TikTok Marketing: An In-Depth Guide For Brands via @sejournal, @theshelleywalsh

6 months ago 210

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TikTok is simply a highly influential social media platform that is invaluable for trends and accusation sourcing.

It mightiness not person the nonstop conversion of different platforms, but most brands should see a TikTok selling strategy.

As the size of the disposable assemblage grows, galore businesses are looking astatine however they tin harness the platform.

To physique a due TikTok concern beingness connected the platform, you request to relationship for the nuances and the predominant demographic and accessible assemblage connected the channel.

In this article, we volition beryllium looking astatine however businesses tin get started utilizing TikTok for selling and however you tin instrumentality afloat vantage of this short-video level for your brand.

Why Use TikTok For Marketing?

TikTok exploded onto the social media country successful the U.S. backmost successful 2018. It had a accelerated summation successful users and became the fastest-growing societal media level seen truthful far.

Now, with implicit 1.6 billion monthly progressive users, TikTok has go the 4th astir fashionable platform.

TikTok is dominated by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, which usage the transmission for merchandise probe and quality sourcing. They besides usage this societal media transmission arsenic an alternate to Google.

Figures from 2023 amusement that a third of U.S. adults usage TikTok, and nearly two-thirds of those nether 30 usage the influential platform.

62% of U.S. adults who usage TikTok are looking for merchandise reviews and recommendations.

17% of adults get their quality from TikTok, and this has grown fivefold from 2020 – a immense 39% of young adults nether 30 get their quality regularly from the platform.

The majority of accounts that users travel are from mid-tier influencers and tiny accounts.

TikTok besides experiences incredibly precocious engagement rates with its content. 46% of users prosecute with contented without distractions oregon multi-screening.

This means that TikTok is simply a level that has power for merchandise reviews and news, particularly with a younger audience. And that partnering with smaller influencers tin beryllium a mode to entree this focused attention.

How TikTok Works

While TikTok shows users a personalized feed, it doesn’t needfully amusement them contented from the accounts they travel similar different platforms do.

Instead, it uses an algorithm to amusement a “personalized accusation flow,” meaning radical get shown contented akin to what they’ve already liked.

So, if businesses tin make contented that aligns with trends oregon that’s akin to fashionable formats, it has the imaginable to beryllium shown to much users and adjacent spell viral.

You tin repurpose the short-form contented you make for different platforms, similar Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, to maximize its value. You tin besides straight nexus your societal media accounts truthful you tin cross-post automatically.

TikTok for Business makes it casual for brands and businesses to advertise connected TikTok with analytic tools and TikTok Ads Manager truthful you tin refine however you people users with paid content, too.

There’s besides the built-in TikTok ecommerce features done TikTok Shop that let businesses to database and merchantability products straight done the app.

Making usage of these features means that brands tin streamline the customer journey, taking users from discovering a caller merchandise to checking retired successful a fewer elemental steps.

The hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt highlights however immoderate products tin spell viral done TikTok contented and go must-have items.

How Is TikTok Used In Marketing?

There are a fig of ways a concern could usage TikTok for marketing:

Establishing an engaged assemblage online – gathering a assemblage of loyal customers and marque advocates with a precocious affinity for your business.
Improving marque awareness – getting your business’s sanction retired determination online and reaching a wider audience.
Showing disconnected products and services – showcasing caller products and fashionable services successful an effort to link them to much imaginable customers.
Highlighting testimonials from different users – pushing affirmative reviews from customers via a level to amended marque sentiment and authority.
Creating acquisition contented – helping to reply communal questions successful your manufacture oregon astir your concern truthful much radical recognize the worth your marque presents.
Making entertaining contented – the 2nd astir communal reason for utilizing societal media is to capable spare time, making entertaining and light-hearted the cleanable reply to this.

TikTok provides an perfect integer abstraction for each of these options.

Although TikTok focuses connected short-form video, photo, and communicative content, determination are a assortment of ways you tin make contented to usage for TikTok marketing.

The visual-first format suits each sorts of contented brands tin usage to execute their selling goals.

6 Types Of TikTok Content That Get Attention

1. Discussion-Based Content

Something that helps to turn some your illustration and your content’s scope is engagement.

