It’s been around for a few years now, but with many brands still hesitant to dip their toe into the world of TikTok, how could it make a difference to your brand?
With 3 billion downloads to date and 2021’s most downloaded app, TikTok is completely dominating the social media world, and has other platforms desperately trying to adapt and follow in its platforms (Instagram, we’re looking at you).
Flexibility and adaptability are essential for any business to grow, and therefore an active social media presence is essential in 2022. Social media continues to grow and evolve, and currently the newest evolution comes in the form of TikTok. What started out as an innocent platform that had us all hooked over lockdown learning funny dances, has now become the most popular social media platform.
What does that mean for brands? It means they should create a profile immediately!!
One of the main reasons TikTok is so popular is because it is very consumer focused, and anyone can create a successful account.
It’s the homemade, authentic profiles that have users of all ages, cultures and backgrounds coming back for more. This is why it is such a powerful tool for influencer activity. Much like Instagram influencers, TikTok has created its own host of stars whose popularity has skyrocketed because of the platform and their raw, unedited, and authentic content. Correct utilisation of this type of content by brands can reap huge rewards.
How has TikTok got it so right?
TikTok has become the biggest social media platform in the world because of its algorithm which is based on the ‘interest’ graphic and not on the ‘social’ graphic. What does this mean?
Other platforms typically rely on followers and relationships – but over time people evolve and these friendships change as well. So, the content of these ‘followers’ becomes less valuable.
What TikTok does is feed you content that you are interested in and uses the algorithm to change with you – by keeping track of your interests.
Not for everyone
TikTok may not be for every business. The more niche you are, the harder it is to make it relevant to you. A skincare brand may be easier to promote than a law firm, but it’s still entirely possible. In fact, TikTok is a great way for a more corporate business to make itself accessible and approachable to everyone. Algorithms mean that brands must be careful how they spend their time, money, and energy when it comes to TikTok; a ’throw caution to the wind’ approach won’t work here.
Thankfully, TikTok for Business opened in 2020 and has allowed businesses to access audience insights and metrics, making it easier, especially for those new to utilising social media for business, to get to grips with TikTok.
Our Tips on using TikTok
Here’s some tips to get the most from your TikTok account:
Let your personality shine through
TikTok is so popular for the same reason that Facebook’s popularity is dwindling – fun. TikTok is constantly evolving and depending on what you’re interested in at that time, your algorithm will constantly change. With entertainment the most popular content category by far, use humour where and when you can to promote your brand and get people listening. Despite being a different platform, the use of humour and personality on the Aldi Twitter account meant that engagements and followers has skyrocketed. It would be even more effective to communicate this via TikTok.
Follow trends
If every video is blatantly trying to sell a product or a service, it won’t work. People are logging onto TikTok for entertainment, and it’s the business’ job to sell the product while keeping the user entertained. Adapting your content to what is popular is the best way to work this; following trends and using trending sounds will help with exposure onto the ‘For You’ page. Videos including real people and faces get more traction than videos of static images.
Posting times
Like any social media management, timing is crucial. As previously stated, algorithms are tricky and can often work against business accounts, so it is important to do anything you can to boost exposure, and carefully planning when to post is one of the easiest ways to do this. Aiming to post in the evening during the week can help, as most people do their TikTok scrolling after work. A mid-morning post on a Saturday is another optimal time.
We’re all on our phones; probably a lot more than we care to admit. On average, we spend 40 – 50 minutes a day on TikTok. It would be incredibly foolish for any business or brand to ignore the opportunities this presents.
Leverage TikTok Shop
TikTok Shopping offers creators and businesses the means to promote thousands of products from their catalogues simultaneously. Whereas TikTok live stream shopping gives brands the opportunity to leverage the power of influencers or promote events to drive awareness of products to a potentially global audience. With over 1 billion TikTok users worldwide, even a teeny slice of the TikTok pie can be a huge windfall.
Once your business is up and running on TikTok Shopping, don’t wait around for your potential customers to find your shopping tab organically. Nobody can purchase from your TikTok Shopping account if they don’t know about it! Be proactive and look for them, by starting off with some high-quality TikToks to draw people to your TikTok Shopping storefront.
Always promote your TikTok activities, deals, or events to as many people as you can. Apart from creating top content yourselves, creators with TikTok storefronts can also tag products in organic content from other creators using dedicated product links from their catalogue.
Currently Rumour Mill Creative Communications manages the TikTok channels for a number of leading local and national brands. We produce the plan and content, schedule the content, and manage the account, reporting back weekly and sometimes daily. We are proactive and reactive in order to ensure brands remain ahead of the trends. We also offer training in TikTok.
If you want to discuss TikTok for your business, please get in touch via social@rumourmillcomms.com.