TikTok Marketing: An Actionable Guide

TikTok, an app that erupted in popularity among younger demographics, has steadily matured into a global phenomenon. It’s already the eighth-largest social network, and as the newest social media player, its golden era is only getting started. It has completely disrupted the digital marketing sector over which Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube had a clear monopoly.

In fact, people spend more time on TikTok than on Instagram today.

With a plethora of new features to increase brand engagement, TikTok has quickly become marketers’ new darling. The platform’s uncontrollable growth has piqued the interest of many companies, resulting in TikTok marketing. Also, the launch of “TikTok for Business” in 2020 has levelled the playing field for enterprises.

Wondering, how can you ride this organic wave and use it to market your brand? Why is it so important for marketing? Most importantly, how can you use it to reach out to your target audience?

Worry not. This article will address all of your pertinent questions related to TikTok Marketing.

What Is TikTok?

TikTok is a social networking app for short-form videos that allows anybody with a smartphone to create, share and comment on videos, and follow friends and influencers. It bills itself as the “top destination for short-form mobile video,” allowing users to create videos ranging from 15 seconds to 3 minutes, add audio from various artists, and apply augmented reality visual effects.

The app was internationally launched in 2018 after Douyin (Version of TikTok in China) and Musical.ly (a music-focused app) merged into one app. And now, it is accessible in 75 languages and is available in more than 150 countries.

Undoubtedly, TikTok has quickly established itself as a force to be reckoned with. Its success can be attributed to its AI algorithm that recommends videos to users based on their likes, comments, shares, and searches, thus providing tailored entertainment videos.

Initially, it was seen as an app all about lip-synching and dancing. However, now there is plenty of content in various genres like standup routines, video commentaries, educational videos, fashion showcases, lifehacks, pranks, makeup tutorials, recipes, and more available on the app.

The app serves an audience searching for a fresh and exciting way to communicate and has thus, hit the right notes with Gen Z. In fact, 60% of TikTok users are Gen Zers who seek social validation and want to be in touch with reality. Ask any of its users, and they’ll describe the platform as:

  • A place that’s home to a new generation of storytellers. (These aren’t necessarily celebrities.)
  • A positive, joyful, and engaging platform where people come to ‘lift their spirits’
  • A place where realness is applauded.
  • A place where connection, co-creation, and amusement takes place.

How Does TikTok Work?

When you initially sign up for TikTok, you’re prompted to choose a few topics of interest from which you’d want to receive personalised video recommendations. These include ‘Comedy,’ ‘Entertainment,’ and ‘Daily Life’ etc. The suggestions get more precise as you watch and engage with more content.

Now, you’ll see a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, which contains the following five pages:

  • Home: It shows the two feeds you can switch between Following and For you. The “For you page” is the default page, an algorithmically generated never-ending videos stream. It continually updates and alters the videos recommended to users depending on their preferences,  the kind of content they engage with the most in the form of views, likes, comments, or shares. If you swipe left, you can access the following page, which shows you uploads from creators you’ve chosen to follow.
  • Discover: It shows you videos that have been tagged with a popular hashtag and allows you to search for specific users, keywords, phrases, or hashtags.
  • Create a video: When you click on the plus sign, the record screen appears, where you can record a video.
  • Inbox: It shows all reactions to your videos in one place. Also, here you can access your DMs.
  • Profile: This shows your profile.

These five pages constitute a multitude of activities that a user can perform using the app.

Create Videos

You can create videos by recording them straight in the app. Else, you can also post a video shot in another app. These videos can be one single video or a culmination of various short videos with different transitions.

@therock

Time to Rock Down Memory Lane with my classic, trailblazin’, eyebrow raisin’ moves. Can you out-Rock me with a duet? #YoungRock #StrikeAPose

♬ original sound – The Rock

Add Music

Users can find fresh material by going to a track’s URL and searching for clips that feature the music. Apple Music’s connection with TikTok allows you to add songs, remix them, and apply effects to your videos.

