TikTok is a sound-on, short-form video-sharing app that has taken the world by storm. With over 689 million users globally, TikTok is having an impact on culture, global trends and even chart music. Users reportedly spend an average of 52 minutes each day on the app. TikTok report that their users feel more connected, less lonely, and happier once they have used the app.
It comes as no surprise that brands are using TikTok to get their products and services out there. Brands such as Irish airline ‘Ryan Air’ have really embraced TikTok and have gained 680.5k followers and have gained around 15 million likes on their content. Their content aims to make people laugh, and they make good use of TikTok trends and audios which are familiar to people on the app.
The uniqueness of TikTok’s algorithm means that, unlike other social networks, users don’t need any followers to reach millions of users in a matter of hours. On that note, you may be considering TikTok as part of your social media strategy. This blog will walk you through factors to consider when deciding as well as your options if you do choose the TikTok route.
Consider your target audience
If your product or service is aimed at 40+, you may be thinking to yourself- there’s no point in using TikTok as it’s only for teenagers. This might have been the case in the very beginning, but people from other age groups are increasingly downloading the app. Recent statistics show that as of March 2021 in the US 20.3% of TikTok users were aged 40-49 and 11% were over 50 years old. Not to mention TikTok allows you to target paid for ads by age, gender, location, interests and more. If you wanted to target more mature TikTok users organically, this could be possible through the use of hashtags commonly used by different generations. For example, #Work and #DIY are commonly used by millennials.
Consider your product/brand-fit
The main reason people are using TikTok is to find funny and entertaining content, with the entertainment category being the most streamed. This means that if your brand is already playful and exciting, then TikTok may be a great place for you to market your product/service.
Beauty and fashion is also up there with the most-watched content. Therefore, if your product falls into one of these categories, then TikTok is a great idea. For example, a fashion brand could do a quick tour of all this season’s clothes in a nice styling video.
There is an influx of people who are using TikTok as an educational tool with people sharing cooking recipes, life hacks and financial advice. The hashtag #LearnOnTikTok has over 112.1 billion views. This means if you can put an educational spin on your content then you may gain traction. For example, if you are a company that sells meal kits- you could share cooking hacks.
Despite the #Work hashtag trending, people are not really coming on to the app in a professional capacity. This means that if you sell a software for office use or a consultancy service- TikTok is probably not a good place to market your product, and you would be best off on a different platform.
Think TikTok might be right for you?
If you think TikTok might be the right platform for you then, like with every other social platform, you will need a good strategy. Firstly, you need to consider whether you will try to grow your account organically or you’ll go the paid-for route. To grow organically, you’ll need to pick a content theme and then post high-quality content consistently. There’s no knowing what will catch on but using relevant hashtags or jumping on trends will give you a good head start.
If you are looking to do paid for activity, there are several options: in-feed ads, brand takeover, topview, branded hashtag challenge and branded effects. If you are using in-feed ads it’s crucial that the first two seconds stop your potential customers from scrolling. Some of the paid for options require a large budget, so smaller to medium-sized companies should think carefully about different options.
