This post was originally published on November 8, 2021 and updated on May 6, 2023.
Information in this blog post was obtained from HubSpot, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Techradar
TikTok is a thrilling and innovative social media platform that has taken the world by storm, quickly becoming the most downloaded apps worldwide. With its short-format, video-focused content, TikTok offers a wide range of trending dances, sounds, and skits that will keep you entertained for hours. When you first open the app, you will be amazed by the endless feed of videos that come your way, tailored specifically to your interests and viewing history. The more you interact with videos, the more your feed gets personalized for you. You can either view a feed of videos from creators you follow or see what is call the For You Page (FY)P. You can really only scroll up and down on these pages, and they seem to be never ending.
The FYP is content created specifically for you. This is based on previous users you have followed and previous videos you have interacted with. The more you like and comment on a type of video, the more you will see on your FYP.
Getting Familiar with TikTok
Although TikTok is primarily an entertainment platform, brands have started to get creative in their presence. The key to success is to stay on top of trending content and avoiding using direct calls to action. There are plenty of ways to showcase your brand's personality on TikTok and different types of TikTok content. Below is a list of the different types of content you can find on TikTok.
Music Videos:
A fairly popular usage of the app is to use songs, or create songs, to dance to, lip sync, or tell a creative story. Users have gotten in the habit of doing the same dance as others, allowing the song to trend.
Comedic Shorts:
Most of the videos you will see are geared around making someone laugh. It is important to pay attention to any underlying meanings to things, as these can sometimes be difficult to understand. The punch line isn't always black and white.
Special effects/filters:
TikTok offers a wide variety of filters and special effects which aide in the message of the video. Often times though, they just make the video more fun.
Duets:
These allow a user to repost someone else's content with your video displaying next to it. Users use this to continue a punch line, do the same dance, sing another part of a song, and so on.
Stitches:
These allow a user to repost someone else's content with your video displaying after the original. Users use this feature to add another point of what someone was saying, continue on with the message of the original, and so on.
Brand Presence On TikTok
The presence of brands on TikTok is rapidly growing, with many companies focusing on brand awareness instead of traditional advertising. By staying up-to-date with trending content and emoji language, and engaging with users through comments and likes, brands can use TikTok to bring massive awareness to their products and services.
Originally you could not advertise your brand or product on TikTok, but could only create organic content. Brands have adapted to the advertising trend and created a meme-like culture that helps make their presence known.
These brands are focusing more on brand awareness rather than advertising. I have noticed that the person running these accounts need to be up-to-date not only on TikTok trends, but general internet slang and emoji language. The more likes and replies a comment has, the further up the comment thread it goes. Even the original creator interacting with this comment pushes it up even further.
Hashtags are also extremely influential and often reflect on what is trending. Most users may not post something that has anything to do with that hashtag, but because it is trending they will use it in hopes of pushing their video onto more FYPs.
Advertising on TikTok
For those looking to advertise on TikTok, there are various options to explore, from in-feed and image ads to advanced features like Spark Ads and Managed brands. With the TikTok Ad Manager, anyone can set up their advertising campaign in no time, allowing them to reach their target audience more effectively. There are many different types of ads on TikTok including
In-Feed Ads:
These are ads you can create yourself with the TikTok Ad Manager and will display in a users FYP.
Image Ads:
These will run only in TikTok's News Feed apps, like BuzzVideo or TopBuzz.
Spark Ads:
These ads allows your brand to boost organic content from your own account or from other users.
Pangle Ads:
These ads are placed through the TikTok Audience Network.
Managed brands ads:
Brands that use a TikTok sales rep and offer additional features like top view ads (ads that are first displayed on a users feed when the app is first opened) or branded effects.
The TikTok Ad Manager is fairly easy to use and allows you to set your budget and bidding strategy, select target audience, set up a schedule, or use the Automated Creative Optimization. This is recommended by TikTok for new users which allows TikTok to auto generate combinations of video and images and the ad system will only show the best performing ones.
Overall, TikTok is a remarkable platform that brands should not overlook. Embracing its raw and personable nature will help elevate your brand's social media presence while also engaging with a younger and more tech-savvy audience.
For more information on TikTok and how to use it, check out this post by Monica.
References
Bump, P. (2019, November 11). What is TikTok? and why marketers need to care. HubSpot Blog, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-tiktok.
Newberry, C. (2021, November 2). How to advertise on TikTok in 2021: An 8-step guide to using TikTok ADS. Social Media Marketing & Management Dashboard, from https://blog.hootsuite.com/tiktok-advertising/.
Jepson, O. (2021, November 2). 3 months into testing our tiktok marketing strategy: Here's what we learned. Sprout Social, from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/tiktok-marketing-strategy/.
Soni, J. (2021, August 10). TikTok is now the most downloaded App Worldwide. TechRadar, from https://www.techradar.com/news/tiktok-is-now-the-most-downloaded-app-worldwide.
Commentaires