Introduction
TikTok is a fairly new social media platform. It has seen significant growth over the last two years and now has around 500 million active users per day. It has grown in popularity in international markets including the United States. Some marketers have had a lot of success with the platform while many others have failed.
In this report we will share with you the 8 secrets to marketing success with TikTok. If you read this report and follow the advice in it then you will have a much greater chance of getting the results that you want.
So please read this short report from start to finish and take action to create a winning presence on TikTok. You need to understand what TikTok is all about and who likes it and why. It’s all here for you so let’s get to it.
TikTok Appeals To A Younger Generation
The first thing that you need to ask yourself is whether or not the products and services that you sell are going to appeal to Generation Z youngsters. We are talking about younger individuals less than 30 years old here.
Not only that but TikTok is a visual medium that consists of short video clips either 15 seconds or 60 seconds long. Is that a good fit for your business? Do you want to spend time creating these short videos?
Marketers that do well on TikTok have visually appealing products. Alternatively they create videos showing their products being used in a visually appealing way. This is vital for success with TikTok as the users want to be entertained. They do not want to see boring product videos that are not any fun.
Music plays a big part on the platform. Most of the videos on TikTok have music playing in the background. This is easy to add to your videos as TikTok has a sound clip gallery that you can choose from. So instead of creating videos that contain a lot of talking you need to add good background music instead.
Successful brands on TikTok have a trendy vibe about them. This is important to appeal to the “cool kid” image that the platform has. Can your business create such a persona? Do you even want to do this?
At the end of the day TikTok is all about fun. When you can tie fun into your brand on TikTok then you have a recipe for success. Your videos will be liked and shared and could go viral.
Setup An Attractive Profile
Being successful on TikTok is all about catching the attention of its user base. Having a good profile name which reflects your brand is a step in the right direction. In your profile you have the opportunity to tell TikTok users what your brand is all about so make sure that you grab this opportunity with both hands.
You need to write a description that will attract users. A boring description will make them leave faster than anything else. Make your profile fun and appealing. Show users that you are part of the “cool kid” vibe and that you will provide them entertaining content.
When you are setting up your profile make it a Pro account. This is free to do and the major benefit of this is that you will have access to TikTok analytics that will show you how well your profile and your individual posts are doing on the platform.
Start Engaging With Other Users
Nobody is going to be impressed with a profile on TikTok that doesn’t have any followers. One of the best ways to gain a following is to start by following others. Spend time looking for videos on TikTok and if you enjoy them then follow the user.
It is likely that there will be other TikTok users in your niche so start following them. Of the people that you follow, a percentage of them will follow you back. Try to find TikTok users that have a large following and follow them. When you do this be sure to add good comments on some of their video posts.
This will help you to start a relationship with these people. They will appreciate your comments and will check out your profile and your videos for sure. You can use your relationships with those that have a large following by working with them to get the word out about your brand.
Post The Right Kind Of Video Content
There are different kinds of videos on TikTok and some are more popular than others. What all of the successful videos have in common is that they are fun and entertaining for the users. You won’t find any successful slide show and narration videos on this platform because that is just too boring for the audience.
Music videos are very popular. TikTok acquired the Musical.ly platform which was all about posting lip-syncing videos for famous songs. So you will not be surprised that mini music videos and even music montage videos are really popular.
A lot of the most popular videos on TikTok have a comedy element. Making people laugh is always in demand. There are some really creative comedy videos on the platform and they always get a good response.
OK it is not that easy to make funny videos but if you put the effort in then you will be rewarded with a ton of hearts (likes) and a lot of followers. Think of a funny situation involving your brand and create a short video with suitable background music and you could have the next viral post on your hands.
One of the great things about the TikTok platform is the amount of special effects that you can use in your videos. For example if you want to speed up a video or slow it down then you can easily do that.
There are some great face filters available and other effects that can really make your videos stand out. You are not trying to create a Hollywood blockbuster here. Just learn about all of the effects and use them as often as possible.
Another innovative feature of TikTok is the Duet feature. Here you can use another video and create a new video so that it stands “side by side”. The reaction video is popular on TikTok. This is where a person reacts to someone else’s video.