Apply Effects And Filters

The option to modify your videos with various filters and effects is one of the app’s most popular features. You can include stickers, emojis, text, transitions, GIFs, and temporal effects to enhance the visual appeal of your films.

Follow Accounts

On TikTok, you can look at other competitors’ accounts and follow them to see what sort of content they are posting. Also, you can keep an eye on industry giants and their marketing activities by following them.

Buy Virtual Coins

This comes under in-app purchases of the app. TikTok allows users to purchase virtual coins with actual cash, which they can use to send virtual gifts to their favourite creators.

Create Duets

Duet is a feature on TikTok that serves to foster community involvement. It allows you to create a video with another user on a split-screen.

Stream Live

TikTok also has a function that allows you to live stream video broadcasts. This option, however, is only available to those who have more than 1,000 followers.

Engage With Other Users

One can engage with other users by “liking” (heart icon),  commenting, and sharing (right-pointing arrow ) on their videos.

What Is TikTok Marketing and Why Should You Use It?

In 2020, TikTok surpassed Facebook as the most downloaded app with over 1 billion users. Thus, TikTok’s role as a fast-moving trend incubator has prompted many businesses to use TikTok to advertise their company, product, or service. This is known as TikTok marketing.

Now, given the large number of individuals that use TikTok, it’s evident that it’s a suitable marketing medium. But, other than the fact that everyone else is doing it, why invest time and money in developing a TikTok marketing strategy?

Let’s find out.

Provides Superior Engagement Rate

TikTok gives marketers a fair playing field regarding reach and engagement. The trick is simple: Engagement will follow as long as the content appeals to the target audience. So, TikTok accounts with zero followers can acquire millions of views on a new video due to the viral nature of its algorithm.

Secondly, the short-form nature of videos catering typically to the small attention span of younger generations keeps them interested for lengthy periods. Thus, an average TikTok user spends 89 minutes per day on the app, which is a significant amount of time that businesses can take advantage of.

Perfect Place For User-Generated Content

TikTok is the most popular platform for user-generated content and gives UGC campaigns utmost importance. It keeps the users entertained and helps them communicate in short looping videos (with special effects and music overlays), a testimonial, or a review. Tiktok fosters user-generated content through its challenges and generates content organically as part of its algorithm.

UGC benefits both the brands and users mutually. It relieves marketers of the responsibility of creating new videos regularly in order to interact and engage with their audience. It also helps to gain your TikTok followers’ trust and make them feel at ease with you. On the other hand, TikTokers — creators of amusing and engaging videos – get more followers due to brand exposure.

Less Competition

Starting early, brands who jumped on the TikTok bandwagon have earned massive brand exposure benefits, sometimes with little cost.

For instance, publishers such as The Washington Post accumulated over 400K+ followers in less than a year and now have 1.1 million followers on the platform. They’ve established themselves as a creative powerhouse and perhaps expanding their reach to a new, more global, and younger population.

However, although more and more businesses are joining TikTok, the competition is still very low. Thus, creating an early TikTok presence can provide a significant marketing edge for your company. It may even allow you to leapfrog much larger companies who have so far disregarded the platform.

Cheap And Easy To Learn

TikTok does not need large budgets for content creation, as a spontaneous video shot in everyday locations has just as much of a chance of succeeding. Also, in times of distress, TikTok assists businesses. Their mission is to help small enterprises that have been damaged financially by the COVID-19 situation in resuming operations. For instance, TikTok launched the “Back to Business” initiative, which provides $100 million in ad credits to advertisers globally, and is helping small businesses promote on their platform. Companies who meet the criteria can receive a $300 ad credit that must be used before the end of 2020. Additionally, self-serving advertising capabilities such as creative tools, flexible budgets, performance targeting, and business accounts are available to advertisers that use this program.

Users See TikTok Ads More Favorably

According to a new study, TikTok advertising results in higher brand retention and positive attitude across a range of view durations; brands on the platform are more remembered and favourably evaluated than those on other platforms. TikTok proposes that organisations focus on creative brand storytelling to garner more attention and interaction.

