TikTok is a popular, video-sharing social platform that found mass interest with GenZ and is best known as the home of viral challenges, lip-syncs, and dance trends videos.
For millennials and beyond, TikTok may feel like a rebirth of Vine: the seconds of looping video-sharing platforms came into the market.
Many of TikTok’s most famous content creators, like Zach King, started their careers on Vine and have 60M followers on TikTok in 2021.
TikTok has experienced phenomenal growth, unlike Vine, since its launch in 2016, and with over 800 million active users, it is fast becoming one of the most popular social network sites.
Make sure your demographic aligns before you start marketing on TikTok:
TikTok is most popular with users between the age of 16 and 24, which makes up 60% of the total user base platform. TikTok reports that 80% of all users are between the ages of 16-34, confirming that this probably isn’t the channel for marketing to the older ones.
Besides, the other statistics also seem to indicate popularity reasonably evenly across the board.
- 41% of TikTok users are between 16 and 24.
- 56% are male, and 44% are female.
- Approximately 50% of TikTok’s global audience is under 34, with 26% between 18 to 24.
- 26.5 million monthly active users are from the USA.
- Chinese users estimate 80% of the total time spent on TikTok in 2019.
- 90% of TikTokers use the app more than once per day.
- Users spend 52 minutes on average per day on it.
Get Familiarized With the TikTok Interface
TikTok has encountered massive growth in the past years, with nearly 1 billion monthly active users. These stats present a great opportunity for businesses to use the app and reach a new audience.
For beginners, let’s get familiar with the interface.
In the app, you’ll see two feeds next to each other. The first feed is called For You. Maximum users spend 70% of their time on the For You page; it is just like the Instagram Explore page. You’ll see a variety of content there, some of which is made for you and some of which is TikTok testing its algorithm.
This platform will add brand-new content, popular content, and content that may go viral soon.
And the more time you spend on TikTok, the more For You page is for you, your interests, and what you like to engage with.
The next page is the Following feed. You’ll see only the content of the TikTok accounts you’ve followed.
A great way to get started with TikTok is to follow accounts of influencers, businesses, and brands in a similar niche but aren’t necessarily competition.
Get an Attractive Profile:
Your Tik Tok profile is the first thing a visitor sees. Your profile introduces you to the world. If you have a boring or incomplete profile, nobody will follow you. Your profile is essential for you to start contacting and connecting with users and brands if you wish to monetize your Tik Tok account by creating sponsored posts in the future.
Give enough information, including funny quirks about your background and personality.
Ideas for Creating Engaging TikTok Videos For Your Followers
Analyzing Your Target Audience:
If you want to create high-quality content that your audience will enjoy watching and share, you need to know more about them. You’ll get a better idea of the type of content users to enjoy by analyzing and learning about your target audience.
Once you’ve examined your target audience, it’s time to get in and start actively creating your content. But first, it’s also a great idea to check on your competitors to help you get a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t on the platform.
Lastly, it’s really simple: by knowing your target audience’s concerns and problems and then showing them your solution to these matters, they find value in watching your content and more likely to trust you.
Analyzing Your Competition:
With various marketing, it’s essential to look at the type of content your competitors are creating.
Of course, you mustn’t copy what they’re doing, but by examining what others are doing on TikTok, you’ll be able to get a better idea of the type of videos you can start creating.
Analyzing your competitor is the best method to find out how you or your brand can get a competitive edge in your niche.
Actively Creating Content For Your Audience:
You need to be regularly active on the platform, as it may seem obvious if you plan to succeed at TikTok marketing.
Simply having a TikTok account and maintaining your profile isn’t going to cut it; you’re going to need to share high-quality content to gain new followers and grow your audience.
You’ll only have a short, about 15-second time limit on the TikTok videos you can record and publish. However, users connect those 15-second clips to make a longer video, which can be as long as a minute.
The key to creating popular TikTok videos is to create content that will engage and catch the interest of your audience.
So, you need to ensure that your videos aren’t boring and that your content is unique and goes with trending topics.
Lastly, it’s important to get creative, be real with your audience. You’ll see that your TikTok audience will continually grow as you continue to create content and remain active on the platform.
