How to Develop a Marketing Strategy for TikTok (and Why You Need It)
The fuel of this platform is the creativity of teens. Thus, TikTok has become an engine that drives hit songs, products and marketing campaigns.
When Ke$ha released her song “Tik Tok,” she quickly climbed the charts, becoming the best-selling single in 2010, especially popular with teens. Today, Tik Tok, the app, is on the App Store’s top charts, becoming the fourth most downloaded non-2018 mobile app (pre-Instagram), especially popular with teens. With its creative teens, TikTok is an engine that drives hit songs, products and marketing campaigns. So … what do Tik Tok and teens have in common? Also, how to successfully develop your own Tik Tok strategy?
What is TikTok?
TikTok was originally called Musical.ly and is used mainly by teens who make karaoke over their favorite songs. Chinese company ByteDance has purchased Musical.ly and implemented it in its own TikTok application, creating a global platform. If you open the app, you will only find pure creativity. It allows users to create 15-second videos (which can be combined to make longer videos) using filters, effects, music, editing tools and more in the app. It’s no longer a karaoke app, it’s a self-expression app. Led by creativity and community, this is an app where teens feel comfortable displaying their creativity in unique skills.
“If I go as a marketer to another platform, I get likes, shares, or comments. If I upload a video to TikTok, I get new inspirations and real people in front of me “- Stefan Heinrich [TikTok Global Marketing Manager]
Why should you know about the existence of TikTok?
Some quick facts:
- TikTok has been downloaded more than 1 billion times and has 500 million monthly active users
- A monthly increase of 275% is seen in monthly new users
- Users spend an average of 52 minutes per day in the app
- 41% of consumers are 16-24 years old
How do brands, artists and celebrities use TikTok?
Well, here’s where it gets interesting. To think about how to use TikTok for your product, service or brand, let’s take a look at what others are doing …
GUESS
GUESS launches TikTok’s first ever fashion takeover with the #InMyDenim campaign, which encourages consumers to mask their GUESS jeans in a creative way. GUESS uses influencers to kick-start the challenge itself. The campaign ran from September 1, 2018 to September 6, 2018; During this period, TikTok users were challenged when the app was opened. And a little more data – there are 37.4 million video views that use the hashtag #InMyDenim.
“The tastes and desires of these digital users are driving the future of social media and culture. A stunning brand presentation requires unique, engaging content and integrated involvement. ”- Edward Park, SVP of Retail and Digital at GUESS
Jimmy Fallon
To launch a new kind of “challenge” for NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Jimmy Fallon uses TikTok to launch the #tumbleweedchallenge – the challenge is for users to make a video of them rolling across the floor like a desert ball and upload it to TikTok. In less than a week, the challenge has generated over 8,000 videos and more than 10.4 million engagements. According to the company, #tumbleweedchallenge is the biggest leap in engagement that TikTok has ever seen from a challenge.
After the #tumbleweedchallenge, Fallon launched a new challenge, the #sharpiechallenge, in which viewers should try to toss and grab a permanent marker with the same hand, open it, and draw mustache on their face as quickly as possible. The challenge has helped raise awareness of Cancer’s Movember campaign. [Interesting: Since then, he has posed many challenges.]
We are looking for things that really engage people, and TikTok is a place where you can let your creativity shine. […] There is this short-lived mobile energy here. ”- Julie Harrison-Harney [Director of Digital for“ The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ”]
Google’s hashtag advertising campaign – #HeyGoogleHelp – on TikTok’s homepage, which invites users to create videos that use their Google Assistant (whether through their Google Assistant app, Google phone, or Google Home). Currently, the hashtag has 190 million video views. Of course, Google also uses influencers to help spread the initiative.
Return on investment with TikTok
Like other social media applications, the return on investment on TikTok will translate into better awareness and engagement rather than sales or direct revenue. The app will also help you reach a younger demographic group and maybe one that you don’t reach through other social platforms. Lil Nas X said: “TikTok presented my song to several different audiences at once.” However, the key metrics behind TikTok are awareness and engagement – which should be important to you, as these metrics can be indicators of brand loyalty and therefore, possibly sales.
In addition, TikTok makes it extremely easy to download videos and, therefore, they are often collected on YouTube for thousands or millions of new people to watch. YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, or Facebook are coming in, and these short TikTok videos are online everywhere.
Develop your own strategy on TikTok
It’s time to start building your presence on TikTok. There are six components to consider when developing a TikTok strategy:
Challenges / Hashtag campaign
TikTok is fraught with challenges, as mentioned above. Creating a challenge is a great way to promote your brand and encourage engagement. If you’re a performer, you might be able to do something that revolves around your last song / album. If you are a brand, think of a fun way for someone to interact with your brand (similar to Google or Guess).
Challenging elements:
Difficulty
When creating a challenge, make sure there is a good level of difficulty. Jimmy Fallon’s challenge is difficult in a sense, as not many people would want to make it public. People like to show the hard things they can do.
Creativity
Allow yourself a little flexibility in the challenge – people like to have guidance but not be told exactly what to do. Enable users to make their own mark on the challenge. GUESS and Google did a great job in their hashtag campaigns. With GUESS, jeans become a very personal item and allow users to show how they wear them (especially using all the effects, filters and stickers that TikTok provides) is a great way to encourage creativity. With the Google campaign – the capabilities of Google Asisstant are almost endless in what it can do – allowing users this freedom, rather than a campaign where users ask their Google Assitant a specific question, allows for more creativity and thus for more involvement.
Duet Duet is another way to use a hashtag campaign in a unique way that really encourages engagement. This feature lets you record yourself in duet influencer videos by responding to what they say. Inflation views are pre-recorded, leaving full freedom for users to improvise on their digital stage behavior again
Influencers
Of course, like other social channels, the impact of TikTok is widespread and can help to promote your campaign to millions of followers. Authenticity and content determination is a critical factor in choosing an influencing factor. GUESS, Google and other brands that used TikTok used influencers to help spread their campaigns for challenges or hashtags. However, choosing the right influencer and creating content that fits their brand is of utmost importance.
Limits
Creating limits on your marketing efforts is vital to foster engagement and engagement. If one does not have the time limit to complete a task, one is less likely to do it; give someone a time limit and they will act faster. If you’re creating a challenge or offering some kind of sale using an influencer, make sure that consumers know they only have a certain number of days to engage with your product / service / brand in this unique way. Note that the GUESS campaign lasted only one week – in fact, it encouraged more participation than stifling it, as users were eager to participate before it ended.
Authenticity
Authenticity, of course, is a major pillar of any social strategy, but unlike other social channels like Instagram, TikTok is still quite pure – it is based on self-expression and authenticity. Brands have not yet completely flooded the boundaries of TikTok So if you want something to happen on the platform, there must be an extremely high level of authenticity or you will be rejected by the TikTok community.
If you need help with anything regarding the platform, don’t hesitate to contact us.
