15% of TikTok users cannot tell the difference between advertisement and normal content, making TikTok the perfect place to subtly advertise. TikTok has 656 million users, meaning around 98.4 million users could be engaging with your business’ content without even knowing.
Over the years whilst watching TikTok, I have seen more big businesses engage in trends, causing their views to skyrocket. Not only do trends help them promote themselves, but they also personalise the business, creating a connection between the business and its customers.
A Breakdown of the TikTok Algorithm
Social media algorithms categorise posts based on the user’s feed and interests. The TikTok algorithm is decided by how long people watch different types of videos, how often they watch those types of videos, as well as how often they like, comment, or share. TikTok will then recommend more videos based on how the viewer interacts with several types of content.
The TikTok algorithm does not usually promote content that is consistently facts and images, rather it boosts things with people’s faces on them. It is crucial that your content posted on TikTok has your team members in it for this reason. User engagement is more likely to be increased when there is a face in the frame of what they are watching.
Similarly, things that are visually appealing tend to trend more often. This means clean spaces, bright lighting, and well curated aesthetics in a space. Anything a viewer wants in their own life should be reflected in the content you create. Like most social media, your business on TikTok will be a brand and a lifestyle.
Trends in the Algorithm
Platforms like TikTok are casual engagement platforms, and trends reflect this. Regardless of niche interests, users will be exposed to trends on social media. Although trends are usually tailored to a younger audience, they are an effective way to engage with your audience and remain visible in a growing online marketing space. The more engagement gained from a trend, the more likely a video will be seen by people who will engage with the business.
The Importance of Hashtags
Hashtags are an important part of understanding TikTok. Though people do not usually search using hashtags, it is essential to use them to help the algorithm categorise your content. If a user watches a lot of TikTok videos with the #smallbusiness hashtag, including it in your video will increase the odds of the user seeing it.
Hashtags can be as long or as short as you like, and I recommend using generic ones, as they will reach a wider audience. Hashtags that are too niche will give you a specific, but small audience. For example, #fyp will increase your chances of being seen on the “For You” page, but if you use #helpmysmallbusinessgrow, it will not reach as many people, as it is too niche.
Additionally, hashtags are supposed to be keywords. Realistically, they can be full sentences, but the shorter the phrasing, the better. Some examples could be:
- #business
- #clothes
- #newproducts
These hashtags are keywords and will help the algorithm categorise your content and ensure the right people are viewing it, so that the right people engage with your brand. The easiest way to find relevant hashtags is to use things that are keywords in your business.
Advice on What to Avoid
- A Casual Engagement Platform
TikTok is a casual engagement platform, so the posts need to be casual. Anything too serious will immediately be swiped past, and the more people who skip the video, the less it is shown on the “For You” page. 53% of TikTok users prefer “funny” content, highlighting the platform’s emphasis on entertainment
- Value in Production
Avoid trends that involve an extremely prominent level of production.
The goal is relevant content with consistent posting. Excessive production means spending too much time on one video. Trends that are easy to follow are the best way to produce a large amount of content
- Entertainment vs Education
Platforms like TikTok exist to entertain, and when people see an educational or informative video, they often skip it.
To avoid this, do not lead with facts about your business.
Instead, focus your TikTok presence on being fun and creating a relationship with the customer. Lead with a joke, supply a bit of information, and close with a joke.
- Target Audience
Ensure your target audience will be receptive to this form of advertisement. If you are a business aiming towards customers who purchase goods, you are more likely to succeed using trends and social media comedically, as it creates a relationship with your customer.
However, if your business is tailored to work with other businesses, this method may not be the best route forward. If it is, consider more educational and fact-led videos.
Knowing and understanding your target audience means you can understand what type of content to post.
Advice on What to Embrace
- Comedy
Casual engagement platforms are used as entertainment sources, so the content must be casual.
Captions and written jokes are often funnier online than performed jokes. It should not be too serious or self-conscious.
TikTok is a valuable tool to put your brand out there and entice people to go to fact-based social media platforms, such as LinkedIn or Facebook.
- Language
Casual engagement also means more slang and informal language.
A focus on this helps relate the business to the audience, as it feels more genuine.
- Consistent Posting
Consistency is key when posting online. An active TikTok account will post a few videos a day. Set a goal to past a certain number of videos weekly and allocate them to days throughout the week. This means that the algorithm has more of your content to post and shows further engagement with the app, meaning that the algorithm will prefer your content over others.
- Types of TikTok Formats
Video formatting is the most generic format on TikTok; however, photos can still be used in a slideshow effect. A mixture of both throughout your content provides variety, and you can learn what works best for your brand.
- Socially Relevant Content
The content must be relevant to what is happening in the world.
For example, the UK general election has turned into a TikTok meme war, with all four major parties using memes as propaganda for their policies.
Social relevancy here grows in informative value.
“Long-Lasting” Trends Through Memes
Some trends last longer than expected and grow to be a pillar of pop culture. These ideas can be useful, as they sit more outside the trend cycle. For example, any sort of meme is more likely to have a longer online life than a fast trend. Memes are more socially relevant due to their age and can be easier to format and follow. The best way to do this is to use an online meme maker:
- Find a site that lets you make a meme from a template.
- Look at a specific template.
- See how other people have used the template to create a meme.
- Create your meme, adding text relevant to your business and its purpose.
- Make multiple and post them in the same TikTok slideshow.
With memes, it is best to make multiple and put many into one video or slideshow, as solely one is not substantial enough to stand alone in a TikTok post.
Whilst memes are a longer trend form that is easier to capitalise on, there is a danger when using them, such as being culturally insensitive. To avoid this, I recommend looking at the templates before committing to them and adapting them to your brand. See what other people have done with the template and then decide if it is appropriate to use to market your business. If a meme template has more negative connotations than good, choose another- there are many to look at.
