How To Market Your Brand On TikTok

TikTok At A Glance

While still a relatively new platform, TikTok has become one of the most common social media apps over the past year. Since launching in 2016, it now has over 689 million active users as of January 2021. The younger generations such as Gen Z and Millennials are most active on the app, both in creating content and scrolling through the For You Page. Like most social media platforms, TikTok allows users to post content on their profile, interact with users in the likes and comment section, follow other accounts, and gain their own following.

Many TikTok users post content that isn’t meant to be taken seriously and instead is more on the humorous side. However, you will also come across higher-quality videos from established content creators such as travel bloggers, health experts, and inspirational speakers. 

Why Use TikTok

At first, it may seem strange to extend your digital marketing efforts to an app that’s been taken over by users learning the trending TikTok dances from their kitchen. However, creating engaging content that allows users to interact on a highly populated social platform is another way you work to draw in your desired audience and start a new conversation (and no, you don’t HAVE to learn a TikTok dance…but you can!) Since there are an abundance of ways a brand can grow on social media, provided are a few examples of small and effective tips to take when starting out on TikTok.

Show Behind The Scenes 

Transparency and honesty have become very important to consumers over the past decade, and especially in the past couple of years. Showing a behind the scenes look through engaging video content that goes through the ins-and-outs of your service and industry is a great way to not only attain followers but get lifelong customers as well. Conte of this type gets users to become interested in your company, and leads them to checking out more of your TikTik profile, your website, and your brand as a whole. 

Keep It Light

Attract your audience by posting video content that’s meant to be light-hearted and funny. After all, this is why there are so many users active on TikTok – to laugh and to make others laugh. Chipotle does a great job of posting funny content that is also still relevant to the food they provide. It’s no secret that their TikToks also plants the seed to intrigue their consumers. There’s no rule saying you can’t show your sense of humor while simultaneously generating attention to the more serious aspects of your brand.

Interact With Your Audience

Besides posting videos on your TikTok account, interacting with other user accounts is a great way to build brand awareness. Posting an insightful (or, of course, funny) comment on another content creator’s video will allow users to then like your comment, reply to your thread, and ultimately check out your profile. You’ll find both large and small businesses of all industries leaving relevant comments throughout other user accounts and interacting on their own profile. As an example of this, The Washington Post shares interactive content and often engages with their viewers in the comments section. Utilizing community management tools to communicate with users who comment on your company’s content is an excellent way to keep them coming back and potentially building that online connection. 

Boost Your TikTok Profile

To further boost your profile, TikTok now has an option called “TikTok for Business”. Through this extension, businesses are able to track analytics, grow their audience, and run ads to promote their brand. Both large and small businesses promote their own goods and services, while individuals looking to make themselves more established on TikTok have the option to promote their personal website and pages. You can learn more information about TikTok for Business. 

Gain TikTok Brand Exposure

There seems to be endless ways to build brand awareness on TikTok, but knowing that posting content that reflects your values as well as interacting with outside accounts is a great start that could lead to bigger things such as partnerships and higher levels of exposure. While the filming, editing, and creating short video content all from your phone may seem overwhelming, TikTok has the audience for you to raise awareness of your brand. At the end of the day, social media is meant to help consumers put a face to your name and your business. TikTok is not an exception; in fact, this app allows you to strengthen your digital marketing efforts and expand your brand’s outreach a step further. 

Bonus tip: When creating your TikToks, be aware of what is currently trending. Whether it’s a hashtag, an audio, or a new video idea, users will most likely interact with the trending content shown on their For You Page. By keeping up with the trends, your TikToks will have a better chance of grabbing more attention from your target audience. 

Our Digital Marketing Guru, Stephanie Hodges has this to say about TikTok, “If your brand is considering adding TikTok to your repertoire, go for it. This is a great platform to utilize if you don’t have a large ad spend budget. By using strategic hashtags, your video can gather thousands of views even if you don’t have many followers. This type of organic reach simply isn’t possible on other social platforms right now. One caveat, though—only create a TikTok account if you have the ability to produce engaging content regularly.” 

April Campos

April Campos is the Emerald Digital operations manager and digital marketing expert. April has been managing digital campaigns for nearly a decade and is a client favorite.