Have you come across the latest social media trend during lockdown? Our Knutsford web design agency take a closer look to see how to use TikTok for your business.
What is TikTok
TikTok refers to itself as the “destination of short-form mobile videos” with a mission to inspire creativity and bring joy. Users can create videos ranging from between 5-60 seconds in length with access to a range of filters, effects and even a music library.
Having launched in 2016, the growth of TikTok continues to surpass its social media rivals. Last year alone, the application was installed more than 738 million times, making it the second most downloaded app of the year, only surpassed by WhatsApp. Today, the app is the sixth largest social media network with over 1.65 billion downloads.
Is your audience on TikTok?
According to company documents, the average user opens TikTok more than 8 times a day. With a daily average of 46 minutes, the largest demographic of TikTok users is between the ages of 16 and 24. This audience is also known as the Gen Z demographic.
Furthermore, according to State of Video Marketing, reports indicate the number of businesses who are using video marketing as part of their digital marketing services have increased to 85% in 2020. The reason behind this is simple; consumers now watch an average of 16 hours of online video every week.
You will know your target audience better than anyone else. Have you tested your products/services on other digital marketing services with success? If your product is targeting Generation Z, TikTok is a creative canvas where you can have fun promoting your brand.
Branded #hashtag challenge
The most popular and a very creative way to promote your business on TikTok is by launching a #hashtag challenge. A hashtag challenge is when you encourage TikTok users to recreate or create content and then add your business hashtag to it where other users can view and search content with the same hashtags.
According to TikTok, 35% of users will participate in hashtag challenge at some point with 16% of all TikTok content made from hashtag challenges.
In addition to your feed, branded hashtags will also appear in the trending section of the discover tab promoting great brands exposure. When a user clicks on the hashtag, they will be brought to the challenge page which will include a description of the challenge. Brands can also pay extra to secure the upper banner position.
Several large brands have gotten involved with great success including Pepsi, NFL and Universal Pictures. The brand Guess were one of the first companies to launch a hashtag challenge where they encouraged TikTok users to film themselves wearing their latest range of clothing with the hashtag #InMyDenim.
TIP – If you are a small business, instead of trying to make a hashtag challenge go viral on your own, you can use promoted hashtags to get more engagement.
In-feed video ads
Much like when you view a YouTube video, businesses can promote their brands, products or services with 5-15 second-long ads that are promoted before TikTok videos start.
Like most social media platforms, users can engage with in-feed video ads by liking, sharing, commenting or clicking to view profiles as they can with organic content. If you offer e-commerce services, this particular feature could be useful if you want to promote a new product from your e-commerce store.
With advertising available to purchase using the auction model, TikTok adverting can target audience by gender, age, location and a number of other unique variables so you can truly target your target audience. For more advanced digital marketing services, you can also create ‘custom audiences’ or “lookalike audiences” to reach an audience similar to your existing customers.
Create branded lenses
We’ve all seen branded or sponsored filters when we have been playing on Snapchat.
Well businesses can partner with TikTok to create 2D and 3D lenses for users to try and share when creating their videos. When creating a 2D or 3D lenses, this will promote your business in the trending section of the discover tab for the next 10 days.
Create an influencer partnership
You’ve seen how successful influencer marketing can be on other social media platforms and TikTok is no different. By collaborating and finding the right influencer partnership, you can promote your e-commerce services or latest product range infront of thousands of follows which will boost engagement and brand awareness instantly.
You can ask your TikTok influencer to promote your content in a number of ways including;
- Talk about and explain your product in a TikTok video
- Recreate your TikTok brand video to larger audience
- Post about your brand/product in the video description
- Link your brand and website in the description of their video
A lot of brands have teamed up with influencers to promote hashtag challenges, or simply to promote products. TikTok even provides lists of potential creators to brands.
Do you think could be of any use to promote your business? As a knutsford web design agency, we would love to hear from you if you have had any success.
Looking to grow your website? We are a Knutsford web design agency who can create your website and offer a range of e-commerce services and digital marketing services. Please get in touch and let’s plan the growth of your website today.