TikTok Marketing – What’s The Go?

By Jess Begg (Social Media Marketing Manager)

The statistics speak for themselves when it comes to the success of TikTok.

The app set the record for the most downloads in a single quarter for a social media app reaching a crazy 315 million downloads in 2020. It currently ranks the 7th highest for active users – ahead of LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat. It has been named the fastest growing social media platform of all time, and the most downloaded app globally for the past three years.

But what about social media marketing and TikTok? Well, it’s safe to say it’s worth the investment!

The platform offers the following key benefits for marketing:

Connection with your audience

Particularly the younger generation. 60% of TikTok users are 16-24 years old. The fast-paced nature of the app is proven to keep its users coming back regularly; which helps to build ongoing connection and loyalty. Tik Tok is known as the #1 destination for short-form mobile videos, and you can bet that this is what’s hot for social media marketing in 2022! On average TikTok videos are 15 seconds long, revealing that the shorter, more engaging content will keep people coming back for more.

Creatively engaging with your audience

The creativity of TikTok is also extensive, with users being able to upload content with music, filters and editing effects. It offers a brilliant opportunity for marketers to reach younger audiences within a highly creative and playful environment. A well-made TikTok video has the chance to go viral, as the platform selects content that it deems highly engaging and interesting for its viewers. This is why creative content such as pranks, dance routines, challenges, etc go wild within the app as it’s easy to get visibility if you are using popular hashtags or trending music.

Collaborating with influencers

A great way to use TikTok is to leverage other already established accounts of influencers who may be in your relevant industry. It is likely that these people are well experienced on the platform and know the current features and trends. It is a great idea to use their skills through brand campaign collabs. This can also be a great way to support your PR campaign.

A few things to keep in mind if you are going to use TikTok for marketing…

TEST! It’s very important to remember that what works on other social media platforms (Instagram or Facebook) may not perform similarly on TikTok.
LEARN! Get yourself familiar with the key trends, functionalities and social media updates and see where they can take you.
KNOW your audience. Be familiar with where your audience group is spending their time, and what content they are engaging in, to help you out along the way.
Use relevant hashtags ### or consider a hashtag challenge. These are very beneficial for brands as they are a great way of seeing user generated content.
Run advertising. If you see that a TikTok is performing well, put some ad spend behind it and watch it do even better!

When to use TikTok vs Instagram:

In terms of TikTok vs Instagram, it isn’t necessarily a case of which one trumps the other, but more about which best suits your brand. Think about your target audience and consider the content what content you’d like to represent your brand/product/service.

Audience: The largest portion of Instagram users are aged between 25-34 years old, whilst 60% of TikTok users are 16-24 years old. So to get the most out of your marketing campaign, you should leverage the platform that will resonate with your target audience. Make sure you’re choosing posts that will get the best type of engagement.

Analytics: Instagram also has it’s own analytics tools if you want to monitor metrics and results. It is also a greta platform for building community and relationships with audiences; making it great for influencer marketing.

Engagement: Like Instagram, TikTok gives users of the app the ability to like, comment and share, however, it stops there. There aren’t options to repost or save content. A key difference between TikTok and Instagram is that TikTok content is all video, and mostly unpolished content by ‘homefluencers’.

Influencers: The other benefit of TikTok is that there are multiple ways to get involved with a relevant influencer. This includes creating challenges, which occasionally go viral, which is an amazing way to get your brand, its products, and services, noticed if you’re one of the lucky ones.

How does influencer marketing work on TikTok?

Speaking of using influencers… Leveraging an influencer’s audience is a great way to advertise on TikTok, as you get access to an audience that has already been established by the influencer. It’s ‘challenges’ and trends that are at the core of the app and many brands are using hashtag challenges encouraging people to join in. It’s a smart way to get free advertising and a positive brand image. Once you’ve found a relevant influencer, it’s time to reach out to them and form a partnership.

Here at Papaya Agency, we have a lot of experience in this field 😉 so don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today to get the help you might need. Get in touch.