With a side by side Duet you can really express your feelings and TikTok users love to watch this. The Duet feature was very popular on the Musical.ly platform and continues to be on TikTok. So work out how to use the Duet feature and use it in your marketing.
TikTok users really enjoy a challenge. So you can provide them with a special challenge video. A challenge needs to be something that a user would want to participate in and have a degree of difficulty so that it really is a challenge.
One of the best examples of this is the #tumbleweedchallenge posted by Jimmy Fallon from the Tonight Show. He asked TikTok users to drop to the floor and roll like a tumbleweed in a public place. This was so popular there were more than 8,000 videos created by users and the hashtag got more than 10 million engagements.
Plan Your Content
With TikTok you can shoot a video “on the fly” and then post it immediately. Some of these work quite well but most of them don’t. We recommend that you plan the content that you will post on the platform. Even a 15 second video needs some thought before you create it and post it.
When thinking about the content you will add to your TikTok account always focus on engagement. Once you start creating engaging videos that TikTok users really like then they will just want more and more from you.
You really need to be consistent with your TikTok video posts. A lot of marketers make the mistake of posting a ton of content in the first 2 to 3 weeks and then they run out of ideas and do not post anything for a very long time. It is really easy for you to be totally forgotten about on the platform even if your initial videos were really great.
Think about how often you are prepared to create videos and post them on TikTok. If it is weekly to start with then stick with that. If you start to post daily your followers will expect you to come up with a new video every day. So don’t disappoint them and manage expectations from the start.
We recommend that you try out the TikTok platform for say 3 months to see if it is right for your business. You need to be committed in that time and upload the best videos that you can on a regular basis. If you want to carry on after this time then create a schedule for your video creating and posting and stick to it.
Hashtag Power
Never underestimate the power of hashtags on TikTok. Yes they are important on other social media platforms too but on TikTok the right hashtag can literally mean the difference between success and failure.
You should always use the right hashtags on all of your video posts. It is a good idea to categorize your content on TikTok so use hashtags to good effect here as well. You want to use hashtags that will explain what your video is about.
When you use the right hashtags you will get more exposure and likes (hearts) on TikTok. By using a hashtag that explains to the users properly what your video is about, and confirming this with your video you will build up your trust levels. Never use irrelevant or misleading hashtags on the platform.
There are many TikTok users that are looking for specific types of content. Hashtags are a way for them to find the content that they want. If your hashtags are relevant and your videos are good then you will increase your following.
You have a number of different ways to find the best hashtags. The first of these is to really get to know your audience. If you know that a proportion of them follow specific hashtags on TikTok then use these as well. If you just use random hashtags then your audience will not appreciate this.
Once you know what your audience really wants you can give it to them in your videos and use the correct hashtags to help them find your content. After you have built up your following and have a strong connection with your audience then you can start to use customized hashtags that specifically relate to your brand.
There are influencers on TikTok that have millions of followers. What hashtags do they use? It is important that you take the time to learn from these influencers. They obviously know what they are doing or they wouldn’t have such a large audience.
Take a close look at the hashtags that influencers use and the trends that they ride on. Look at their most popular posts and identify the hashtags here. You can also look at some of their posts that didn’t perform very well so that you can avoid making the same mistakes.
If you have competitors that are achieving success with TikTok then take a look at their hashtags too. They are probably going to use the same hashtags with their posts so it will be fairly easy for you to spot this.
We are not suggesting that you should copy your competitors here. Just research what is working for them and see how this can inspire you to choose the right hashtags for your video posts.
There are two good tools you can use to find good hashtags for your TikTok account. The first of these is Seekmetrics. There is an easy to use interface with this tool and you can use the search feature to uncover hashtag ideas for your posts.
All you need to do is to type in keywords related to your brand and products and you will automatically receive suggestions. The other tool that performs a similar function is All Hashtag.
Using the right marketing strategies with TikTok is crucial to your success.
We believe that there are 3 main ways that you can market your business on TikTok which are:
1. You create your own branded channel and upload relevant videos for your niche
2. You can identify and work with influencers on TikTok to increase your reach on the platform
3. You can advertise on TikTok
The most experienced marketers use a combination of these methods to achieve success.
