TikTok Marketing Tactics that Work

TikTok has become one of the most popular social media networks. It’s become appealing because of its huge number of users and the age of its creators and audience. 70% of creators’ ages are 13 to 24. That’s crucial for marketing purposes, especially if you want to reach younger generations.

With the right approach in mind, it’s possible to gain a considerable following, especially now since the platform is still in its growth stage. Keep reading to learn some of the tactics to follow to grow your audience on TikTok.

Before we break down all the details, let’s look at why TikTok is such a good marketing opportunity.

Why is TikTok good for marketing?

Audience age is not the only element that makes TikTok an appealing marketing opportunity. There are still several elements to consider, as the social media platform is still in its infancy. Let’s look at a couple of reasons why you should include it in your marketing strategy.

• It leverages fun — TikTok audience expects fun content. Still, that doesn’t mean it can’t be educational. Combining these two elements and videography skills sets the ground for a lot of variety. Businesses from all kinds of industries have TikTok accounts. Even the airline company Ryanair has a growing TikTok account. Your job is to figure out an approach that makes your content fun.
• You can create a community — The comment section is often where all the fun is. After watching a video on the platform, head over to the comment section to get more laughs. TikTok creators use the section to engage with their followers and build a community. It’s a common approach that does wonders for effective marketing.
• There’s plenty of room for organic growth — Other social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are overly saturated. That means that the platform won’t serve your content to other platform members free of charge. If you’re running a business account, it’s significantly more effective to run paid promotions to get better results.

Essentially, all this means that you don’t have to set aside a huge marketing budget to advertise your content. At least not for now. As TikTok becomes more mature, it’ll likely follow the steps of other social media networks. 

Therefore, if you’re looking for a way to build an audience, it’s best to start applying the following tactics. Keep reading to learn all about them and how they can help you grow swiftly.

Influencer collaborations

Working together with others is an effective way to achieve rapid growth. TikTok comes with features equipped to make it easier for you to grow. These include duets, stitches, and tags. Each of these features makes it easier for creators to work together and promote each other.

For example, dueting means using someone else’s video and posting your own next to it. Many creators use it to react to other people’s videos and share their thoughts on a particular topic. Whoever is watching the video can see the original video’s creator in the video description.

Stitch is a similar feature that lets you edit the creator’s video and then continue with your video. Influencers also use it to react to each other’s videos. Many use the feature to create a funny spin by adding their point of view and opinion.

Like on other social media networks, tags are direct mentions of a particular TikTok account. It’s a great way to receive direct promotion from an influencer, as they’ll send part of their traffic to your video.

If you’re on the lookout for a mention in the form of a tag, it’s a good idea to use a tool for influencer search. However, leave the stitch and duet option available whenever you make a video. That way, whoever wants to use your video can do it. Your video will automatically get higher exposure.

If you’re promoting a product, feel free to reach out to the influencer and ask them to create a shoutout video mentioning their product. It’s as effective as with other social media networks.

Following trends

Trends are significant in the TikTok community. Different creators create particular trends, and if some catch on, it’s a good idea to become a part of them. When you’re a part of a trend, you use a particular sound for your video.

Whenever a viewer clicks on a sound of a video, they can see all the videos which use that sound. Therefore, whenever there’s a new trend, if you create a video that follows it, social media users will find it on the sound page.

It’s another opportunity to get discovered and receive more followers. If you’re a trend initiator, and it catches on, your video will be marked as the original sound maker. Whenever someone’s at the sound’s page, your video will be the first on the list.

Use hashtags to your advantage

Like for other social media networks, hashtags play an important role in your marketing strategy. Hashtags are a great way to start trends and challenges. Guess ran an amazing campaign after teaming up with TikTok to create the InDenimChallenge.

The hashtag became popular, and many creators jumped on board and created content using it. While it led to the massive exposure for the Guess brand on TikTok, it also helped fashion creators get more followers.

Your goal is to monitor trending hashtags and jump onboard the popular trend. Whenever someone clicks on a hashtag, they’ll see videos using it. As more people come across your video, you can expect a higher number of views and followers on your profile.

