How to use TikTok to your marketing advantage
When it comes to the daily time spent on TikTok, users spend an average of 52 minutes per day on the app according to Fast Company
This from Toby Britton, co-founder of SaaS marketing platform Miappi…
When you also find out that TikTok has 800 million active users worldwide according to a study by Hootsuite and We Are Social, it’s a no-brainer that TikTok is a valuable asset to add to your marketing strategy.
COVID-19 skyrocket
This app started out to be successful in its own right when it first launched in 2017 but COVID-19 has caused it to skyrocket. That and the fact that it is currently the social media heart of fresh, authentic and fun content.
The app’s easy to use video editing features and endless music library has enabled peers to imitate and recreate a host of different challenges and games. The features and format have helped the platform grow in usage and awareness.
Gen-Z consumers (16-24) make up 41% of the TikTok community according to Hootsuite. So, if that is a key audience for you it is worth incorporating TikTok into your marketing strategy!
Why and how to harness content from creators on TikTok
The emergence of TikTok as a marketing tool for brands has also given rise to movement led marketing initiatives.
Knowing that TikTok users are more engaged than others and willing to participate in challenges, mimes and dances, the best brands are responding to this by taking to TikTok with their own unique movements with clear calls to actions.
What better way to get people talking about your brand than to give them a brand unique task to show to their friends. The best way to harness content from creators is to tell them to create something unique to your brand.
Creating a deeper connection
For a long while social media marketing has been much more about informing their followerbase, rather than involving. A modern, successful social media strategy requires brands to reach out and create a dialogue with their audience, creating a deeper connection and encouraging long lasting brand advocacy.
Tell your consumers what you want them to post and create, to help grow your social share of voice. Fenty Beauty’ #wipedownchallenge is a great example of a TikTok campaign done right.
There is a strong link between brands with a large social share of voice and the long term success of the brand, see the likes of not only Fenty, but Gymshark, Made.com and Glossier. These brands are dedicated to having the most brand relevant UGC (user generated content) in their respective sectors and as a result see year on year growth.
How brands can extend the reach and ROI of content from TikTok
Once consumers begin to engage with TikTok campaigns, you will begin to grow your social share of voice. The potential reach of your campaign will multiply as more and more individuals post content that is visible to their own networks.
But the best social media marketers won’t stop there, UGC is one of the most trusted and influential forms of marketing, so why not extend the potential ROI and reach of your campaign by using consumer-generated TikTok’s, off platform.
Content directly from content creators
Nowadays brands can leverage marketing tools for consumer brands, which will enable a brand to license user-generated content from platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and more. Brands are then able to carefully organise their content from the dashboard and seek permission to use specific pieces of content directly from content creators.
Once the content is rights approved, the brand can add these pieces of authentic content to their own marketing channels where it can influence others. This could include webpages, microsites, ecommerce product pages or even on digital signage.
The best part of all is that marketing with UGC is extremely cost effective, with the right platform, a brand can license thousands of authentic, highly influential marketing assets a month instead of having to create content or pay influencers.
Conclusion
TikTok requires a truly native approach when leveraging for brand marketing. In other words, marketers simply can’t replicate strategies or creative formats from the rest of their social media plan and expect them to perform on TikTok. A much more dedicated and tailored approach is required so that campaigns will not feel out of place. It is likely that developing creatives and a new strategic framework especially for TikTok to add onto existing social media campaigns will take time for most brands but can be highly effective in the long run.