One of the best marketing strategies on TikTok is the hashtag challenge. We have already mentioned this previously and we will discuss it here again because it can really work well for you.
You need to come up with a challenge that will motivate TikTok users to participate and has a degree of difficulty. Never add a hashtag challenge that is so easy that everyone can do it. It is hardly a challenge then is it?
It is also important that you create a memorable hashtag for your challenge. It needs to relate to the challenge and be something that people will easily remember. When you are thinking about your challenge you need to focus on how it will be something fun to do and tie in with your brand at the same time.
The best challenges offer the user flexibility. This means that they can come up with their own ideas on how to complete the challenge. Never provide precise instructions on how to complete a challenge. Just give the users the basics and let them come up with their own solutions.
We have told you that the Duet feature is really popular so think about how you can use this to your advantage. You want to create a video that a lot of people will want to react to by creating their own videos and using the Duet feature.
Here are some suggestions for Duet videos:
- Users can hold a conversation with your video
- Users can sing to your video
- Users can give you a high five
- Users can finish your sentences
The possibilities are almost endless here. So get thinking because TikTok users really like the Duet feature and if you come up with some good ideas you will get a ton of engagement through these.
A great way to spread the word about your brand and products is to use TikTok influencers. It will be a lot easier for you to identify the good influencers on TikTok now as the platform is fairly new.
There are TikTok influencers that have millions of followers already. When you are looking for the right influencer always think about authenticity. Are they a good fit for your brand? If an influencer doesn’t think that your brand is a good fit for them then they will turn you down on TikTok. On other platforms they may not do this.
Tell your influencer that you want them to showcase your product in some way. Let them work out the best way to do this and create some videos which you can choose from. Never try to impose your thoughts for videos on a TikTok influencer.
Make it your mission to build a community on TikTok. Don’t just create one hashtag challenge and then just leave it at that. Think about the tone that you want to create around your brand and build your community around this.
One of the most effective strategies with TikTok is to encourage users to create their own content. Hashtag challenges do this as do Duet opportunities. TikTok users want to participate and get involved. So think about how you can give them the opportunity to participate around your brand.
Your goal with user generated content is to encourage users that like and connect with your brand to create and share videos of themselves using or interacting with your products in some way. When you can achieve this you will get a ton of engagement.
After you have created videos and posted them on TikTok then post them on your other social media channels too. Right now compilations of TikTok videos are very popular on YouTube for example. These will work well on Facebook and other platforms as well.
Use TikTok Analytics
It is very important that you understand how well your TikTok profile is performing. Also you need to know which of your videos are performing the best and which are underperforming. There is an easy way to do this using the analytics built in to the TikTok platform.
You can drill down with TikTok analytics to see useful metrics for each one of your video posts. This is useful to assess whether the content was good or not, whether you used the right hashtags and so on.
Then there is your following. Is it growing or declining? Where are your followers from? TikTok analytics will show you all of this. It will tell you which countries your followers are from on a percentage basis. You can use this information to see how followers from certain countries resonate with your content.
With the Content Insights section you can get the richest information about all of your video posts. You can see how many of your videos trended on the “For You” page for example and what the result of this was in terms of views and likes.
Here is the information that you can get on each of your video posts:
- Total hearts (likes) for the post
- Total comments for the post
- Total shares for the post
- Total video play time
- Total video views
- The Average watch time
- Sources of traffic
- Audience territories
- With Total hearts (likes) for the post
- Total comments for the post
- Total shares for the post
- Total video play time
- Total video views
- The Average watch time
- Sources of traffic
- Audience territories
With TikTok analytics you can see what has happened in your account over a 7 day or 28 day period. When you examine your profile performance you can work out how long it takes users who are new to your content to follow you on average. This will make predicting the results of specific marketing campaigns a lot easier.
Conclusion
Now that you know the 8 secrets to marketing success with TikTok you need to take action and start leveraging the platform to get the results that you want. It is important for you to know that TikTok users do not like to be sold to so never try to push your products or services on them.
Instead you want to entertain them and associate fun with your brand. Many companies have achieved this not just the big brands like Google and GUESS Jeans. There are bakers with millions of followers and attorneys too. Anything is possible with TikTok.
