Tiktok Marketing for Newbies
TikTok, an evolving social media platform that appreciates creativity, is more interesting than it sounds as it is the center of attention among Generation Z users these days.
“41% of its users are aged between 16 and 24 years”
Therefore, brands catering to this age group must have an impactful presence on the application. Tiktok allows users to create and share videos ranging from 15 to 60 seconds. These videos are mostly composed of fun, thrilling, challenging and humorous content. Tiktok recently started an advertising program that permits brands to produce paid ads. It is also testing shoppable ads that will escalate the impulsive response of the users.
Tiktok marketing is a great way to attract teens and tweens to your brand. However, it demands creativity to delight the target audience. Generation Z users are inspired more by real and daring content. They want to be associated with brands that enhance their image and resonate with their personality. Companies like Taco Bell and Chipotle are already taking advantage of this exciting platform and have received phenomenal success.
“Users spend an average of 52 minutes/day on TikTok.”
This substantiates the opportunity of consumer engagement with the brand. The platform is still evolving and introducing new features which make it increasingly important for businesses to incorporate Tiktok in their marketing strategy. Titok has witnessed a 275% YoY growth in monthly new users.
Also, Tiktok has been downloaded over 1 billion times and has 500 million monthly active users. Therefore, if a company ignores this social media platform, it would be neglecting a considerable chunk of its user base. Tiktok marketing is crucial for brands that target the tech-savvy and creative Gen-Z.
How to become a champion at Tiktok marketing
You don’t need to worry even if you are a beginner at Tiktok marketing as the following ways will guide you to form a stellar marketing strategy and have a substantial impact:
Acquire customers through Influencer Marketing
Tiktok stars have astonishing influencing power over their followers. However, the content that they use to promote your brands should look original rather than scripted as Gen-Z avoids explicit advertisements. The chances of conversion are high through influencer marketing on Tiktok as the followers desire to adopt their lifestyles. Users also trust the recommendations of these influencers. Also, influencers let your brand reach an increased customer base which leads to an increase in conversions.
- Search relevant influencers:
Influencer platforms offer assistance in searching the right influencer for you. Fanbytes, Upfluence, Post for Rent, and Izea are among the popular platforms that help in discovering influencers. This is usually a paid service, but it is worth the money. Tiktok also initiated the Tiktok creator marketplace to help brands in finding the best influencer for them. It allows businesses to search by applying different filters and keywords. Brands can register to look for Tiktok stars and ask Tiktok to connect them.
- Choose the right influencer for your brand:
It is crucial for influencers to be relevant to your brand. Moreover, choose influencers who have followers the same as your target audience. The personality of the influencer as perceived by users should complement the brand or product.
Influencers should share creative content that promotes the brand in a subtle and natural way. The smartphone game brand, Run Around, smartly used influencer marketing by choosing a gaming influencer Candice867 for endorsing its game. Candice recorded her screen while playing the game.
Chipotle is an exceptional example of maximizing the potential of Tiktok marketing. It has leveraged over the following of Tiktok stars like David Dobrik and Zach King, to promote its brand. For its Super Bowl campaign, Chipotle came up with the ‘TikTok Timeout‘ in which Tiktok’s most inspiring influencers will be unveiling their own personal content stylings set to Bieber’s new single, “Yummy.” Chipotle is tapping its target audience effectively by bringing relevant and enthralling content for them.
Produce creative content on your own channel
If you have budget constraints and are unable to afford to pay an influencer, then this is the best shot you’ve got. Creating your own channel and uploading engaging and thrilling content with consistency requires exceptional effort, time and creativity. The content must go viral to get attention from the target group. Tiktok users don’t pay heed to content that has not gone viral. Moreover, you need to be aware of all the trends that are prevalent on Tiktok and you must exploit them to entice users to your brand.
Even if a brand has the budget to use influencer marketing, it must also try to establish a strong channel for its brand. Brands can also make others share content that promotes them by engaging users with challenges, dares and prize contests. Moreover, using multiple strategies to market a brand, makes it more prominent. Chipotle is a great example that uses both influencer marketing and its own channel to promote its brand. It produces fun and exciting content on Tiktok that amuses fun-loving Gen-Z.
PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew is also driving Tiktok users crazy by introducing a branded effect on Tiktok. This campaign is to promote its Super Bowl commercial that was inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.” This aims to mesmerize the Tiktok users and entice them to make videos in their branded effect.
Create hype through Hashtag Challenges
A major contributor to Tiktok Marketing is the massive trend of Hashtag Challenges. A great way to start with it would be by pasting the hashtag on the packaging of your product and encouraging the users to dance while holding it to do the hashtag challenge and upload videos. Brands can attract a stellar number of users by making it a contest and offering the winners some exciting prizes.
Kind achieved mind-blowing success by introducing a hashtag challenge which made participants upload videos with captions that emphasize the bar’s crunch. The users had to incorporate hashtag #kindsimplecrunchcontest. The video with the highest views won and its creator received a free trip to New York and a year’s supply of Kind Simple Crunch Bars. According to the VP of digital marketing at Kind, the hashtag received 18 million views within 24 hours after its launch.
Triumph through paid advertising
Tiktok just started its advertising program to enable businesses to feature their ads on its app. It provides marketing solutions to brands including brand takeover ads, hashtag challenge ads, and infeed native ads or service. However, Tiktok advertising needs to be developed further and introduce more accurate measures of the efficacy of campaigns.
- Brand take over ads are highly effective as they are category exclusive and only a single brand can exploit it per day. Images, short videos, and GIFs lead to the landing page of a brand. Its reach can be measured by impressions and click rates.
- In-feed native ads are similar to ads between Instagram stories. They are skippable and also have the option to land on the brand page. The potency of the ad can be measured by click-through rates, impressions, total views, video viewing time, and the engagements received.
- Hashtag challenge ad is a banner on the discover page which redirects the user to the instructions page that mentions rules of the challenge. Its effectiveness can be measured through banner views, clicks, number of user-generated content, number of views, engagement, and trending slot. The #InMyDenim challenge of Guess is a successful example of the effectiveness of the hashtag challenge ad, where any user who opened the app got redirected towards the challenge page with the banner ad.
Make it count
Tiktok marketing can lead to gigantic profits if done right. Brands should ensure an active presence on Tiktok as it is an emerging platform attracting Gen-Z and Millenials. Use this article provides the ultimate guide to Tiktok marketing which can make your brand the victor in the battlefield of social media marketing.
