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TikTok is expected to pass the 2 billion active users mark in 2024. Those numbers alone put it among the social media giants, but it’s also the most effective platform for reaching Gen Z (35% of users) and women (55% of users).
Make no mistake. The short (originally 15-second) video-sharing app has come a long way since it burst onto the scene in 2016 with a menu of viral dances, lip syncing and challenges. It’s now the preferred search engine for 18 to 24-year-olds, and a valuable source of news, shopping tips, advice and motivation for its highly engaged audience.
For brands, TikTok offers a chance to connect with younger users in a fun, authentic way and to achieve the holy grail of “going viral”. Here’s how to use TikTok for business.
Create Fun, Engaging Branded Content
Facebook used to be the platform associated with fun, but it’s now losing 1.6 million Gen Z users a year. What happened? Partly, it’s because younger users who didn’t want to cross paths with their parents in the comments section gravitated to TikTok. More significantly, TikTok seemed to steal Facebook’s crown by providing spontaneous, anarchic distraction, compared to Facebook’s highly curated, data-hungry brand interactions.
That’s why rule #1 for brands using TikTok for business is to read the room.
- Videos should be fun and entertaining, not promotional or salesy. Don’t preach, reach out, and ditch the high production values and style guide for a simple smartphone shoot.
- Brands should be prepared to leave their official corporate personality at the door. Users don’t want a repeat of your brand values and mission statement, but they might love a behind-the-scenes look or view from the ground. TikTok gives you a chance to show your people, products and processes in a natural setting, whether it’s how your ingredients are harvested (and by whom), or how your products are boxed and shipped.
Leverage Trends and Challenges
TikTok is famous (and sometimes notorious) for its trends and challenges. Brands can be part of that too, so long as it’s a natural fit. If your workers or management team have mastered the latest hot choreography, showcase their talents. In some notable cases, brands can even get the ball rolling, as MAC did with #YouOwnIt or Fenty does with its make-up tutorials. If you can make users laugh or offer them genuine value, they will overlook the corporate source of the content.
At the same time, brands should be wary of posting content that doesn’t relate to their brand, jumping on the bandwagon, or taking a stand on an issue that doesn’t match up to their past performance. Be warned that #marketingfails can go viral too.
Strategically Use Hashtags
TikTok works differently to other platforms in that most users don’t actively search for content. The mystery algorithm recommends the best matches for each user on their #ForYou page. As a result, brands are much more likely to gain exposure by leveraging whatever hashtags are trending at that moment. Over time, if users like a brand’s content they will probably follow the business (59% of Gen Z users follow their favorite brands). Hashtags (particularly challenges) also provide a route for brands to break out of their sector and reach new audiences.
Tip: DO take the initiative, as Crocs did with their #ThousandDollarCrocs challenge or cosmetics brand e.l.f did with the #EyesLipsFace dance. DON’T stuff posts with unrelated hashtags or you’ll lose consumer trust.
Collaborate with Nano and Mega Influencers
Research shows that 61% of consumers trust influencers, whereas only 38% trust brands. Sometimes, a message is simply more powerful in the hands of a nano (>5,000 followers) influencer with a strong connection to their audience, or a mega influencer (100,000+) who has the power to make a product or service go viral with a single video. Again, authenticity is key, as is the importance of checking an influencer’s past Tweets/posts and public pronouncements before signing a deal.
Note that influencer partnerships must be declared as such, usually with an #ad hashtag. Influencers can be fined heavily for not disclosing that a promotion is part of a brand partnership (i.e. they’re receiving payment).
Run Effective Advertising Campaigns
With a TikTok business account, brands have access to a powerful suite of tools for planning, creating, posting and optimizing ads that extend reach beyond what organic content can achieve.
- In-Feed Video Ads – these appear on the ForYou page and can be up to 60 seconds long, with a Call to Action to a landing page.
- Top-View Ads that appear when someone opens the app. Does that make them unmissable or intrusive? 71% of TikTok users agree that they grab attention, but they’re best suited to brands with big production budgets.
- Brand takeovers – these also appear when the user opens TikTok, but they’re shorter (3 to 5 seconds) and only appear once a day. They’re great for generating intrigue and buzz as a teaser.
- Hashtag challenges where brands sponsor a hashtag, encouraging users to generate their own content. They’re effective for awareness rather than closing sales.
- Branded effects – add value to the user experience with AR lenses, filters and stickers, as Puma did with their successful #FlashOfFuture campaign.
Whatever the strategy and format, the conventional marketing principles apply: Set SMART goals (eg. impressions/downloads or shares), measure performance and optimize your campaigns in response to user engagement.
Far from suffocating the creativity of TikTok, sponsored advertising has given a platform that can often feel chaotic and unsupervised some structure and purpose. Few other platforms allow brands to jump on viral trends, hashtags or influencer communities so authentically.
When brands fail on TikTok, it is usually because they’ve felt obligated to “do a TikTok” without really asking themselves why, or have repurposed content from other platforms without understanding what makes TikTok unique. If you can delight your (younger) audience with the right format and content, the rewards can be bigger, faster and more effective than any campaign you’re accustomed to.
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Further reading:
How to Use TikTok for Business: A Step-by-Step Guide
TikTok Ads Guide: How They Work + Cost and Review Process [+ Examples]