TikTok also has an in-app Business Creative Hub where you can check which branded content is working well in a particular country and a guide to campaign optimisation that may help businesses meet their performance targets. Because it allows for regular content rhythm, immediate relevance, and constant discovery, creating video advertising based on daily trends boosts their relevancy and probability of showing up in someone’s feed.

On a side note, social media giants like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat have now reached a saturation stage, making it incredibly difficult to get your brand’s message across to your target audience amid all the noise. Some brands even spend a few bucks to increase the number of likes and followers on their page. As a result, identifying whether a page has a genuine following becomes challenging.

However, as TikTok is a relatively new platform, it is more concerned with attracting new users than aggressively monetizing the site. Thus, marketers can simply take advantage of this platform by focusing solely on content creation and leveraging the maximum out of the platform. How? Let’s talk about it.

How to Use TikTok for Marketing?

TikTok is ideally used as a promotional tool for brands to engage with their target audience. A successful TikTok marketing campaign can reinforce brand value through short-form, authentic content that users love and share.

Here’s how you can run a successful TikTok marketing campaign:

Set up your TikTok Business Account

First, if you want to make good use of the platform, you need to set up your business account. So, install TikTok on your iOS or Android device. Sign up for the app using your email address, phone number, or a third-party platform like your existing Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter account. TikTok will create a profile for you along with a username.

However, a regular TikTok account is of no use to a business. Thus, you need to switch to a business account. A business account is designed for marketers and includes various features to help you get the most out of your TikTok marketing efforts.

Here’s how to turn your TikTok account into a business account.

  • Step 1: Go to the bottom of the screen, choose the ‘Me’ option, and click the three dots in the top right.
  • Step 2: Go to ‘Manage Account,’ then ‘Switch to Business Account’ from the Account Control menu.
  • Step 3: Pick ‘Business’ from the drop-down option that displays.
  • Step 4: Finally, select the category in which your product or service falls and click ‘Next.’ This will provide you with unique content, events, and solutions specialised to your niche.

You may then complete your profile by adding your bio, company website, and email address, and any other video marketing accounts you may have on Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter.

Create A Winning Tiktok Strategy

Even if you’re an Instagram or Facebook marketing pro, remember that TikTok is its own fascinating, chaotic platform requiring a unique strategy.

Understand The Tiktok Algorithm

TikTok considers four major aims to keep users engaged: user value, long-term user value, creator value, and platform value. One way it accomplishes it is by using its algorithm that prefers to show the users a variety of content instead of bombarding them with content they may enjoy. Thus, the algorithm tailors content choices, automatically skips videos that aren’t relevant or age-appropriate, and eliminates violations of their Community Guidelines.

The AI algorithm curates the For You page based on each users’ preferences and activity history. Due to a wide range of factors and variables, no two For You feeds will be identical.

The following are the three main factors that determine your TikTok recommendations:

User Interactions such as videos users like or share, the accounts they follow, the comments they make, videos they’ve added to their favourites, videos they’ve marked as “Not Interested,” videos they’ve reported as inappropriate, and the content they create.

The algorithm also considers how far a user proceeded through the video and whether or not they watched it in its entirety. Watching a video from beginning to end carries more weight in the TikTok algorithm than some of the other contributing factors, as it’s a sign of interest.

Video Information is based on the content a user searches on the Discover tab, such as Captions, Sounds, Hashtags, Effects, Stickers, and Trending topics.

Hashtags, in particular, play an essential role in determining which videos are recommended. Any user who sees or creates a video with a specific hashtag is more likely to see future videos with that hashtag.

Device and Account Settings include language preference, country setting, and device type. These factors are primarily tracked to optimise the app performance. However, these factors aren’t as crucial as stronger, preference-indicative measures like likes and video plays.

Additionally, the number of followers does not influence the chances of appearing in the For You feed. Even though those with more followers will have better overall visibility,  the algorithm doesn’t treat their videos differently because of their popularity. Thus, placement is unaffected by a brands’ track record of high-performing vs. low-performing videos.