Content Creation Tool
If you don’t have staff and aren’t a video pro, there is no need to worry. One of the appeals of TikTok, and it’s meant for users from all levels of video experience, is that users create original video content that they generally edit themselves.
You can also use various tools and software for more options for video effects, filters, and text. You can create all sorts of videos for your TikTok account.
User-Generated Content:
One of the best organic strategies is getting the platform’s users to create and share content for them, which is user-generated content.
User-generated content is used for promoting social causes. Still, the same strategy can be used by many brands, which allows them to easily leverage TikTok users into creating and sharing content for them.
To grow like this, you’ll need to make sure that your followers tag their videos with your brand-specific hashtags.
ind Out the Trending Hashtag:
Using trending hashtags is the best strategy for getting more views. Once you open your account on the Tik Tok app, you can see what hashtags are trending from the landing page.
Using trending hashtags will make your video more visible to people looking at the app’s front page, and it will therefore increase the visibility of your account. This strategy is pretty simple and effective.
Try to use multiple hashtags when using trending hashtags. The more trending hashtags you use, the more users you can reach.
Videos Based on Trending Hashtags:
Another effective way to instantly get more views and create engaging content on TikTok is to make videos on trending topics. You can research trending hashtags and create a video on the same topic using those hashtags.
This strategy works because you are copying already popular trends and making videos with a high probability of being liked.
Be a Part of TikTok Challenges:
Challenges can be fun. Being a part of trendy challenges will increase your ranking on Tik Tok since many users are watching. You may even make your video rank on the recommended watch list. Remember that your clip for these challenges should be very different from other users; that is how you’ll attract an audience.
Some of the most popular challenges include the Dream Feet dance challenge, Superstar Mix Dance Challenge, etc.
Be Regular in Your Content:
The value of a good influencer on any social platform, including TikTok, is to have regular content. That means you should posts daily or weekly basis. Do not go more than two days without content. The attention of TikTok users can be very brief, so you need to work hard to keep your followers’ attention.
Consistent content that keeps your audience engaged or entertained is the way to build up a strong follower base gradually. It would help if you started having a schedule and set deadlines for yourself too.
Create Your Content on TikTok:
To get popular on TikTok, it all starts with planning great content and using the following best practices. You can also effectively use TikTok for marketing, even if your brand isn’t well-known.
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Be authentic:
Most content creators don’t have access to production budgets or expensive camera equipment. They create content with their phones, which is authentic to who they are.
Take the same strategy with your content. Users will feel connected to you and associate when you reveal your brand’s true personality, which builds trust.
Use Humor:
Humor is the most effective way to create engaging content. Also, two topics generally lead to TikTok content going viral are pets and kids. There’s more interest in watching entertaining and humorous videos with kids and animals as the platform demographic is younger. Consider including your pet in your TikTok videos.
Remember, TikTok is a place for authentic entertainment, fun, and humor.
Add your spin:
The platform is based on community engagement and hashtags. So, if you struggle to develop new and unique content ideas for TikTok, all you have to do is find existing content and make it your own.
Take part in trending dances & songs and hashtag challenges. If there’s a trend in your niche, show your own. Your unique personality and brand story will differentiate you from your competitors in the same niche.
Look at what’s popular on the app and put your color on it.
Get a feel for TikTok’s unique style before you start creating content.
Gen Z and Millennials
Many TikTokers and brands make one common mistake while creating content: mixing Gen Z and millennials into one category.
They are different. Like, despite both generations looking for authenticity in the content they consume, Gen Z takes this to another new level and owns unique consumer behavior.
As Gen Z was raised around technology, like IPads and smartphones, they look for content with new technologies and trends in the market, and on the other hand, millennials may not be so picky. Since Gen Z grew up in recession times, while millennials grew up in an economic world, Gen Z tends not to trust brands as quickly as millennials do.
It is advisory for brands to be updated with the newest additions in the content they create if they want to attract Gen Z’s attention.
Ultimately, brands will need to leverage trustworthy, authentic, or entertaining content that shows the value of a product to engage Gen Z.
