If you thought TikTok was only for dancing to choreographed songs, it’s time to toss that theory out the window and reacquaint yourself with the fastest growing social media platform in the world. TikTok has become an extremely popular social media app with its key demographic being Gen Z, and growing popularity among Millennials and Gen Xers.
TikTok allows users to create short videos that are 60 seconds or less in length and share them with their followers. It’s also incredibly beneficial for its algorithm, which prioritizes a newsfeed based on interest rather than strictly followers. This means that brands have more opportunities to reach their target audience than ever before through video content!
Brands can benefit from a strategic approach on TikTok. As a result of its ease-of-use and low maintenance requirements, TikTok has quickly become the most popular social media network. It also has the lowest business-to-consumer ratio of any major social media site, making it less competitive than other networks like Facebook and Instagram.
As it continues to grow in popularity, there is a huge market on TikTok for your brand. Here’s how you can get started:
Understand your audience
This feels obvious, but it’s actually very important to understand how your audience interacts on TikTok. Are they interested in humorous content? Educational? Influencer? By taking the time to gather data on your audiences’ behavior on the platform, it will give you a better idea of how your brand will fit into their user experience.
Understand the trends
TikTok is all about trends, which traditionally last anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months. From recipe trends to trending sounds & themes, the content that is most likely to skyrocket is that which is trending.
While this throws a wrench in the traditional “plan ahead” model of social, it speaks to the future agility that social media will continue to require from brands. There is a time and place for evergreen content and pre-planned content, but TikTok will force you to be more nimble. When you see the metrics, you’ll know it’s all worth it.
Plan your unique positioning
Now that you know your audience and the trending patterns of the platform, it’s time to identify how your brand will stand out. Create pillars for your brand to determine how you will show up on TikTok in a way that directly speaks to your audience. Examples could be educational content, behind the scenes, influencer partnerships, and even trending content.
Interact with your fans early
Your fans are already on TikTok, and you can find them fairly easily. Search for keywords related to your brand and industry, and begin engaging with content that has been produced by fans. This could be anything from a unique recipe using your product to a patient experience from a recent procedure mentioning your practice. No matter what your industry is, you’ll always find potential fans to interact with once you start browsing the platform.
Create 3 videos to start
Time to create some content! Get started on your first three videos to launch, including short captions and relevant hashtags. This will make it easy for your fans to find you in the future, and give them an idea of what your page will be producing in the future. You can use InShot’s editing software, or make videos directly on TikTok. Either way is fine since they’re both simple enough to do in a few minutes.
Once you have posted these three pieces of content, build some hype. Announce that you’re on TikTok on other platforms, engage with other industry and fan content, and watch the viewership roll in.
While TikTok’s start was catered to a young audience, it has grown significantly in all age ranges. And remember — if you’re not there in front of your audience, a competitor will be there soon enough. Don’t sleep on this opportunity to get ahead for your brand.
Want to learn more? Reach out to Digital HQ to see how we can help your brand shine on TikTok. We’re happy to share our secrets with our clients.
