Why TikTok Marketing?
Within the United States alone, TikTok has around 100 million active users each month. While most people assume TikTok is filled solely with Generation Z, almost 38% of its users are actually above the age of 30. Even though TikTok is relatively new compared to other social media platforms, it has quickly risen the ranks and become the fastest growing application in 2022.
With the undeniable accessibility of digital marketing, specifically social media marketing, businesses are starting to use TikTok advertisements more and more. You may think video advertising is very simple, but there are actually tricks you can use to ensure your advertisement’s success. Listed below are 8 of the best tips one should take advantage of when using TikTok marketing:
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Use Relevant Hashtags
Just like other social media platforms utilized for digital marketing purposes, TikTok uses hashtags to categorize videos on the application so that users can then search for specific videos relating to that topic. When users click on the search icon in the top right corner of their screen, a list of trending hashtags will show up.
Now, you may be thinking, the more hashtags the better, right?
Wrong.
Unlike Instagram, videos under popular hashtags do not perform as well since these hashtags do not list videos in chronological order. This means your video will get lost in the sea of other users trying the same tactic.
The best way to use hashtags on TikTok is to only use a few and to use only hashtags that are incredibly relevant to your content.
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Follow Trends
When creating content, TikTok videos that follow current trends tend to perform better than others. Whether you use a trending hashtag or a trending song, their popularity could get TikTok’s algorithm to show your video to people who like watching that trending content, which is usually the majority of users.
These trends are rapidly and constantly changing, and as a digital marketer, it is very important to keep up to date with them. Even if you create a video that doesn’t follow any trends, it has still been proven that using trending sounds regardless of the video’s content will increase the likelihood that TikTok’s algorithm will push it towards more people.
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Create Unique Content
With so many users on TikTok, it can be hard to create unique videos that no one has seen before. You may be wondering, how do I create content that is both unique, yet trending at the same time?
A great way to do this is to find out what is trending within your niche using websites that track trending topics. Some great resources for this include Google Trends and Exploding Topics. You can then use the search feature on TikTok to find what type of content is popular in relation to the trending topics you found.
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Collaborate with Influencers
With the most popular creators on TikTok garnering over 100 million followers each, it makes sense that businesses utilizing digital marketing strategies would want to partner with them in order to spread the word about their brand. Some creators on the application are so influential that they have even started their own successful businesses, using TikTok as their main source of advertisement.
Even if your business isn’t popular on TikTok, partnering with an influencer is one of the best ways to bypass this problem. While you will most likely have to pay the influencer, the return on investment is usually very high. For example, Dunkin Donuts partnered with popular creator Charli D’Amelio and saw a 20% increase in cold brew coffee sales. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a ton of revenue! If you don’t know where to start when it comes to influencers, TikTok has a Creator Marketplace designed to help businesses find and connect with popular creators on the application.
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Consistency with Posts
One of the most important parts of TikTok marketing is your consistency. Posting 1-4 videos a day has been proven to boost your video advertisement within the algorithm. Based on numerous experiments, it has been found that the best time to post on TikTok for maximum engagement is Thursday at 7pm.
If you are posting every day, it is important to post when you think the majority of your customers would use the application. If I was trying to sell a product to employed individuals, it wouldn’t make sense to post in the middle of the day when everyone is at work. At the end of each week, you should review your engagement statistics so you can better understand what days and times work and which ones do not.
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Engage with Posts and Other Users
Similar to the way TikTok likes frequent posts, TikTok also likes frequent and consistent user engagement. Commenting on other user’s videos can bring more people to your page, especially if you have a top comment with a lot of likes. Since TikTok ranks comments based on how many likes they receive, you should make sure your comments are insightful or unique.
In addition, make sure you interact with your own audience- if someone comments on your TikTok video, like their comment and make sure to respond! TikTok rewards users who do this by pushing them forward in the algorithm.
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Use TikTok Advertisements
TikTok has recently launched a formal advertising system for businesses to use, making it super easy to market directly to users on the application. There are 3 types of advertisements that fall under this umbrella:
- In-feed native advertisements: This type of TikTok marketing most closely resembles a traditional TikTok advertisement. These advertisements typically have website links and “Order Now” buttons attached to it.
- Hashtag challenge advertisements: With this type of video advertisement, users are shown a banner advertisement that when clicked, brings users to a set of instructions on how to do said challenge. These types of TikTok advertisements are a great way to target specific customers.
- Brand takeover advertisements: These video advertisements use a conglomerate of GIFs, images, and video clips that either link to a hashtag challenge or a landing page.
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Camouflage Branded Content
As with most social media marketing, it is best to not overwhelm your audience with solely advertisements. These video advertisements still need to be entertaining and engaging or people will not stick around to watch it all. Often times, users will go as far as completely ignoring these video advertisements. A good way to build both credibility while also not blatantly advertising is by uploading videos showing other people using your product or service. People love watching TikTok reviews, so this strategy definitely will help you gain more business.
Overall, digital marketing, specifically through TikTok advertisements, is a great way to reach a larger audience without having to shell out thousands of dollars to do so. There are many free opportunities to be found in the realm of video marketing, and TikTok provides the most user friendly way to take advantage of this.
