TikTok is on the rise, and there’s no sign of the popular app disappearing any time soon. Primarily used by the Millennial and Gen Z market, the mobile app allows users to create and share short videos. Some call it as Asia’s answer to Snapchat, and businesses are slowly running to this relatively new channel to capture the attention of their target market.
Are you thinking about using TikTok in your digital marketing game plan, but don’t know where to start? Read our guide.
Quick TikTok App Facts
Before getting ready to use TikTok to reach out to your market, here are some facts to introduce you to TikTok:
- Most videos are 15 seconds long, but you can create 60-second videos and mark them as ‘stories.’
- Teens and young adults from 13 to 24 years old often use the app, slanting towards females.
- In the beginning, TikTok was used as a music-sharing app. After gaining traction in its popularity, it broadened its video range. Makeup gurus, up and coming comedians, YouTubers who want to expand their reach and dancers, among others, have signed up for the app to show their skills and promote their personal brand. Now there are ‘TikTok influencers’ whose videos are shared and downloaded by the millions.
- Viewers do not need to follow TikTok accounts. They can simply go to the ‘Discover’ feature and scroll through the popular videos of the day. They can even search for videos depending on their interests and topics.
- Recently, TikTok has a growing range of ad options for businesses who want to use the platform to advertise their products and services. As well, some enterprises partner with TikTok influencers to talk about their brands.
@mgtenazasIs this the most awesome villa in the world? Can’t get enough of this slide! #fyp #foryou #sonevajani #maldives #tiktoktravel #travel #luxury♬ original sound – mgtenazas
How to Use TikTok to Promote Your Business?
TikTok marketing can complement your Instagram marketing strategy, especially now that the latter is riddled with spam or fake accounts. In order to maximize your account and promote your local business, use these different strategies to get your audience to pay attention to your brand and convert them from viewers from customers.
1. Use Songs
The San Diego Zoo knows how to combine cute animal videos and funky songs together into one effective video.
@sandiegozooSoCal vibes 😎 #ChasingHappiness #animals #meerkats #sandiegozoo #classdismissed♬ Ooh Ahh (My Life Be Like) – Grits
If your brand is fun and upbeat, you can incorporate music to add that ambience to your videos. Let’s say you’re a pastry shop and you like to find more customers on TikTok. You can try to add in lively music while recording a video of you creating a customised cupcake.
This is also good to help local bands find a wider audience. Cross-promoting over industries on TikTok helps brands gain more interest from other business accounts that they otherwise would not directly target.
2. Partner with TikTok
If budget allows, partnering with TikTok itself is a good way to get your brand the reach it needs. For instance, you’re an eco-friendly clothing brand whose main target market is young adults (17-25-year-olds) who are conscious about the environment and are looking for alternatives to their style. Knowing that TikTok is the place to be to engage with your market, you can create a hashtag challenge campaign to promote your brand and advocacy.
While Guess does not really have an advocacy to promote in their TikTok challenge, they nonetheless partnered with the app and worked with a hashtag challenge campaign and boost their denim pants. Their #InMyDenim challenge garnered 38 million views throughout the duration of their campaign and saw a positive change in their sales.
@danizvulunDo you love denim as much as I do? 💙#inmydenim guess♬ #inmydenim I’m a Mess – Bebe Rexha
They also partnered with UK singer Bebe Rexha and used her song “I’m a Mess” as the anthem for the challenge.
3. Keep it Fun
TikTok is an app that brings together content creators who want to share funny and cute videos, and you can use this to your advantage.
Let’s say you’re a gym who wants to spread the word that working out isn’t always as serious as it looks. Why not post (planned) bloopers, before-and-after videos, lighthearted gym humour, quick tutorials, or inspiring bench press videos to hype up how great working out it is, and how better it is to work out in your gym? This can take away the hesitations about going to a gym and staying fit as well as showing a different side of your business.
Do you know what account keeps it fun? ESPN is dominating TikTok like the platform was meant for them. They have 2.6 million followers and their posts are diverse, from recaps, athletes training, to even some meme-worthy videos like the one below that their followers would just love to share.
@espnFun guy x Billie Eilish 😂 #fun #nba #kawhi #foryou #dance #billieeilish♬ bad guy – Billie Eilish
TikTok is one of the newest platforms out there that won’t disappear into obscurity anytime soon. With a large user count and millions of content published every day, viewers will have so many videos to watch. Make your videos one their most-viewed and most-shared posts. Keep it creative and entertaining, embrace a more personal tone to approach your followers and always engage with them through challenges and cross-promotions.
Make the fun and entertaining world of TikTok work for you and your digital marketing plan.
Here at DigitalMaas, we are always happy to help you with your digital marketing needs particularly getting your local business up and running in the fastest way possible. Get in touch with us today for a free consultation so you know the best strategies you can perform to grow your local online presence. Click the link below to sign-up for free today!