Case Study: Duolingo
A successful example of a meme campaign is Duolingo. Their social media team have taken TikTok by storm, using their owl mascot Duo to engage in trends, gaining so much popularity that he has become a trend himself. TikTok users are obsessed with Duo, and as of June 2024, Duolingo’s TikTok account has 12.4 million followers.
With a minimum of 513.3K and a maximum of 63.4M views on a video, Duolingo is dominating the TikTok trends space, all due to their involvement with pop culture. Learning from watching TikTok is a vital part of understanding online culture and being a part of it. Duolingo does this by commenting, reposting, and duetting other users’ videos. Use the tools that TikTok provide to easily engage with others on the platform
Duolingo has been engaging more with pop culture online since around late 2022 and generated more than 531 million dollars last year in revenues- up by 43.7% from 2022. Success is found as they follow the trend cycle, staying aware of what is happening online. They have recently made posts following the release of the new “Inside Out 2” movie, following the F1 media storm surrounding Carlos Sainz singing “Smooth Operator” as he races, and making videos from the trends Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” has created.
One of Duolingo’s most popular posts, generating 63.4M views depicts Duo falling from a high balcony, and then being shown outside in the pouring rain, looking incredibly sad and measly. The tagline in the video was “when you ignore my notifications.” The engagement with language related to social media pays off, as Duolingo is not using their platform for education, but rather entertainment. The engagement with the language of social media and the integration of it into the video allows for the video to be applied to wider demographics.
You can apply this to your own brand by being as self-aware as the Duolingo team – they clearly know what the fans want and are giving them content based on that.
Similarly, The Duolingo team are consistently producing content, meaning there is more for the algorithm to push. If you create content and notice a preference for specific types, continue making things similar. Though repeating content will not make you favorable to the algorithm, you can learn from what went well and continue to re-imagine it (you could easily do this by asking ChatGPT for similar video ideas, or other things that may be successful)
7 best trends to adapt to your business
These trends below are up and coming but have an elongated level of relevance- they can be funny for a long time without the joke getting old. The key part of trends is that they are an opportunity for your business to be seen as a team of hardworking people, not services. Often businesses are deprioritised on TikTok as they post purely facts and images, so using your team to be in videos prioritises it on the platform, therefore increasing the number of views.
- “I’m passing the phone to” …
This trend exists as a straightforward way to personalise your online space and give a face to the inner workings of your business.
One person would start the video, and go on to say, “I’m passing the phone to somebody who…” and share a short funny story about a co-worker.
The co-worker mentioned in the last story would then have their turn and do the same thing.
The video can end at any point, but usually the last person to speak will say something about the first person, creating a cyclical effect that can generate more views, as viewers think the video continues, whereas it does end in terms of a view.
- Team lunches…
TikTok is a massive online space for food, and displaying the variety of lunches in your workspace not only plays into this but also the personality of the team members. Consistently showing the same members of your team will create that connection between brand and customer.
This could be filmed in a range of ways, be it one long clip where everyone gives a quick description, or a small trip to the office kitchen to see what is being microwaved.
This trend is good as it is very adaptable for in-office work and working from home.
- Sad animal trends…
This trend capitalises on animals and their false interaction with your brand. For example, you could start with a photo of a whale and caption it “sad facts about sharks,” and then use the same photo of a whale in another slide to promote the brand, for example saying, “they cannot expand their business successfully with Marketing Mavens.”
The idea of this trend is to make the viewer think they will learn something sad, and then surprise them with your brand, pulling their interest into it.
LabourUK have used this trend in the buildup to the 2024 general election, using fish to talk about their sewage policies. This is a good example as it shows the trend and the social relevance mentioned earlier. The meshing of ideas helps apply the content to multiple demographics.
- Office mascot
If you have a business mascot, highlighting it in your company TikTok is a clever way to add personality to your business.
You could take the mascot places and snap some photos of it or show a day in the mascot’s life and post it.
Like involving the team members, using the mascot creates a connection between the team and the customer.
Duolingo has mastered this and created a mass following for its mascot in doing this.
- Deal or no deal box opening clips…
This trend could be used to advertise prices for the services your business provides. The clip shows the box being opened, and a caption comes up asking a specific question in relation to your brand.
For example, “how much does it cost to get an audit from marketing mavens?” and then as the box opens, rather than the original price being shown, it would be the answer to the question asked.
In Marketing Mavens’ case, it would read “Free!”
- Office pets
Riding on the cute appeal of animals, if your office is pet friendly, involving them in your social media can widen the demographics your video would be sent to. Instead of just businesses, it would expand to people who watch pet videos.
These can be made similarly to the mascot, showing a day in the pet’s life in the office or their favorite spots. Creating an online persona for the animal could create a drive for more of your content to people it might have not previously reached.
- Office tour
Interior design has become a growing trend on social media, highlighting home offices or bigger corporate progressive offices. Showing where your business is run from creates behind-the-scenes content and exclusivity to viewers (who then may be more likely to become customers once they understand how the business works)
Businesses such as Kylie Cosmetics have done this, and it creates a need for knowledge as it shows that behind-the-scenes content.
Summary
The TikTok algorithm can be difficult to break through, but following Marketing Mavens’ top tips can help you get started:
- Stay consistent with your posting.
- Be relevant to pop culture and do your research.
- Ensure what is being posted is appropriate for your brand (what you post will determine how your brand is viewed online).
- Look at other brands and see what they are doing to gain inspiration.
- Invest content in longer-lasting trends, such as memes.
- And have fun! Social media platforms such as TikTok are for entertainment value. If making the video isn’t fun, then watching it won’t be either.
Make sure to check out Marketing Mavens on TikTok @marketingmavens !
