of tools that can help increase the visibility of your ads to a targeted audience. Omolola Jewellery uses a mix of organic posts and TikTok paid ads to reach new audiences. This was particularly helpful in supporting her business during the pandemic when customers couldn’t visit the physical Omolola store.
10 Tips for TikTok Marketing
With your strategy in place, it’s time to implement your plan. Keep these best practices and tips in mind when creating and posting your marketing content on TikTok.
1. Be Authentic
With so much noise on TikTok, it’s important to be authentic and stand out with your content. You don’t want to post videos that come off as sales pitches – that’s not what TikTok users are looking for. TikTok users want to be entertained or informed, not sold to.
Before
Start your marketing efforts by spending some time on TikTok. Once the algorithm learns what you like, it will present you with quality content that may inspire you, enhancing the creativity in your videos.
TikTok is designed to feel like a community of individuals sharing relevant and authentic content. Videos that are 4K quality, with fancy edits or cinematic and corporate styles may actually drive audiences away.
For example, brands like Chipotle and Wendy’s excel at alternating between their carefully crafted corporate messages and real engagement with their followers.
2. Live Streaming
One way to build a human connection with your audience is by leveraging TikTok’s live streaming feature, which allows creators to communicate directly with followers through a live broadcast. Going live is one of the best ways to stand out on TikTok.
The app will send a notification to your followers that you have started a live stream, and your broadcast will be pinned at the top of their “For You” page. With millions of creators currently on the platform, this real estate is invaluable. TikTok actively promotes the live streaming feature, and it is very easy to do.
Take some notes to prepare for frequently asked questions and update your list after each live stream on TikTok. Do your best to answer all relevant questions during the live stream and make sure to thank followers who “gift” you stickers/emojis, as they have a small monetary value.
Scheduling is also important. While going live on the spur of the moment is great, committing to a regular live stream schedule will help build a community around your broadcast. Some excellent formats include Q&A sessions, behind-the-scenes videos, casual relaxation streams, “work with me” sessions, tutorials, and interviews with special guests.
3. Get the Right Equipment
Videos should be filmed directly from the TikTok app on your smartphone. You have access to a range of beauty filters and lighting options in the app, which can compensate for poor lighting or an extravagant background.
You can film TikTok videos using more professional equipment and editing tools, but often the time required to create this content is not always worth the results.
Sound is something you shouldn’t compromise on. While the standard iPhone microphone may be decent, high-quality audio can help increase views and potential shares.
4. Keep Things Simple
You can’t put a full novel in a tweet, and you can’t put a full movie on TikTok. To keep content digestible, your videos should be short and streamlined.
Stick to 15-second videos to share high-level information, and add deeper 60-second videos to explain further details. If the topic is particularly important, you can break it down into multiple 15-second videos to maintain view count and replayability.
Think of each TikTok video as a unique story you’re sharing with your audience. If there’s too little content, viewers may feel frustrated; if there’s too much content, you may lose their interest.
5. Engage in the Comments
The TikTok algorithm is fantastic at placing your video in front of potential followers, but that’s only half the battle. Once the algorithm grabs someone’s interest, you need to draw them in.
Comments
TikTok is a great place for conversation, engagement, and explanation. Whenever possible, join the comments and connect with your viewers. You can also like the comments you want to acknowledge without necessarily prompting a written response.
When your posts gain popularity and responding to comments takes a significant amount of time, address them collectively. Create a document to analyze frequently recurring comments and the types you can reasonably reply to. Then, respond to the common comments in a long video, a live stream, or a video reply.
TikTok also includes a generous filter function to make your life easier, as it automatically removes comments that contain certain words or phrases.
Comments are an important part of the TikTok experience, and there’s no excuse for not engaging with every comment until your channel grows to a point where this isn’t manageable. Few brands do this, and you will stand out.
6. Ride the Trends
Before posting content, take a look at the TikTok Discover page and see if you can produce content that aligns with the daily TikTok trends or hashtag challenges. Doing so will please TikTok’s algorithm and can boost your follower count.
While we don’t recommend using these hashtags if your video is completely unrelated to the topic, it can be a great way to understand what’s trending on the platform and give you insight into how to better shape your content strategy.
Trending hashtags change daily and are a prime example of what keeps content on TikTok fresh and exciting. While drafting posts is perfectly acceptable, knowing what’s trending is an excellent way to showcase relevance and appear more relatable to your followers.
If you notice a specific trending TikTok sound appearing frequently on your “For You” page, get creative and see if you can incorporate it into one of your videos. You can always add it to your favorite sounds for future use while you continue to brainstorm.
7. Pay Attention to Accessibility and Readability
There’s a reason you see successful TikTok creators adding captions at the beginning of their videos. If you’re browsing their profile, it’s an easy way to get a preview of what’s to come. You can use eye-catching titles to help categorize your videos in an attempt to guide viewers to content that may interest them and increase your views.
Remember that TikTok’s user interface overlays at the bottom and right side of the screen, so be sure those titles are centered. Since each type of phone uses a different aspect ratio, keeping important content away from the edges can help ensure everyone can see it.
To accommodate all TikTok users, use closed captions in your videos wherever possible. This ensures your videos are accessible to all audiences in all contexts. The text timing feature in the app makes this very easy, adding only a few extra minutes to your workflow.
8. Leverage Features
TikTok is always rolling out new features – animated GIF stickers, captions, and new filters are some common upgrades on TikTok. So while the algorithm is kept secret, you can focus on using these new tools to keep your news feed looking fresh to your audience.
We also recommend considering TikTok’s beta program, as it may offer you entirely new content creation tools that most users haven’t seen yet. This could be a great way to stay ahead of what the app is working on so that you can remain one step ahead of your competitors.
9.
Regular Posting
Many creators have seen amazing results from committing to a posting schedule. We recommend posting once or twice a day and going live a few times a week. This rhythm keeps your content fresh and interesting while not overwhelming your followers with videos.
Check your analytics to see when your audience is most active, as this varies depending on the people you are speaking to and where they are located.
If your followers are more active on certain days of the week, you might consider increasing the number of posts on those days to boost views. Because many new videos are constantly being added to the platform, it’s important to keep supplying the algorithm with fresh and exciting content through your own content.
10. Joining Creator Groups
There are many Facebook groups filled with creators looking to level up their game on TikTok. See what works best for you, and join a community of creators. Being around people who share the same mindset is a great way to find inspiration, build a sense of accountability, and stay motivated over the coming weeks and months.
Check out TikTok Creators or TikTok Creators Support or TikTok For Beginners to get started, then move into your niche area. If you own a business, look for a TikTok marketing or business strategy group. If you are a comedian, look for similar groups online.
If you can’t find something for your specific demographic, this might be the perfect opportunity to create your own community.
Examples of TikTok Marketing
What does great marketing on TikTok look like? Get inspired by five examples of eCommerce businesses that are succeeding on TikTok and driving sales.
Send A Friend
Send A Friend is a store that allows you to send beautiful stuffed animals anywhere in the world. Thanks to the “link in bio” feature, Send A Friend has grown to $5 million in sales within two years. Send A Friend takes advantage of the trend “TikTok made me buy it” but also shares user-generated content from followers and customers.
Beardbrand
In the personal care space, Beardbrand has a significant presence on social media platforms.
Leave a Reply