Identify Your Target Audience

You need to have an answer to who do you want to engage with on TikTok. You need to learn about the TikTok demographics and specify individuals who could be interested in your brand.

After that, you can create a persona or your ideal customer or user. For instance, if you are a beauty company, your persona could be women between 18 and 34 who live in the United Kingdom and are interested in cosmetics. This will help you figure out who you should aim to attract on TikTok by developing the correct sort of organic and sponsored content.

Identifying your target audience and having clarity about it will guarantee that your campaign reaches the right audience and that your money is well spent.

Define Your Objectives

Once you know your target audience, you need to define your objectives. Without an objective, you won’t know if your campaign was a success or not, and you won’t be able to make any necessary changes. You have to specify whether you’re trying to reach a new audience, boost brand image, raise product awareness, or develop customer relationships through interaction. This can be done using the advertisement manager dashboard in TikTok. It is vital for organic and paid purposes, especially for the latter.

Perform A Competitive Audit

Are your rivals using TikTok? You could be missing out on the action if they are. And you know, TikTok can be a means to get a competitive advantage if they aren’t already.

Use the SWOT framework to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and dangers of each competition if it helps. Thus, find at least three to five similar businesses or organisations and check what they’re up to on the app and their game plan. Make an effort to learn from what has worked and what hasn’t for them.

Optimise Your TikTok profile

You need to make an excellent first impression. Thus, keep your bio short and catchy. Also, pick your URL carefully. You need to determine if it should redirect to your e-commerce website, a specific landing page, additional social media profiles, or a recent blog post based on your strategic objectives.

Create Entertaining Content

Now that you’ve set up your business account and entered into the majestic world of TikTok, take a look at how you can create engaging and entertaining content and, thus, effectively market on the platform.

Collaborating With Influencers

Influencer Marketing is a terrific marketing approach, especially when it comes to TikTok. 63% of buyers believe influencers’ product recommendations “far more” than what businesses say about themselves. This is because influencers can turn a formal brand message into an engaging and creative video as they have a strong grasp of the platform and know how to use its tools, features, and trends.

Additionally, TikTok also has a TikTok Creator Marketplace, which is an “official platform for brand and creator collaborations.” Brands can locate content creator partners using this based on their real-time performance statistics like their audience demographics, engagement metrics, and more.

TikTok Marketing Success Story

Calvin Klein, a well-known fashion brand, debuted on TikTok in 2019 and used typical influencer marketing techniques. They generated over 66.5K views by collaborating with Kendall Jenner and utilizing the hashtag #MyCalvins. This marketing strategy aimed to bring the company closer to a younger, more hip audience, and it worked for the better.

Develop Your Hashtag challenge

TikTok members thoroughly enjoy participating in challenges and creating and posting videos in response. Hashtag challenges have proven to be quite successful for many companies and organisations. You develop a branded hashtag, which you then use to promote a challenge in which others create videos using your hashtag. This type of user-generated content boosts your brand’s credibility and aids in attracting new customers.

Finding The Right Hashtags

Your hashtag should be product-focused. This will assist the TikTok algorithm in determining the nature of your content and who might be interested in it. Don’t add random hashtags else; you’ll wind up with a video with a low amount of views. Also, take a close look at your rival’s hashtags. See which hashtag won them a popular status and which didn’t.

The ideal amount of hashtags to use is around five, where 1- 2 can be trending hashtags and 2-3 hashtags in your niche. In addition, one should use second-tier hashtags instead of the top hashtags in your field to obtain the best results. Second-tier hashtags are smaller and hence simpler to become a top video on.

TikTok Marketing Success Story

Mucinex, a cold and flu pharmaceutical brand, used the hashtag #BeatTheZombieFunk targeting Gen Z. The hashtag was a success that resulted in a 60.4% increase in ad recall for the company.