Encouraging radical to actively remark connected your contented tin boost the scope of your post, arsenic TikTok sees it arsenic fashionable and engaging.

For example, Dr Pepper.

Asking users to respond to a prompt, specified arsenic “How bash you bash this,” “Wrong answers only,” oregon “Tag idiosyncratic who does this,” tin make absorbing and entertaining remark sections wherever radical tin explicit their creativity.

2. Reply-Based Content

If you person users responding to your contented done comments, you tin adjacent make contented that replies to those circumstantial submissions favored by makeup brands.

This tin physique connected erstwhile contented you’ve created oregon connection caller contented opportunities for you to dive into. Maybe a idiosyncratic has asked for much details oregon further footage of thing you showed successful a erstwhile video.

3. Trend-Based Content

By jumping onto fashionable trends oregon existent events, you tin seizure what is presently absorbing to users and enactment your ain marque rotation connected it.

TikTok’s trends are perpetually evolving astatine a accelerated pace, meaning that there’s ever thing caller you tin perchance get progressive with.

For example, Oreo is large astatine jumping connected existent events specified arsenic the eclipse.

TikTok’s Creative Center has a inclination quality tool, truthful you tin spot what’s trending astatine that infinitesimal successful time, including hashtags, songs, and circumstantial videos.

It’s indispensable that what you make is some existent to the inclination and feels authentic for your brand. Otherwise, users whitethorn consciousness you’re not creating contented for the close reasons (or telephone it “cringe”).

4. Behind-The-Scenes Content

Giving your assemblage a glimpse down the curtain tin beryllium a large mode to marque your contented much absorbing and authentic, specified as successful this example.

Social media contented allows businesses to springiness users a much candid look astatine however their marque operates, showing behind-the-scenes footage, outtakes from video content, and more.

Not lone does it humanize your brand, but it besides provides entertaining contented that radical tin prosecute with.

5. Shareable Content

TikTok’s existent societal constituent is shareable content. If a idiosyncratic enjoys thing capable and sees a relatable constituent wrong it, they’ll apt stock that contented with radical who volition besides get it.

Starbucks taps into this with some students and office workers.

If your concern creates contented that actively encourages radical to stock it with others they know, you’ll grow the scope of your posts and get much eyes connected your business.

6. How-To Content

Creating speedy video guides to utilizing your products and services tin beryllium invaluable contented for your business.

It could besides beryllium a usher connected however to bash thing that’s wrong your industry, alternatively than conscionable linked to your brand.

Home Depot shows america however to marque contented astir a toilet cistern. Scrub Daddy goes all-in connected cleaning the grill.

Users tin easy find tutorials produced by the marque itself, meaning that the contented is trustworthy.

How To Create A TikTok Marketing Strategy

Create Your TikTok Business Account

The archetypal measurement is to create your TikTok concern account, mounting up your illustration arsenic a concern relationship and ensuring your marque comes done successful your illustration representation and bio.

Once you person the app and person signed up, it’s a lawsuit of pursuing these elemental steps:

Tap the Profile icon successful the little close corner.
Click connected the hamburger menu successful the apical close of the Profile page.
Go to Settings and Privacy.
Click Account.
Select Switch to Business Account.
Choose the class that champion fits your business.

Your TikTok illustration should ideally align with your different societal accounts truthful that your marque individuality is wide and accordant crossed each platforms.

While the contented tin vary, your bio accusation should each beryllium up-to-date and constituent radical to the close places.

Understand The Platform

It’s hard to get to grips with TikTok without first-hand acquisition of however it each works. Take immoderate clip to usage the level arsenic a user, scrolling the For You page, checking retired antithetic hashtags, and seeing however different users make content.

It’s besides worthy diving into how the TikTok algorithm works to get an thought of however contented is ranked and pushed to users. This tin assistance usher however you usage the level arsenic a concern and contented creator, arsenic good arsenic spot what kinds of contented are intelligibly being favored by the algorithm.

TikTok’s Business Learning Center is simply a large starting constituent for an instauration to the platform, arsenic good arsenic immoderate cardinal lessons connected advertisement formats and different large features for businesses.

