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Written by: Torrey Tayenaka
Looking for the secret sauce guaranteed to boost your company’s video marketing strategy?
TikTok may be exactly what you’re looking for. This worldwide phenomenon originally soared in popularity with younger audience members and is now amassing even more users in older demographics thanks to the hours of entertainment it promises.
What does this mean for you as a business owner? Frankly, it means you need to be on it and figure out how to show up and show off.
While having a presence on TikTok can be beneficial to nearly any business in any market, it’s an especially strategic move for those targeting females ages 16 to 39 as this demographic makes up the majority of app users.
Here are some ways you can integrate TikTok into your video marketing strategy right away.
What You Can Expect
Before you start investing time, energy, and money into your TikTok marketing, you may be wondering what you can expect to get in return. Is this even worth the effort?
Well, how would you like to see the following:
- Better connection between your business and online communities.
- Increased Brand Awareness.
- More engagement with your products and services.
- Improved conversions for advertisements.
If those sound like something you’d be interested in seeing for your business, let’s move along and find out how you can achieve them thanks to the help of TikTok.
Getting started with TikTok
If you’re entirely new to the app, you’ll need to first set up a TikTok business account so you’ll have access to analytics, insights, editing tools, and other metrics that will help you gauge the effectiveness of your efforts. Next, take a look around the app and familiarize yourself with its features while starting to build your presence.
Take notice of trending topics, hashtags, and content with high views. What do you notice about them? Why are people engaging with it? By taking note of these observations, you’ll be better prepared when it comes time to make your own content.
Finally, start engaging with other brands and the TikTok community. This is the kind of app that works best when you’re actively communicating with others instead of just sitting back and watching.
‘Like’ videos, subscribe to users, even post comments. These small acts of engagement are all part of your TikTok strategy so spend some time building your presence.
Get your toes wet
Now that you’ve taken the time to observe other users, it’s time to get your toes wet and create some of your first content. Don’t worry, this is the fun part! Play around with the filters TikTok offers and don’t take yourself too seriously! TikTok is universally entertaining because it showcases authenticity so just be real and get to creating.
Keys to success
As with any form of marketing, especially in the social media world, the first key to success is to be consistent. Set a schedule for posting content and try your best to keep it. Even if you’re just putting out a short clip, it’s better than being inactive.
Let your audience peek behind the curtain and see the “real” you with behind-the-scenes content and interviews. Post something silly like a TikTok challenge. Or, create a how-to video for one of your products.
Key point: post often.
The BIG goal
When it comes to TikTok, the Holy Grail is being featured on someone’s ‘For You’ page. This content is curated for users with AI and is based on their past views and interactions.
Getting your content on this feed will boost your interactions as more and more users like and comment on your video. Once your post gets in the flow, your content can live in perpetuity and your new followers will be as organic as they come.
Top ways to use TikTok for business
Now that you understand more about TikTok, let’s look at the top three ways your business can use it to your advantage. It’s not all about posting content, believe it or not!
#1. Post TikTok videos — Now, we said it’s not ALL about posting content but that doesn’t mean doing so isn’t the best way to utilize TikTok. Finding ways to creatively engage your audience through videos is crucial to your TikTok success.
Your posts need to be fun, authentic, engaging, and consistent. Think about what your followers want to see and find a way to give it to them.
#2. Team up with influencers — Before you give us a huge eye roll, hear us out. Influencers have gotten a bad rep in the media but they can actually be hugely beneficial to your business.
How? Imagine the biggest influencers on TikTok posting raving reviews about your product or service. What do you think their followers are going to do? Finding the right influencers to partner with can be a game-changer for a business!
#3. Run TikTok ads — This wouldn’t be a marketing blog if we didn’t talk about paid advertising, right? TikTok advertising is one of the best places to spend your marketing dollars and it currently gives you five different ways to do so:
- In-Feed Ads: These ads are posted on the user’s ‘For You’ page and from there can be shared, liked, and commented on. With an engaging Call to Action, your ad can give a huge boost to your revenue.
- Top-View Ads: As TikTok says, these ads are ‘top of feed, top of mind.’ While they’re also featured on the FYP, these ads present your brand first on someone’s news feed.
- Brand Takeovers: These short ads appear when a user first opens their app before they even get to their news feed.
- Branded Hashtags: This option can be a part of your influencer strategy and is a fast and easy way to increase engagement.
- Branded Effects: The most creative option, your company can create a branded filter or effect that users can create their own content with.
Time is TikTok-ing
Forgive the pun but the truth remains: it’s time to get your business on TikTok and start boosting your video marketing strategy by utilizing this insanely popular app.
Remember, the key is having fun with your content so followers will engage with it and share, share, share! What will you create first?
Related: Why Video Won't Always Work in the COVID-Recovering World
Torrey Tayenaka is the co-founder and CEO at Sparkhouse, a corporate video production agency. He is often asked to contribute expertise in publications like Entrepreneur, Single Grain and Forbes.