Without a doubt, TikTok has risen in popularity over the past few years as many new users are rushing to various app stores to download and learn what this platform is about. On the other hand, marketers are looking to utilize this social media platform to promote their products.
Whether you have an established or a new business, TikTok is a great marketing platform with little competition than other social media platforms. Even with several users raising issues regarding data privacy on TikTok, this has not hindered its popularity, especially among the youth.
Most business owners have not figured out how TikTok work as a marketing tool; the thinking out there is that this platform is meant for the youth. Looking at these numbers, you get the feeling that the perception is slowly changing; TikTok is now attracting a wide range of people; a recent report recently released revealed over 38% of TikTok’s users are over the age of 30. Furthermore, there is little competition on TikTok compared to other social media platforms.
How Does TikTok Work?
Before we dig into how TikTok marketing works, let’s take a quick look at how the platform works. TikTok is based on 15-second videos and can be combined for up to 60 seconds, and people will then interact with videos by scrolling through their feeds.
TikTok allows users to add all sorts of editing effects and background music to the posted videos. Through this feature, TikTok users are coming up with dance videos, many of which are going viral. The procedure is simple; all you have to do is record yourself dancing to a particular song and then post the video on your feed.
Once you have posted your video, people can interact with it by liking, commenting, or sharing it with other users through messages and other apps. With this platform, engagement figures are exceptionally high, a factor every social media marketer is looking for.
TikTok also does a good job keeping people on the app, and an average user spends close to minutes each day on this app, which is impressive. Once you have your profile ready, people can follow your account or set up notifications to be alerted every time you post a video.
How to Create Interesting TikTok Marketing Content?
Success in TikTok marketing boils down to creating quality content. If you do that, other things will fall into place, and more people are likely to watch and engage in your videos, putting your content in the right place.
The first step to creating exciting content is understanding your target audience. You can start by understanding the issues they are struggling with by looking at your audience’s common questions in popular forums.
You can also go to the ‘autosuggest feature on Google Search’ to develop relevant content. Once you find a relevant topic, click and you will find ideas you can use for your videos on TikTok.
Ways to Use TikTok As A Marketing Tool
The tricky part of using this platform is creating content that resonates with your target market. First, you need to realize TikTok content and style are different from those of other social media platforms. There are sites such as the Instalikes website that can help with branding and followers, however, before opening an account for marketing purposes, you still need to take a week or two to study and understand how this channel works.
In-feed native add
If you are a fan of Instagram stories as a marketing tool, then TikTok In-feed ads work almost the same way. Here, users have an option of adding website links and ‘order now’ on the ad. Also, marketers have multiple options to help design the general outlook of the ad. In-feed native ad usage can be traced through rates, impressions, video viewing time, total views, and engagements received.
Hashtag Challenge
The use of hashtags is famous on Instagram and Twitter, and this powerful advertising tool has found its way to TikTok. Here, the user gets a specific banner ad that will take the user to the challenge’s instructions and rules. The challenge is put up on the discover page, and its success depends on the user content. Hashtag Challenge success can be measured with insights like banner views, clicks, number of views, engagements, and trending slot. This sponsored TikTok marketing tool targets a specific group of customers and is more probable for conversions.
Brand Takeover Ads
This marketing tool involves images, short video clips, and GIFs. In this category, every brand takes up a particular brand per day, and can be measured through impressions, unique reaches, and click rates. Brand takeover ads are effective since TikTok marketing tools user-friendly and straightforward tools to bring significant effect on promoting a brand.
User Participation
It is one of the most accessible and engaging modes of advertising on TikTok. This marketing strategy is mostly used to promote brands with tools and features that enable users to post new ideas and content by themselves. To help you understand how this concept works, you can research and see how Chinese restaurant Haidilao added the DIY option to its menu. Its followers are able to get ideas on various foods and choice of ingredients. Over 15000 users were able to film their experience through the platform, with over 2000 videos uploaded and over 50 million views.
How to Get TikTok Marketing Analytics Data
No matter the social media platform you are using to market your product, Analytics is an important tool to evaluate your success. If you are looking for detailed analytics for your TikTok videos, you first need to upgrade your account to a ‘pro account’ for free.
Go to the Privacy Settings section on the app and click ‘Manage my Account,’ and you should have an option that will upgrade your account to ‘Pro.’ Once you are there, find the category that will enable you to gain access to the analytics dashboard. Once you have the data, you should identify what you are doing right and where you are going wrong. You can then go ahead and use these analytics to create content or interact with your followers.
Another exciting thing about the analytics section is that you can access ‘Followers Analytics,’ a selection that gives you all the insights you need to know about your followers. Through this information, you can also change your approach to content creation and the best times to post new videos.
If your preferred marketing tool is TikTok ads, you can use this information to improve your tactics of setting up your ads.
Conclusion
Since its inception, TikTok has seen over 2 billion downloads, with over 800 million active users worldwide. Like other social media platforms, most users of this platform are teenagers between 10 and 30 years. The volume of users in the recent past has continued to grow, so every severe marketer should consider TikTok as one of the most suitable marketing tools. All you need to do is to create videos and hope it goes viral so you can reach hundreds and thousands of people across the world.
As one of the most unsung heroes of online marketing, gaining traction among millennials faster than any other platform, TikTok is a handy tool that you can use to grow your business at an incredibly low cost. Although it may take a little longer for you to understand how TikTok works, the platform can be used as a successful marketing channel.