Set Our Goals For Using TikTok

Like selling connected immoderate societal media platform, you’ll request to determine what your wide goals are truthful you tin measurement your success.

That could beryllium gathering up your TikTok concern profile’s following, boosting income of circumstantial products oregon services, oregon clicking your main website to larn much astir your brand.

Maybe you privation to adhd paid contented to your strategy oregon summation the fund aft seeing affirmative results. It could beryllium that you privation to propulsion much into trending contented and request to walk much clip researching existent TikTok trends.

Define Your Audience For TikTok

Once you person your illustration acceptable up and an thought of however TikTok works, deliberation astir your audience. While Gen Z is the astir communal property demographic connected the platform, plentifulness of different property groups are active.

Understanding the age, gender, location, interests, and much surrounding your people assemblage connected TikTok volition assistance you to commencement reasoning astir however your contented tin entreaty to these users.

You tin spell adjacent deeper and commencement to build lawsuit travel maps, identifying what mightiness motivate a idiosyncratic to bargain your merchandise oregon service, what concerns they mightiness have, and what they mightiness privation to cognize astir your business.

Complete A Competitor Audit

As TikTok is becoming truthful popular, determination is plentifulness of contention with brands already experimenting. So, tally a afloat TikTok rival audit to assistance you recognize wherever your marque stands successful narration to your competitors.

Look astatine these different brands to recognize however they’re utilizing TikTok and the types of contented they’re producing. As your audiences are apt to beryllium similar, you tin get an thought of what contented is resonating with those users.

However, it’s important to inactive beryllium unsocial connected TikTok, truthful marque definite you’re not simply copying contented you’ve seen completely. TikTok is afloat of inspiration for caller ideas.

Aside from your nonstop competitors and industry, you tin besides instrumentality inspiration from different contented and hashtags that are trending arsenic this is cardinal to however TikToks tin spell viral.

Look At The Different TikTok Ad Types

As a TikTok concern account, you volition besides person entree to TikTok ads. These instrumentality antithetic forms connected the platform, truthful it’s a bully thought to get to cognize them.

Running TikTok Paid Ads

With TikTok Ad Manager, creating paid ads for the level is incredibly easy. Rather than posting contented organically, you tin acceptable a fund down a video oregon photograph and person TikTok propulsion it to caller users.

This tin summation the visibility of your contented to caller audiences. It’s managed each done the Ad Manager with analytics to way impressions and engagement.

You tin besides usage TikTok Promote to boost your existing content and livestreams, helping your concern illustration to summation caller followers and summation traffic.

Consider Using TikTok Influencers

TikTok influencers are users with engaged audiences and precocious follower counts compared to the mean user.

They tin scope from micro influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers, up to personage influencers connected the level with follower counts successful the hundreds of millions.

Working with influencers tin beryllium a large mode to get your marque successful beforehand of caller audiences.

As mentioned above, the mid-tier influencers are the accounts that are followed the most. So, moving with smaller influencers tin beryllium a beardown strategy.

Fender has large examples here and here.

When partnering with an influencer, it’s important to take 1 that has immoderate overlap with your audience.

There are plentifulness of tools retired determination to assistance lucifer your concern illustration with suitable influencers, specified arsenic HypeAuditor’s escaped Audit Checker.

Look Into Affiliate Marketing On TikTok

Affiliates are an effectual mode to get your marque noticed by having aggregate users talking astir your brand.

While perchance not arsenic authentic arsenic influencers, the discount codes and vouching done by the affiliate tin inactive assistance person users into customers.

Create Your TikTok Marketing Calendar

At this point, you should person an thought of who your assemblage is, what benignant of contented you’d similar to create, which hashtags you privation to include, and whether you’d privation to experimentation utilizing paid ads oregon partnerships.

You tin present paid contented astatine immoderate time, but it tin besides beryllium a large instrumentality to get your illustration disconnected the ground.

With the accusation you have, you tin commencement to map retired contented creation and posting dates truthful you tin get a afloat presumption of your selling calendar.

By having an organized program of what needs to beryllium achieved, you tin support up your TikTok contented accumulation and station regularly.

As with each societal media channels, consistency is key.