@matt_and_abby

LOVE THE DANCE 💚💜 @twitchtok7 @allisonholkerboss #BeatTheZombieFunk

♬ #BeatTheZombieFunk – DJ Nightshift

Run Tiktok Ads

TikTok paid ads are the solution to target your audience more precisely. They may range from $10 per impression to five digits or more if you’re a large brand. TikTok also provides the Video Creation Kit that includes a variety of video and picture templates that you can use to edit current photos. It also has over 300 free background music alternatives.

To set up a TikTok ad campaign, firstly you have to create a TikTok Ads Manager account.

Step 1: Go to the signup page and fill in the boxes with your email address or phone number. Create a password. Fill up the verification code. And, agree to the terms and conditions. Click “Sign Up” to create your login.

Step 2: To open your account, fill up the boxes with basic information about your business, like the country/region, your time zone, and your preferred currency for billing. Also, enter your business’s name, which must be the same as your company’s legal name.

To open your account, click on “Register.”

Step 3: Next up, enter your business and billing information. Fill in the information about your company, including the street address, state/province, and postal code where your business is registered.

Enter the URL of your company’s website. To pass the account review, your website must function properly, have all needed contact information, clearly advertise a product or service, and be relevant to the product or service you wish to promote.

Step 4: Choose your payment method. You can choose between manual or automatic payments. Choose it carefully as you won’t be able to change it afterwards.

Step 5: After you’ve filled in all your information and cross-checked it for accuracy, click “Submit” at the bottom of the page. TikTok will review your information and let you know within 24 hours whether your account has been approved.

You can start designing personalised campaigns and engaging with a world of new customers once your TikTok Ads Manager account has been approved.

Next up, Go to the TikTok Ads Home page and click the Create an Ad option. After that, create a TikTok advertising campaign and set your campaign goal. Following that, you’ll be asked to choose between the Daily Budget and the Total Budget for your budget. In both cases, the total amount can not be less than $500.

Then establish an ad group and choose your targeting and placement. Using this, your ads will appear on TikTok and other connected applications such as Vigo Video (India), BuzzVideo, News Republic, and others.

After you’ve decided on your chosen locations, you’ll need to add any relevant URLs, display names, photos, and categories. You can also specify your target demographic. Aside from that, you have the option of determining how long your ads will run. Most importantly, you’ll have to set an optimisation goal for your ad, which means the key metric you’re looking to achieve with your ad campaign. This includes conversion, click, and impression.

Next up, you can pick from a category of standard ads that include top view, In-feed, and branded takeover ads. The second category comprises the content ads with branded hashtag challenges and branded effects.

Top View Ads

TopView is a full-screen ad unit that catches viewers’ attention in a premium and brand-safe placement. It is perfect for advertising products requiring longer attention durations, such as movie trailers. It auto-plays when the app is opened and can last up to 60 seconds.

In-Feed Ads

These ads are displayed in the For You feed, which can run up to 60 seconds. These ads have a rate of $10 CPM, relatively inexpensive compared to brand takeover campaigns. Also, they have a clear “Sponsored” label and a new clickable pop-up call-to-action, such as “download now,” “learn more,” or “buy now.”

Branded Takeover Ads

When a user opens the app, the Brand Takeover ad shows right in the middle of their screen. This ad can be linked to another TikTok video or another website or app via an internal or external link. However, one advertiser can only use this type of ad per category per day.

Branded Hashtag Challenge

This ad enables sponsors to collaborate with TikTok’s marketing team to create a sponsored hashtag challenge that encourages users to share content on their behalf with a particular hashtag. These are generally limited-time campaigns, lasting around one week on average.

TikTok Marketing - Branded hashtag
Credit: @elfcosmetics

Branded Effects

These allow advertisers to add pictures of their products to their TikTok videos using 2D, 3D, or AR effects. Brands can develop stickers for their product or custom filters for TikTokers to use in their videos.

Track your progress

It’s vital to know how things are going after using TikTok for a while. This is where analytics come in handy. Analytics removes the uncertainty from content strategy by demonstrating what works and what doesn’t. The in-platform analytics tool on TikTok provides information about your overall audience and the performance of your uploaded content.

To do so, you’ll need to switch to a Pro account.

