July 26, 2021
As of the beginning of July 2021, TikTok has had over 2.6 billion downloads worldwide and sees almost 700 million monthly active users (many IFers included!) So, it’s a no brainer that brands want to jump on the bandwagon. But, like every social media platform, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Brands need to look at the bigger picture to determine whether they should be on the platform or not.
So, whether you’re already on the app or looking to make your big splash, we’ve outlined some handy best practice tips to help guide your strategy.
Content
There are 5 main content areas that brands can focus on: challenges, storytelling, trends, education, and influencers. Each piece or style of content is great for different reasons.
- Challenges – often a combination of three elements; text, sound, and movement, challenges are usually started by creators with large followings or brands that usually promote through paid advertising. Challenges are mostly accompanied by a branded hashtag and are a great way of raising brand awareness and fast-tracking growth.
- Storytelling – not to be confused with ‘Stories’ found on Instagram and Facebook. Storytelling is the heart of TikTok and helps bring structure to your videos. This style of content is an innovative way for brands and creators to get creative, grab attention and maintain engagement with viewers.
- Trends – videos created around a song, dance, filter, or topic and usually accompanied by a hashtag, trends can be easily found through the Discovery page and on the for you page. Similarly, to challenges, trends are a great way of helping with reach and brand awareness.
- Educations – #LearnOnTikTok and education videos are extremely popular on the platform and usually watched in their entirety. This type of content allows a brand to get themselves across, dive deeper into important topics and drive engagements all within a 15-30 second video.
- Influencers – like all social platforms, using influencers allows brands to drive engagements and awareness in a short period of time, and is great for both organic and paid content.
Best-practice tips
Although each piece of content differs and can offer different success for a brand, here are a few best practice tips that brands need to consider.
- Be personal – personalisation is key on TikTok and audiences want to hear about your business. So, adding depth to your videos can help your audience understand who you are, reach the right audiences and receive greater engagements.
- Styles – to achieve success, brands need to experiment and explore different styles of content. Sticking to one style that suits one audience can limit your reach, so it’s important to switch it up.
- Clarity – the app is fast-paced so it’s important to be clear and concise. Brands should write clear captions, so the audience knows what to expect, without giving away too much.
- Don’t force it – it’s tempting to want to jump on every trend, but sometimes it’s not worth forcing it. If the sound, challenge, or trend doesn’t fit with your brand, values, or messaging, then leave it and move on to the next piece.
Organic strategy
The objective of organic content on TikTok is to keep your audience engaged. To do this, we suggest following these 3 steps.
- Maintain a steady stream of content to stay at the front of mind of your audience and increase your known presence on the app.
- Monitor the analytics available and discover who is engaging with you, and how they’re reacting to your content to improve strategies and drive future content ideas.
- Community management is needed to build connections. Interact with your audience by responding to comments on your videos, responding to questions with videos, and discovering other profiles/videos to like and engage with, to increase awareness and hopefully following.
Paid strategy
Due to the fast nature of the platform, ads need to be compelling to receive the desired results and can be a little more challenging than creating always-on content. So, when creating content, here are a few tips to consider.
- Authentic – it’s important brands stay true to themselves, keeping their messaging consistent and making sure their content resonates with the right audiences.
- Thumb-stopping – like all social content, TikTok ads need to be thumb-stopping to stop users in their tracks and maintain viewership.
- Elements – centre the important elements of your videos so it’s not cut off by captions and icons at the bottom and the side.
- Accessible – not all audiences consume content in the same way, so it’s super important that brands make use of the different features to make their content accessible for all.
- CTA – like all ads, if you’re using a call to action, make sure it’s strong and clear so you get your desired results.
Overall, for a brand to succeed on TikTok they need to; set goals by identifying aims and objectives, stay up to date with trends and community, maintain consistency, and lastly, understand analytics to help maximise efforts.
Discover successful brands with TikTok’s case studies:
- Little Moons – sparking engagements and driving brand awareness
- Phox Water – reaching new audiences and increasing sales
- Red Bull – increasing awareness worldwide through a brand challenge
If you’re interested in upping your TikTok game or any other social game for that matter, then get in touch today!