Monitor Your Profile’s TikTok Analytics

After you’ve acceptable your strategy successful motion, show the analytics TikTok provides.

By tracking however your contented and illustration are performing, you tin usage this accusation to commencement readying however you tin refine your TikTok selling strategy.

This doesn’t mean you request to beryllium reactionary and alteration everything if the metrics aren’t wherever you’d similar initially. It tin instrumentality clip for caller profiles to get going.

What is utile is noting down what contented has done well, what contented you’ve spotted that could beryllium bully for your brand, and wherever you tin marque improvements.

These tin past beryllium discussed astatine a reappraisal checkpoint erstwhile looking astatine your goals. Then, you tin acceptable caller goals for your concern and proceed the process.

6 Examples Of Brands Marketing On TikTok

1. Duolingo

By having an anthropomorphized mascot, Duolingo takes vantage of assorted trends and audio, utilizing Duo arsenic the prima of the video.

Happy Duo and Sad Duo examples.

The online satellite has besides turned Duo into a meme, arsenic the app often notifies users astir lessons.

This has been parodied into Duo being an intimidating teacher figure, which the brand’s TikTok relationship past uses to station shareable, user-generated content.

2. Scrub Daddy

Scrub Daddy has a beardown marque and a beardown pursuing connected TikTok, wherever it posts trend-based contented utilizing its merchandise arsenic a substitute for a character.

However, it besides has immoderate large examples of acquisition contented astir its merchandise and however to usage it effectively.

Such arsenic Scrub Hub and however to usage them successful hot and acold water.

Scrub Daddy has besides been speedy to leap connected trends specified arsenic Subtle Foreshadowing.

3. NBA

The NBA has an incredibly palmy TikTok illustration that features highlights from caller games.

It does a large occupation astatine showing the champion bits of its merchandise – the matches – to entice much radical to ticker the afloat games. Did Anthony Edwards truly conscionable bash this?

The captions and substance that the NBA TikTok relationship adds to its posts are authentic to the TikTok video format, contempt utilizing professionally changeable footage.

This makes its contented consciousness much astatine location connected the level contempt not being changeable utilizing a telephone arsenic the bulk of TikTok contented is.

4. Crocs

As a cult manner product, Crocs has rather a pursuing crossed societal media.

The Crocs TikTok relationship features tons of lo-fi contented that feels autochthonal to the platform, but it besides uses it to diagnostic authoritative collaborations specified arsenic Fortnite and Shrek Crocs.

It besides leans into timely contented and partnerships with influencers similar the Rockettes.

5. Chipotle

Mexican concatenation Chipotle has besides grown its TikTok pursuing to a respectable size, too.

One of its favored forms of contented is “hack” content, utilizing user-generated contented that mixes up fashionable items from Chipotle’s paper to make caller foods.

These usually impact nutrient influencers, specified arsenic Logan and Yano, who bring their assemblage to Chipotle’s profile, which is a large mode to turn and scope an established audience.

6. Gucci

Luxury manner brands are besides making afloat usage of TikTok marketing, bringing their concern to the level with their ain instrumentality connected content.

With galore celebrities wearing customized articles, arsenic good arsenic others acting arsenic marque ambassadors, Gucci features them heavy wrong its content.

It tin besides bring successful red-carpet events similar the Gladiator II premiere and Olivier Awards to support its contented existent and relevant.

It besides uses TikTok to showcase behind-the-scenes contented from its runway looks, giving much discourse to the apparel that radical person seen, specified arsenic deconstructing Sabato De Sarno’s creations.

How TikTok Can Work For Brands

The champion mode to get started is conscionable to effort and experimentation to spot what works for your brand. Try antithetic formats and spot what connects with your audience.

It tin instrumentality immoderate clip to get afloat comfy with the platform, particularly if you don’t usage it personally, truthful commencement by emulating different palmy brands and TikToks and past commencement getting originative with your ain ideas.

Depending connected the fund disposable to you, harvester integrated TikToks with paid content.

Balancing the 2 with a dependable accumulation of high-quality branded contented that shows your marque disconnected volition assistance to get traction.

Ultimately, focusing connected being authentic, creative, and jumping connected trends is the champion attack to instrumentality for selling connected TikTok.

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