The social media platform TikTok, formerly known as Musical.ly, has seen unprecedented growth over the last few years. With over 800 million users worldwide, this video-sharing app has garnered attention from marketers worldwide for its incredible reach. However, since this app is still a novelty to many, few have realized the potential of social media marketing on TikTok. According to an annual report by Social Media Examiner, only 3% of marketers are currently using TikTok, with only 15% planning to use it in 2020. With so much potential in such a huge market remaining virtually untapped, now is the prime time for marketers to jump on board the TikTok bandwagon! But don’t start counting your chickens before they hatch. First, you’ll need to learn how to develop a TikTok marketing strategy!
“But if there are so few marketers on TikTok, how do I approach this?” you may ask. That’s why we’re here to help you! Let us guide you through the process of planning and launching your first TikTok marketing campaign. Here are ten steps you should follow if you want to promote your brand on TikTok:
- Think About Your Goals
- Analyze Your Buyer Persona
- Start Posting Relevant Content Regularly
- Actively Engage on the Platform
- Create a Branded Hashtag
- Participate in and Create Hashtag Challenges
- Promote User-Generated Content
- Collaborate With Influencers
- Promote Your Brand Via TikTok Ads
- Track and Assess Your Campaign’s Results
Now let’s get right to it!
10 Steps to Follow When Developing a TikTok Marketing Strategy
1. Think About Your Goals
The first and the most obvious step applies to developing any marketing strategy, not just on TikTok — having a clear goal in mind. So what do you want to achieve on TikTok? Do you want to raise brand awareness? Do you perhaps count on driving conversions?
Whatever the answer, before you consider developing a TikTok marketing strategy, you should ask yourself whether it’s the right platform for you. Yes, we did say the TikTok market is enormous, but regardless of the market size, if your target audience is not on the platform, your promotion will fall on deaf ears. We’re sure you wouldn’t want to end up with a negative ROI, would you?
So don’t try to force TikTok marketing if it doesn’t align with your company’s goals. If it does, excellent! You’re in luck. If not, let it go and look for leads elsewhere.
2. Analyze Your Buyer Persona
Another essential part of every marketing strategy is knowing and analyzing your buyer persona. But why is that especially vital on TikTok? It’s simple — if your buyer persona is older than 40, you’re unlikely to find any marketing success on this platform.
According to Hootsuite, around 50% of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 24, while only 15% are older than 35! When it comes to gender, the platform slightly favors female users, as only 40% are male.
With these stats in mind, it’s evident that TikTok caters to a specific audience, which is why it’s essential to know your customers and whether they are on the platform before launching your TikTok campaign.
3. Start Posting Relevant Content Regularly
Assuming you’ve cleared the above two points successfully, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty of developing a TikTok marketing strategy.
Like many other social media platforms, there are two key aspects of every formula for success on TikTok — value and consistency. Let us elaborate.
If you want your customers to consume your TikTok content, you have to cater to their needs. In other words, your video clips have to provide value. So you should ask yourself what your audience wants to see from your brand on TikTok. After you finish brainstorming, get to filming and uploading videos!
Also, just like on any other social network, consistency is essential. If you want to get your brand noticed, posting regularly is a must. So make sure to create a posting schedule and stick to it!
Oh, and here’s a bonus tip — corporate and formal attitude doesn’t belong on TikTok. Such content doesn’t resonate well with the platform’s user base. Instead, be funny! You’re going to find much more success that way.
4. Actively Engage on the Platform
Once you’ve started posting content regularly, it’s time for the next logical step — engaging with other users on the platform! Every experienced social media marketer knows the importance of social engagement. The benefits of it are manifold:
- By engaging with other people’s posts, you increase your brand exposure and build brand awareness.
- Communicating with other users and brands helps you develop relationships and connections on the platform.
- It increases your reach drastically.
- Sharing opinions and ideas on other people’s content may inspire you and help you make more engaging content.
Don’t underestimate the power of engagement when developing a TikTok marketing strategy! That can be one of the easiest ways to get yourself a dedicated following on the platform.
5. Create a Branded Hashtag
As soon as your brand starts gaining some traction on the platform, you should take your strategy to the next level. It’s high time you create a branded hashtag!