  1. Go to your account
  2. Click “Manage my account.”
  3. Click “Switch to Pro account”

There are three tabs in your new profile analytics: Overview, Content, and Followers.

On the overview page, you’ll find your video views, followers count, and profile views over the last 7 or 28 days. By monitoring your performance trends over 7- 28 days, you’ll be able to identify areas of growth and decline.

Using the content tab, you can view how many videos you’ve posted in the previous seven days and which of your videos have trended the most. Pay special attention to the videos that are currently trending. You’ve probably found your brand’s sweet spot if all of your best-performing videos have a common theme, format, or hashtag.

The Follower is an excellent place to start if you want to learn more about your TikTok audience. It displays the number of followers you have, your 7-day growth rate, gender breakdown, top territories, follower activity, and the videos your followers have viewed the most in the last seven days. This page also shows you information about your followers’ TikTok activities.

Examples Of Brands Acing The Marketing On Tiktok

Since TikTok is quirky by nature, businesses must be inventive to capture the attention of their target demographic. A basic ad or paid influencer endorsement might not be enough on this fast-paced platform.

Let’s look at these three businesses that have nailed TikTok marketing with attention-seeking and innovative content.

Chipotle

Chipotle was the first fast-food chain to have an official TikTok account. They continuously share content, and their influencer campaign has several layers of success. Even their profile gets off with a good start with a catchy bio: “Less Tok, More Guac.” And, it only gets better from there.

Initially, Chipotle gained popularity by encouraging users to participate in the #ChipotleLidFlip Challenge, which a Chipotle employee reportedly started. They began the challenge in early May 2019 to advertise their Cinco de Mayo free delivery promotion. It had 104 million views and 110,000 user-generated video entries in the first six days of the contest.

Immediately after that, the brand proved that they weren’t a one-hit-wonder. On National Avocado Day, they launched the ‘#GuacDance‘ challenge to advertise free guacamole online and through its app. Users were encouraged to show off their avocado-themed dancing moves while listening to Dr. Jeans’ ‘Guacamole song,’ and it evoked nostalgia for a happy pop-culture experience for the customer.

The ‘#GuacDance’ challenge garnered 250,000 video entries and 430 million views in only six days. They also claimed over 800,000 guacamole sales on National Guacamole Day.

Chipotle followed up with the #Boorito campaign on Halloween 2019, providing a $4 burrito to anybody who came to Chipotle dressed up on October 31st, leveraging influencers @zachking and @dreaknowsbest (among others). Thus, collaborating with well-known TikTok influencers helped them broaden the campaign’s reach, increasing total engagement.

@zachking

Moonwalking with my $4 @chipotle #Boorito on Halloween. Did I do it right? Comment below #ad

♬ Strange Affair – Ronald Stein

Indeed, Chipotle has set the bar for how companies may build their brand presence while engaging the TikTok community in a fun and authentic way since joining TikTok in 2018.

Dunkin

Dunkin’ is, without a doubt, one of the top food brands on TikTok. They have about 3 million followers and 21 million likes, and their channel has a lot of funny user-generated content.

Dunkin attracted Gen Z by partnering with Charli D’Amelio, the most followed TikTok megastar. They named her favourite drink – a Dunkin’ Cold Brew with whole milk and three pumps of caramel swirl, “The Charli” on the Dunkin’ menu nationwide. And, almost immediately this launch made national headlines in the entertainment, lifestyle, news, and business media.

It played in their favour when it turned out that Charli had been a longtime Dunkin’ fan even before she even joined TikTok. Dunkin’ beverages have appeared in over 120 of her TikToks, with most of them as unsponsored product placements.

@dunkin

@charlidamelio 17th bday means a present for you!! 😎🎁 Stay tuned. #charlidunkinremix #dunkin

♬ original sound – Dunkin’

Thus, their strategic move to use influencer marketing and the influencer being no other than the heart of TikTok users, Charli was so well-thought that the first day of The Charli’ launch witnessed a 20% increase in Cold Brew units while the second day saw a 45% increase. Also, Dunkin”s app downloads soared, with a +57% boost on launch day compared to the previous 90-day average, and it hit a new daily record for daily active app users.

