TikTok is undoubtedly a new and exciting frontier for digital marketers, and for many brands, this can be overwhelming to say the least. Getting started is the hardest part, but if you follow these 6 simple tips - trust us - you will start to see predictable growth, unmatched by any other platform right now. It's an exciting space that offers a wealth of opportunity and potential for you and your brand and now couldn’t be a better time to get involved.
Influencers know what makes people tick (and tok). As TikTok is an always-on, creative-led platform, creators of all sizes are an invaluable resource for inspiration for your brand. Understanding what’s working for creators in your niche can, and should inform your approach to brand creative as they know how to create compelling and authentic content which will resonate with your target audience.
Follow leading creators/influencers in your niche and study their best-performing videos. Find them by searching hashtags on the discover page that your target audience and people within your niche would use, then look for the videos with the most engagement. Finding and understanding your community is key to success on TikTok.
Trends are super important when creating authentic and meaningful creative. Typically, a 'trend' has a lifespan of between 7-14 days however do not live and die by this timeframe. If an older trend really connects with your brand and produces engaging and entertaining content - go for it. Entertainment is the fundamental key 🔑. Keep on top of the trending sounds, hashtags, and effects.
Top Tip: TikTok sends a weekly trend report to keep you up to date on what's hot now which you can find in the notifications of the app.
“Create ads that convert”
TikTok has made it incredibly easy for you to spy on your competitors. Using the TikTok creative centre, you can see top ads on TikTok. It even lets you filter by region, industry, and campaign objective. This means you can really hone in on your research to see what has worked best for previous brands + campaigns, in order to inform your future. You can see the precise moment that drives the highest CTR (as well as other metrics). Study this, use it to your advantage and create ads that convert!
This is a huge jump away from the carefully curated comments on your Instagram, which focuses more on 🔥 emojis and less on authentic interactions with your community.
It cannot be stressed enough, engaging with people in your comments section will drive further engagement and increase your chance of going viral.
Be reactive to the comment section.
Reply to customers (both negative and positive comments). Call people out who are misrepresenting your brand. Banter similar brands or even burn brands who rip you off! Use comments to generate new marketing ideas. A comment got a lot of interaction? Great, that’s a new content angle.
Let’s say you’re selling a hoodie, and someone wants to know what the fit is like. Make a video reply showing how the hoodie fits on a model. You could even use it for a feed post.
This shouldn’t even need mentioning, but trust us you will be surprised with how many brands skip this fundamental.
TikTok is a sound-on platform. Videos utilising sound perform 2.2x better than competitors with the sound turned off.
Include audio of any kind, the more relevant the better. Remember to study and use trending sounds. Following the trends means you are more likely to end up on someone's FYP which means more eyeballs on your ad, resulting in more conversions.
We’re aware that this ‘tip’ should go without saying, so we’ll give you a 7th one for free!
Ironically, this is the longest section of the post.
There’s a myth floating around the marketing world that the human attention span is now shorter than that of a goldfish. While it may be true that attention spans are getting shorter, it’s a stretch to say that we are now less capable than a goldfish.
Instead, let’s look at it from a different angle. According to CogniFit, attention is not one single process but broken up into six separate processes:
Each process applies to different circumstances and can vary from person to person, so it’s not as simple as just saying that it’s getting shorter, but looking at the wider context of why it may be hard to focus.
A Danish study found that our collective attention spans may be being affected by the sheer amount of information we are being bombarded with at all times. This means it is getting harder to give content our selective and sustained attention, which is when we are most likely to take in and absorb information.
It’s important to create eye-catching, scroll stopping ads, because we are competing with an abundance of other stimuli at the same time. But when doing so, try and keep them short, around 21-34 seconds long. 25% of top ads are around this length.
Organic-looking ads perform best on TikTok. The most successful retailers have shifted focus from pushing products out to pulling customers in. Consumers expect brands to understand them, what they like, what they dislike while showing up in an authentic way.
It’s important to consider your brands:
And when you think about your brands community, you need to consider:
Aligning these will mean that your brand can better connect with your audience, stay relevant as well as being relatable which are all key to building a successful organic strategy.