A branded TikTok hashtag lets your users stay up to date with your videos by following a single hashtag! That allows them easy access to your brand’s content and opens up plenty of possibilities for you. You can link your explainer videos, product reveals, or even give them an inside look into your company’s culture all in one place.
Trust us; you’ll garner much more success if you make it easier for your customers to find you!
6. Participate in and Create Hashtag Challenges
Hashtag challenges are all the rage on TikTok! But what are they, and what is it that makes them so popular?
Hashtag challenges are sponsored hashtags on TikTok that brands use to boost engagement and build brand awareness. They entail creating a challenge for your audience to film themselves completing them and post the content under your hashtag. If you’re no stranger to the internet, you should know well by now just how popular online challenges are!
Many large brands are actively creating these challenges and directing attention to them on TikTok, so you should join in on the fun. And don’t just create these challenges yourself; participate in them! That’s a surefire way to continue attracting attention to your brand on TikTok.
@nowunited Uniters show us what YOU got!! Get creative and try the ##PepsiCanBalance!! ???????? @pepsi ##pepsifootball
♬ Presidente – WOST & Ginette Claudette
7. Promote User-Generated Content
Now that your brand’s likely acquired a substantial following on TikTok, it’s time to begin catering to your audiences. And what better way is there than to promote their content? That’s right, using user-generated content is an excellent way to show that you care about your customers and to extend your reach. Highlight their sketches and share their videos featuring your product. Oh, and don’t forget to encourage users to create even more content! Having inexhaustible spring of free content you can use whenever you’re experiencing a creative block can be a lifesaver at times.
8. Collaborate With Influencers
The next option to consider when developing a TikTok marketing strategy should be familiar to all seasoned marketers. Influencers are as potent a tool for promoting your brand on TikTok as they are on any other social media. Here’s an excellent example of a TikTok influencer marketing video by Red Bull:
@keeoh yo but where did the Redbull go????????????♂️????????♂️ ##sponsored
♬ original sound – keeoh
Influencers have massive reach, particularly on TikTok, since most of its user base consists of young people. So you’d be remiss to skip this step when formulating your TikTok marketing campaign.
9. Promote Your Brand Via TikTok Ads
Just like any other social media network, TikTok allows brands to advertise their products on the platform. It’s true, though, that since TikTok is still in its infancy as a platform, the available advertising options are scarce, and ad analytics are lacking. However, you still have more than enough options available. Here are a few you have at your disposal:
- In-Feed Native Ads — These customizable short-form video ads can appear on the “For You” page. These ads even support adding links or CTA buttons to them.
- Brand Takeover Ads — These ads are usually made of short videos or GIFs that appear in specific TikTok categories. The best part about these ads is that they are limited to one per category and remain there for 24 hours.
- Hashtag Challenge Ads — These ads usually come in the shape of a banner ad used to promote a particular hashtag challenge. These are typically located on the “Discover” page and are an excellent way to get your hashtag challenge out there.
Considering TikTok’s enormous popularity, the number of advertising options on the platform are sure to grow in time. Until then, you should make the most of what you have (which is not little, to be frank)!
10. Track and Assess Your Campaign’s Results
Last but not least, let’s not forget an integral part of every marketing strategy — tracking and evaluating your campaign’s success!
Measuring your content’s performance can offer you invaluable insight into how to further develop your TikTok marketing strategy. Are your clips underperforming? Maybe they’re not funny enough. Are you not getting enough engagement? Perhaps you’re targeting wrong hashtags.
These are just some of the problems you could encounter on your TikTok marketing journey, so staying up to date with your campaign’s performance is essential. So don’t neglect it!
Congratulations: Now You Know How to Develop a TikTok Marketing Strategy!
If you’re a brand that understands the value of social media video marketing and mostly caters to a younger audience, TikTok is the perfect platform for you! Not only is it one of the most popular social video platforms of recent years, but it also has a lot of hidden potential. So who knows? Maybe your brand and TikTok end up being a match made in heaven. Why not give it a shot?
Best of luck to you on your TikTok marketing journey!
Until next time!
