media update’s Emma Beavon explains how to get your TikTok content marketing strategy up and running in four easy steps.
TikTok as a social media platform has the ability to reach millions of people. This is an opportunity that brands
should not be overlooking, but many brands have not taken the leap and joined TikTok as it is daunting for anyone over the age of 25.
So, what is TikTok and how do you market on it?
We have the answers for you here:
What is TikTok?
TikTok is a Chinese social network that allows people to make short videos, add music and edit them and then post them to their followers.
So for those of you who are still lost (
here’s looking at you, millennials), it’s today’s equivalent of Vine.
Most of the videos that are on the platform are either comedies, short skits, lip-syncing, cringe videos and cooking videos. The platform was originally called Musical.ly but was
rebranded to TikTok in 2018. It then quickly gained popularity in the United States and Australia.
It is estimated that there are around
500 million people on the video platform worldwide. That is more people than
Twitter.
Because of the number of people that frequent the platform, it offers great opportunities for marketing — especially when it comes to marketing to young people.
How to market on TikTok
1) Know the demographics
TikTok is largely used by people between the ages of 16 to 24; these people add up to 41% of the total user base. This doesn’t mean that people of an older age group won’t make a move towards the platform, but for the moment, this age group will be your biggest audience on TikTok.
2) Influencer marketing is big on the platform
There are influencers that are
huge on TikTok, some of which have
millions of followers.
Partnering with relevant influencers can open up your business up to a new audience who wants to buy your product. Therefore, influencer marketing campaigns can be very beneficial for your brand.
Want to know more about how influencer marketing works? Check out this article.
You can pay influencers to use your products on camera or get them to promote your brand / products in their videos. This will ensure that your product or service will reach a whole new audience.
3) Create your own original content (if you’re brave enough)
Creating your own content on TikTok can be a very powerful marketing strategy. It will also give you a leg up on your competition as not many businesses make their own TikTok content. Therefore, if done well, your brand
will stand out.
But, you need to be prepared as making videos for the platform takes up a lot of time, creativity and resources. You need to make sure that you are all in when it comes to TikTok — otherwise, there is not much point.
The videos on the platform are all about viral content, and in order for your content to be successful, it
needs to go viral. It is important to note that light-hearted content does very well on the platform.
4) Pay for advertising
The advertising feature on TikTok is a very new addition as it was only added in mid-2019. This means that brands can now pay to advertise on the platform.
However, because advertising on the platform is still very new, there is not much of a market for it like there is on platforms, such as YouTube or Facebook. Because of the rarity of ads on TikTok, businesses have to pay a premium for ads, which means that many smaller businesses may not be able to afford it.
But, as the platform becomes even more popular than others, it will start to establish itself as the place to advertise on and the prices on advertising will drop, leading to the platform gaining more advertisers.
What else do you think brands can do to market on TikTok? Let us know in the comments section below.
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy