Information in this blog post was obtained from Sproutsocial.com, Socialmediatoday.com, and Hubspot.com.
The big question today is: How do I grow a following on TikTok? We've gone over whether TikTok can help you grow your brand and what specific tools TikTok offers to creators. Now that we know the power TikTok holds, we have to figure out how to use it for our brands and how to grow a following not only among our target audiences but with the general public to increase brand awareness. Everyone knows who the green owl belongs to, and this only proves how some marketing knowledge, creativity, and passion can go a long way.
Why Should I Use TikTok?
Many people think TikTok is just the newest social media craze that exists only for challenges, pranks, and dance videos. TikTok is so much more than that. Q1 of 2022 shows us that once again TikTok was the most downloaded app beating Instagram, Facebook, and many other Meta apps that were leading the charts for years. TikTok also reported a record quarter for in-app spending of over $840 million. This is up about $800 million for Q1 of 2020. TikTok's reports also show us that U.S. spending on TikTok has increased about 125% quarter-over-quarter.
What Does This Mean for My Brand?
All these numbers sound amazing but how does this apply to my brand specifically? Good question. According to TikTok, 49% of users (which is a number close to 490 million people) seek and find something new that they never knew about on the app each month! That could be your brand. Before TikTok I had no idea what DouLingo was, now that I follow my favorite green owl my brand awareness of DouLingo has grown so much and I look forward to their videos coming up on my feed. If you're able to create content that is creative and attracts people to your page you will have endless possibilities for your brand.
TikTok has been recognized as the top social media app in terms of engagement with a session duration of 10.85 minutes, followed by Pinterest with an average session duration of 5.06 minutes. That's half of TikTok time, and goes to show that if you're not on TikTok yet you need to do so ASAP.
Gina Nacnac, manager of brand partnerships at HireInfluence, shared about the importance of TikTok marketing for brands in 2022:
"In 2022, we’re going to see a rise in Content Creators on TikTok that create content specifically for the brand’s owned channel appearing as the face of the brand for a contracted period of time, like quarterly or every six months. This is going to provide more opportunities for smaller creators to monetize and will provide ways for brands to connect with consumers authentically through relatable creator content."
How Do I Grow a Following?
Identify Your Target Audience
Like every other social media platform, there's a variety of demographics, niches, locations, etc. Once you nail down who your target audience is on TikTok then it's time to create content aimed at this audience. Remember your goal isn't to 'go viral' but instead to connect with your audience in a way that educates and entertains your target audience.
Leverage Trends
Get in on the trends! This is what TikTok is all about. It's important to remember that brand image is very important and sometimes it's okay to skip out on certain trends. Keep up with your target audience and what trends they're participating in and join in on those.
Educate Your Followers
Teach your followers something new. This includes ideas like a day in the life vlog highlighting the things you do each day, a video informing your audience about new services/ products your brand is offering, etc.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags are featured on social media posts across several social media sites. Make the most of all the features provided.
Cross-Promote Your Videos
We hope that TikTok isn't the only place you're marketing. Assuming your brand also has an Instagram page it may be a good idea to repurpose your content thereby uploading your TikToks as Instagram reels. If you're worried about the watermarks on the video you also have the option to remove these and make your content look native to that specific site.
Post at the Right Time
Timing is important! It may not be the best idea to post your video at 4:32 am considering most of your target audience will be sleeping. TikTok has a scheduling tool available to help manage your posts like other social media sites. We highly recommend that you take advantage of these features.
Create (and Participate in) Challenges
Challenges are ever-changing and abundant. Be prepared to have some fun. Consumers want to see the personality behind a brand and don't want something that feels very corporate and boring. They want to see the fun side of their favorite brands.
Engage With Other TikTok Creators
Engage with creators on the platform by stitching or duetting to increase engagement. Check out Duolingo and Scrub Daddy's recent collabs that have been going viral and got over 17 million views on both accounts with their collab videos.
Create Your Own Challenges
Find fun ways to engage with your audience and increase awareness by starting challenges, contests, or your own hashtag trend.
Remember: Be creative, have fun, and most importantly there's no better time to start than now. TikTok continues to grow in popularity and with a little bit of creativity, persistence, and following the tips in the blog post then you can be well on your way to building a following for your brand on TikTok.
Check out this blog post about the strategy behind using TikTok.
Resources
Sheikh, M. (2022, March 24). How to use TikTok for business effectively and grow your audience. Sprout Social. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/tiktok-for-business/
Garlin, B. (2022, April 11). How does the TikTok algorithm work in 2022? HubSpot Blog. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tiktok-algorithm
Hutchinson, A. (2022, April 7). TikTok continues to lead the download charts in Q1, sees record in-app spending. Social Media Today. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/tiktok-continues-to-lead-the-download-charts-in-q1-sees-record-in-app-spen/621797/
Comments