Some useful strategies for businesses to create content on TikTok:
Introduce Yourself:
A first TikTok video for business owners is to introduce themselves. The more personal you are, the more users will be able to relate. Tell your name, a few fun facts, and a little about your business so users can get to know you as soon as they follow.
Workspace Tour:
Tell your workspace tour to your customers. They will love to see where you work and your products are created.
Day in the Life:
Take your audience along with you on a typical day as a business owner. Share a few things you do during the day; everything from phone calls, paperwork, scriptwriting, etc., to the more exciting things like designing a new product line. It will help your customers understand what it’s like to be a small business owner.
History and Success Story:
Share your business history with your followers; this will motivate them to follow you. Also, a success story works like a charm in creating content.
Meet The Team:
It’s great to introduce your team to your followers. Let your followers know the team and people behind your business.
About Your Business facts:
Share how you came up with your business, its name, etc. Share the story of how you came up with the business name and what it means. Most of your customers might not know the meaning of your company’s name.
Community Service:
As a business owner, you might be enthusiastic about supporting your local community. Share details about what you that is doing to help out in your local community. It helps customers understand what you are passionate about, which is sometimes a great differentiator in the market.
Use music to showcase your product:
TikTok is all about the music and started as a lip-syncing app, and there are so many ways to leverage this.
As influencers use various strategies to attract followers and create engaging content that is highly entertaining, some brands also use the same strategies to showcase some of their products unexpectedly and freshly.
Use music. Find a song you feel is related to your brand and see what interesting visuals you might create to bring it.
Give a quick tip or tutorial:
Create a video giving them advice or showing your followers how to do something. But make it fun: add special effects and background music.
Start a hashtag challenge:
Hashtag challenges are a fantastic way to spread awareness of your TikTok account and brand and get users to engage with you. Be sure to make more creative content than just challenging users to video themselves with your videos; consider adding humor and beautiful effects.
Follow a hashtag challenge:
You can follow a trending and challenging hashtag if you are looking for an engaging video topic. Users love to see businesses participating in fun challenges and contests.
Keep an eye on what’s trending and what’s popular, and if you see a hashtag challenge that looks fun and like it would fit your niche, go for it.
Show your process:
TikTok videos are short, so you’re not going to post a whole 5-minute video on it. So, be creative and make sure to pick some fun effects and background music to give it a fun vibe. Nowadays, time-lapse videos are also going popular. So, you can use them to showcase your business transformation or yours only.
Create a duet:
You can also create a duet. It is another way to engage with other user accounts. The duet allows you to record your video alongside a video or remix your video with someone else who has already posted.
There are few ideas to give you some inspiration. TikTok is a great platform for getting creative and fun, so let those creativity flow and have fun with it.
Action Items:
- Create a TikTok account if you haven’t already.
- Pick ideas and create a video based on them.
- Post it to your account and see how it goes!
Create a TikTok Ad account:
You need to create an ad account for TikTok Ads Manager if you plan to run ads on TikTok. Visit tiktok.com/business, tap Get started, and complete the form.
TikTok ads will become more widely available soon, especially since they’ve now collaborated with Shopify to create shoppable ads.
Quick tips:
- TikTok users love a good challenge. So, as branded hashtags are one of the platform’s main engagement drivers, you can’t go wrong with them. Like the #InMyDenim challenge, users transform their outfits from “a mess” to “best-dressed.” The hashtag currently has 41 million views.
- Use more music. Remember, TikTok came from a lip-syncing app, so it’s only logical that many of its users are into this type of content.
- Giveaways are awesome engagement hacks on TikTok. As this platform is not as commonly explored as Instagram, its users do not often see giveaways, making them very engaging.
Wrapping it up
Lastly, TikTok is a great social marketing platform to seek out a younger generation of users actively.
It has grown so much in the past years, and in such a short time, we can only assume where development will go, but there’s no doubt that people will implement advertising and other profit-boosting strategies at some point. That’s how most social media platforms move out, first attracting a targeted audience and then becoming a marketing tool for businesses.
Many brands and businesses are already utilizing TikTok in various fields, creating hashtags and challenges for users to increase awareness.
You’ll soon see that there are plenty of things and features to play around with and get creative with; you don’t need to sign up to browse the kind of content you can create.
