Grow Your Brand’s TikTok’s Presence
If you’re a small business looking to grow your brand’s TikTok presence, the key is to create interesting TikTok marketing content. It’s important to understand the platform’s user base and the kind of content that resonates with its younger audience.
Research Trending Content
If you don’t know where to get content ideas, the easiest way is to start on the TikTok app itself. Use the Discovery page to look for trending content and hashtags.
When you start typing in a keyword in the search bar, TikTok automatically suggests related hashtags based on what you wrote. If you make a video based on a trending hashtag, the TikTok algorithm ensures there’s a chance that users will discover your content.
You can also use the same methods you’d use to come up with good blog post ideas, such as thinking about the problems or topics your target audience is interested in or doing keyword research. But with TikTok, it’s always best to ask your audience what they want to see.
Be Authentic: Start or Participate in a TikTok Challenge
Showcase your brand’s authentic self. TikTok’s predominantly Gen Z audience generally likes brands that are bold and authentic. One way to be genuine and show your brand’s fun side is to participate in a TikTok hashtag challenge.
Challenges are an excellent way for brands to reach millions of users because the hashtags associated with the challenge are discoverable by audiences.
Creating branded content on TikTok isn’t the same as other social platforms. TikTok users usually don’t care about an account’s popularity — as long as an account produces content users like, there’s a good chance it will gain attention and go viral.
You don’t need smooth dance moves or professionally produced videos to use the platform successfully.
For example, look at Washington Post’s TikTok account. You might not expect the younger generation to be interested in it, but its content includes employees incorporating popular TikTok memes to produce bite-sized news. The account has over 30 million likes and is on its way to one million followers.
A TikTok account with viral posts also presents an opportunity to cross-promote challenges on your other social media platforms. You can also invite your followers to be part of your TikTok community.
Use the Right Hashtags
For your content to be discovered, you need to put some thought into TikTok search engine optimization (SEO). The easiest way to do this is by adding hashtags.
If you don’t know what hashtags to use, type in a relevant keyword in the search section, and TikTok will suggest a range of related hashtags
There’s no limit to the number of hashtags you can add, but a video’s caption is limited to 100 characters. Two to three hashtags is optimal, so you can still include a description of your video.
User-Generated Content
While it’s fun, TikTok marketing can be hard work. It takes a lot of thought and creativity to create content that resonates with users.
This is where user-generated content comes in. For instance, if you search #nike on TikTok, you’ll find videos of people with their Nike shoes — be it wearing them, showing them off, or even painting them. This is free advertisement for the brand.
Create a branded hashtag and encourage your followers to use it, and repost the best content from the hashtag often. Your followers will appreciate it.
Collaborate With TikTok Influencers
Another option small business can use in their TikTok marketing strategy is to partner with influencers to create branded content.
A whopping 86% of marketers have used influencer marketing to raise brand awareness or generate sales, and you can use this tactic on TikTok too.
TikTok influencer marketing has become a large part of the app’s ecosystem, with its top content creators raking in millions of dollars from ad revenue and endorsement deals.
Good thing is you don’t always have to hire the most popular influencers. There are micro- and even nano-influencers who you can partner with to help you get results. These smaller creators may even garner you more brand engagement than their larger counterparts.
To partner with influencers, start by searching for relevant content on TikTok and shortlist TikTokers you think would be a good fit for your business.
Advertise on TikTok
Advertising on TikTok is a great way to market your business. With TikTok advertising, you don’t have to spend a lot of time building an audience. When you set up your ad campaign, you’ll usually be able to reach your target audience within 24 hours.
There are five different types of TikTok ads:
In-feed video ads: These are short-form videos that appear in a user’s feed or the For You page.
Branded hashtags: Brands ask TikTok users to record themselves doing something, such as a lip-sync video, choreographed dance, or challenge, and then post it with a specific hashtag. The ads are found at the top of the Discovery page. Clicking on the hashtag takes users to a collection of videos from the challenge.
TopView ads: These are 60-second full-screen ads on a delayed play, so they don’t appear during app start-up.
Branded effects: Like Snapchat branded filters or Instagram AR filters, TikTok’s branded effects can be custom stickers, filters, and lenses that users can add to their video. Branded effects are available for ten days.
Brand takeover: These are three- to five-second video ads that appear as soon as someone opens the app. These may also appear on the For You feed and can include a hashtag or website link.
Most small businesses find the in-feed video ads most effective as the other types are more suited to companies with larger advertising budgets.
To get started with ads, make sure you upgrade to a TikTok For Business account and check out guides to TikTok advertising.
TikTok Marketing Best Practices
If you’re interested in establishing a presence on the social media platform, take note of the following TikTok marketing practices.
Create a TikTok Bio
When you start using TikTok, create a detailed bio so people can learn about you. A bio is also an excellent way to include links to your website and social profiles and a call to action.
Post Frequently
Like other social platforms, there are recommended times for posting on TikTok to get the best results. But remember, the practices that work for one business may not work for yours.
TikTok rewards consistency. Start by posting three to five times a week at different times to see what works best. Then, review your engagement stats at the end of the week and adjust accordingly. Consider creating a content calendar to help you plan content.
Additional tips:
The first step to developing a TikTok content strategy is to know your niche. Before you choose a topic, format, or song for your TikTok video, you need to know who you’re talking to. What’s the reason you’re on TikTok and what are you promoting? For example, your goal might be to grow your influence, your other social media accounts, or your email list.
Once you know your purpose for using TikTok, the next step is to decide what kind of TikTok content will help you meet that objective.
To capitalize on content that’s designed around trends, make sure you publish it while that trend is still fresh. For your evergreen TikTok content, you can batch-record it and post it throughout the day.
To determine the optimal time to reach your followers, look at your TikTok analytics. This data will give you insight into when your followers are typically online throughout the day and week. Once you have this information in hand, I recommend posting your TikTok videos an hour before people usually come online.
If you’re trying to reach a broader audience, think about when people are generally active on social media. That’s probably early morning, when they get off work, and right before they go to bed.
Of course, everyone’s audience is different so you’ll need to experiment with your posting times to see what works best for your account.
To get access to TikTok analytics, you need to have a creator account. To check what account type you have, tap on the three dots in the upper-right corner of your TikTok profile.
On the Settings and Privacy page, look at the account type listed. If it says Creator, you’re all set. If it says Personal, click Switch to Pro Account and follow the prompts to set up a creator account.
And last, make sure that you use Trending Sounds to Boost Views and Engagement on TikTok.
When you create how-to and business videos for TikTok, adding a trending sound to your content can give you a boost in views and engagement.
With a little bit of creativity, TikTok offers promising opportunities for brands. Even if you don’t have a huge budget for advertising or a dedicated content studio for the channel, the best opportunities have appeared in the form of user-generated content. Incorporating TikTok into your user-generated content strategy can give you an easily scalable approach to this platform without making your brand feel inauthentic. Remember, it’s still new, so test and try new campaign ideas, the sky is the limit.
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