Two-thirds of marketers reveal that they want to increase the use of video in their marketing strategy in 2022, one of the quickest, easiest, and most cost-effective ways would be to get your business on TikTok. This is the perfect platform to produce short and compelling video content and get your business viewed by a vast number of prospective customers.
TikTok is the fastest-growing social network; for three years running, it has been the most downloaded app boasting over a billion active users, and those users being active for almost an hour a day. But how can businesses use TikTok to grow their following, increase sales/leads, and compete with cute animal videos and viral dances?
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Leveraging TikTok for Business
TikTok Stats
If you need convincing that TikTok is the way for marketers to enhance a business, here are just some of the impressive statistics and facts about TikTok:
- It is the most downloaded app of the last 3 years, with over 3bn downloads.
- Ranked the 6th most used social platform in the world.
- Has over 1bn active monthly users, with the average user spending 27.3 hours on there a month.
- Described by users as the most engaging app.
- Top app for consumer spending. Moreover, 67% of TikTok users say that TikTok inspires them to shop, even when they have no intention to hence #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt.
- Has an average Ad reach is 17.9% of all users aged 18+.
TikTok sees purchase intent and customer curation as an infinite loop. Someone makes a purchase from a TikTok they viewed and then they post about the product (hence they are spreading awareness). A quarter of those who purchase from a business on TikTok will post about the product, and one in five will also post a tutorial video.
While TikTok is perceived as an app for funny and entertaining content, it is also becoming a tool for searching for educational content. Last year saw a massive increase in subjects that can appear daunting. For example, in 2021 #inflation saw a 1900% increase. Additionally, The World Health Organisation used TikTok to explain the risks of Covid19 and to aid against the spread of disinformation.
Currently, videos can be up to three minutes, but it is increasing to 10 minutes (currently, the highest performing videos are 21-34 secs).
How does TikTok work?
Users can search for information using a hashtag (for example #naughtycats). In turn, TikTok’s sophisticated algorithm will show content on the For You page it perceives a user will like. It does this by looking at the user’s past search and watching history and videos they have saved and shared. This helps TikTok to get content seen by the right people (prospective customers) at the right time. TikTok gives users instantaneous gratification, from the moment an existing user opens the app, the For You page shows them videos from their aforementioned history. Lastly, from a marketing perspective, TikTok provides marketers with a more level playing field as a new account can amass millions of views thanks to its algorithm and those views can become engaged followers and, in turn, buyers.
How to use TikTok for Marketing
Firstly, TikTok’s golden rule is “don’t make ads, make TikTok’s”. This means that a creator needs to make content that is compelling with the target audience in mind. So why exactly should businesses TikTok not be like an ad? Simply put, a business needs their TikTok to fit in perfectly with the stream of content that someone is watching. You do not want it to stick out like an ad during a TV show. Additionally, it’s not just about creating brilliant TikTok, you need to create content that fits with the brand.
To know your audience, make sure you have your buyer personas mapped out. Remember that the largest proportion of TikTok’s audience is under 24, so your marketing will be for a younger audience. Gen Z makes up over 50% of TikTok users and that demographic are value-conscious and places an expectation on brands to have strong values and be socially conscious. They are quick to call out any form of racism, sexism, homophobia, pinkwashing, etc, and will quickly turn against a brand that does not match their ideals, even if at one point, they were strong advocates for that brand. To market effectively to Gen Z, brands need to be authentic, true have a personality. In addition, a brand’s TikTok does not necessarily have to be glossy and polished (like Instagram images), the emphasis is on having fun, being creative, and creating an engaged community.
Benefits of marketing on TikTok
Right now, is a very good time to market a business on TikTok. While some large brands such as Nike, Levi’s, and Ryanair have been using TikTok for a while, small companies have not utilised it yet, by getting your business and content on TikTok now, you will be ahead of all the other small businesses who will eventually join.
TikTok benefits businesses by:
- Increasing brand awareness
- Building engaged communities
- Selling goods and services to the target audience
- Get feedback from customers
- Provide customer service
- Add value to the online user’s experience
- Demonstrate a brands personality
- Helps businesses have repeat business
Getting Started on TikTok
Once your business decides to use TikTok as a marketing tool, then you need to set up your TikTok profile as a business profile. Thankfully, TikTok has created a very simple how-to guide. There are a host of benefits to having a TikTok business page, such as access to over half a million sound bites and musical content that are royalty-free, and a business suite where you can view all your analytics such as audience data and performance statistics.
As with all forms of social media marketing, you need a SMART plan with clearly defined goals and measurements. You should post regularly and measure the results of each video posted. Like every other social media platform, TikTok has its own analytics section where you can view statistics such as your number of likes, interactions, and actions (such as profile views). You can also get audience data (gender, and growth rate) which is vital for growing your business and assessing if you are reaching your target audiences. Until recently, you could not schedule posts using third party platforms, but that has now changed. If you want to schedule posts, you can use Hootsuite, Sprinklr, Sprout Social and many more.
Types of content you could make
To get you started on your TikTok journey, we have included some ideas to get you started:
- Demonstrate how your business has helped clients or the local community.
- Celebrate achievements to build your business reputation.
- Do demonstrations and how-to’s of a product or service.
- Curate interview-style Q&A’s.
- Look at trending hashtags on TikTok, can your business make a video related to those topics? Always keep a check on these as they change regularly.
- Does your company’s staff like to make TikTok videos? Why not get them involved? Content from people who work for companies is always seen as authentic…maybe you could do “A Day in the Life of” campaign?
- Can you collaborate with another brand or even a TikTok influencer?
Top Tips
No explanation of TikTok would be complete without top tips to help you create a great TikTok:
- Use hashtags and keywords relevant to your target customers.
- Use sound to evoke feelings.
- Use captions on the video to increase impressions by over 55%! This is so important for inclusive design. Additionally, many people watch a video without sound (for example, on public transport) You don’t want to lose a customer when you can simply add captions.
- Use TikTok to help engage and grow your audience and not use it as the main selling tool…remember engaged communities buy and advocate for a brand.
- Capitalise on trends. Trends are constantly evolving so why not join in with a few now and again? It could gain you some loyal followers and customers…and show a fun side to your business.
- Have your own branded hashtag. It can help potential customers search you out effectively and produce content (UGC) using your hashtag.
- Have SEO-rich captions. Be clear in your description of what your video is about so TikTok has similarly indexed them a search engine indexes and ranks a page.
How can LOCALiQ help?
TikTok has a business learning centre that covers the basics to help get you started on TikTok but we can also help you. LOCALiQ can also assist you in achieving your digital marketing goals. Message us today to get started.
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Audit and optimise all of your social accounts with our free, downloadable template.