Moreover, the brand leveraged the partnership by allowing their fans to dance their hearts out with Charli-approved moves on TikTok to the beat of an original song inspired by “The Charli” and special AR Instagram filter stickers, and more to celebrate making the partnership official.

All in all, Dunkin’ is an excellent example of how to capitalise on trends and select social media influencers that can help your company develop genuinely.

Gymshark

Gymshark is a British sportswear brand that reached approximately 2 million followers thanks to its strategy of relying on influencer marketing and hashtag challenges. It stands out from other accounts because it uploads valuable content to its users, such as exercise videos, challenges, and inspiring fitness tips that make going to the gym less frightening.

One of the brand’s most well-known TikTok campaigns is The 66 Days: Change Your Life challenge, which promotes the idea that it takes 66 days to form a habit. This challenge was launched on January 1, 2019, and coincided with consumers’ new year’s resolutions to stay fit.

Thus, TikTok users uploaded many exercise videos in the hopes of winning a Gymshark membership. The hashtag #gymshark66 generated 45.5 million views and an overall average engagement rate of 11.1%, making the campaign a huge success.

The brand also partnered with six influencer accounts in the health, fitness, leisure, and dance areas. Wilking Sisters, Rybka Twins, Twin Melody, Lesotwins, Laurie Elle, and Antonie Lokhorst. Among the themes of the Gymshark influencer postings were dance, acrobatics, lip-syncing, and pairing Gymsharks athletic wear.

TikTok Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

While there are numerous examples of businesses effectively leveraging the platform for marketing, there are countless cases of marketers doing it horribly wrong.

So, if you do not do your study, you might make a lot of blunders with TikTok marketing.

Here are some major blunders that you should avoid.

Promoting To The Wrong Target Audience

You must determine whether the platform targets your niche audience or not. Otherwise, your effort and money will be wasted if your product caters to the platform’s smallest demography demands. There’s a strong probability it’ll work for you if your target demographic is Generation Z and younger Millennials. However, if your product is intended for senior citizens, then you must advertise on a different platform where they congregate.

Being Too Salesy

Nobody enjoys being sold to. Nobody likes to watch a sales pitch that is too pushy. This notion is true across all social media platforms, not just TikTok. Thus, in your videos, you must avoid employing forceful sales pitches. Users on TikTok will not be impressed and will unfollow your account if it is overly sales-oriented.

Hence, follow the three Es to market your company on TikTok: engage, entertain, and inspire others to produce content. For instance, make an entertaining video with your product and then launch a hashtag challenge encouraging TikTok users to create similar content.

Creating Boring Videos

TikTok is all about having a good time. Nobody will be seeking presentation-style videos on the platform, and you only have 15 or 60 seconds to convey your message. Most TikTok users will want to interact on the platform rather than merely watch videos passively. Thus, examine the most popular videos on the platform to see why many people enjoy them. Do they make you laugh? Do they encourage others to participate? Is there a distinction?

Also, don’t avoid the use of special effects and music. You won’t post the same material on Instagram and LinkedIn, for example, because the purpose and aesthetic of these sites are fundamentally different. You must develop relevant, catchy, valuable content that and retain the user’s attention to encourage more people to check out your account and watch your videos.

Lastly, the major blunder you can make is not using influencer marketing, user-generated content, or hashtags. You must know how curating a UGC and employing hashtags and influencer marketing can change your game. It can skyrocket your likes, following, and engagement rate. We know how that ship sails if you don’t make good use of it.

Bottom Line

By now, you must have realised that your TikTok marketing strategy needs to be unique, entertaining, and relatable to pique the users’ interest. Thus, craft your message accordingly and collaborate with influencers who understand TikTok’s fast-paced nature and connect you with your target customers through relatable and honest content. So, understand all the nitty-gritty of TikTok Marketing, create your TikTok business account, put on your thinking cap, and start creating viral content!

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