Be active in the comments

As mentioned in the first section of the post, the comment section of every video is another opportunity to get more exposure. TikTok creators do this in several ways. Here are a couple of ideas:

• Replying to your commenters — Whenever someone comments your video, you can reply to them right in the comment section. It’s a great way to build a community as it shows that you want to communicate with your followers. The best part is that you can create video replies, communicate with your audience and create an opportunity to receive more views and comments.
• Commenting on other people’s videos — Start engaging in other people’s comment sections. Use witty and funny replies to get likes and climb the comment section to get more exposure for your account. That’s more free traffic coming your way.
• Join the comment section trends — Check the latest TikTok trends and see whether you fit the profile of appearing in the comment section. Take Emily Zugay’s example. The creator created fun videos showing how she would redesign famous brands’ logos. Her unique parody designs attracted tens of millions of views, but more importantly, brands started appearing in her videos requesting logo redesigns. That way, they used the popularity of her videos to get free exposure to their social media accounts.

Therefore, keep an eye out on the comment section and see how you could add something to help you stand out in the comment section.

Use effects in videos

Using effects in videos is another great way to make sure it appears on another results page for free. Whoever starts exploring the effect will see all the videos for which it was used in the past. Try out this strategy to see how well those videos do in terms of views.

The strategy is similar to following trends and hashtags, as some effects become equally popular.

Don’t be serious, TikTok is all about fun content

TikTok became incredibly popular due to the amount of fun content it provides. That means that people expect that kind of content. If you’re looking for a way to attract an audience, you need to create a fun twist about your business.

The only way to have success on the platform is to adjust the nature of the network. A good example is Amazon’s account. The team behind the account creates fun content that manages to resonate with the fun aspect of the company.

Additionally, when you look at the account’s tagline, the company uses the one that Emily used in one of her videos. It’s the perfect example of how to embrace the fun side of the platform.

The fact that the content needs to be fun does not mean that you can’t create educational content too. All you have to do is figure out a funny spin that lets you deliver the message while being funny in the process. Take a look at Matthew Santoro’s fun fact videos.

He uses a light tone in his videos, followed by gifs to present the facts entertainingly.

Combine TikTok with other social media channels

The only way for your marketing strategy to be successful is to use different marketing channels that bring traffic to your brand. No matter if you’re looking for exposure, more traffic, or higher conversions, establishing yourself on multiple platforms is a must.

Following this approach enables you to tell your brand’s story from a different angle. For example, if you’re running an eCommerce store, you can use Instagram and Facebook to present your products. LinkedIn is the perfect place to give your brand a voice and personality.

TikTok can be used as a storytelling medium that gives more behind the scenes of your business. Who are your team members? How do you create your products? What does the culture in your company look like? Think of a way to use TikTok to let users see your business from a completely different perspective.

That way, your social media channels will become a puzzle that pieces together an image of your business. Share your TikTok content on your Instagram and connect all social media channels. It’ll let your followers know where they can find you.

Leverage the power of link in your profile

TikTok creators can post a link in their profiles. Use this opportunity to link to other social media channels, products or services pages. Don’t forget to leave calls to action in your videos. It’s the only way to get people to click on your link.

That’s especially important if you’re selling merchandise to your followers. You have to let them know where and how they can get it. A good rule to follow is to use one of the platforms that allow you to add multiple links to a single link.

Place it as the profile URL and whenever you make a video that promotes a particular link, add it to the list. Place it at the top so the visitors can easily find it and click on it.

Getting more followers is one thing. However, ensuring they convert is entirely different. That’s why it’s essential to include calls to action in your videos. Remind the people how they can support you and your business.

Repurpose video content you already have

Those who practice video marketing for B2B and B2C know how easily the amount of video material can quickly add up. Put all the video content you have to good use. It’s not always necessary to film a new TikTok video. Instead, you could try repurposing video content you’ve already made.

It doesn’t matter that the video was created for YouTube or an Instagram page, edit it, and pick the exciting parts that resonate with the TikTok spirit and tone. It’s an effective TikTok marketing tactic that will let you post relevant content more often.

Take Gary Vaynerchuk as a great example of repurposing content. When you look at his content on his podcast, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok, you’ll see that there’s plenty of content he’s repurposed for each of these social media channels.

However, it’s always edited differently, highlighting a part of the video that resonates with the social media’s audience. 

Even though his TikTok content is educational, you’ll find plenty of filming bloopers and fun moments he and his team experienced while filming. It’s a fun aspect that shows another side of his personality. That way, he seizes attention from younger generations.

Use TikTok ads

If you want to get more people to view your content, you can also use TikTok ads. They’ll let you get significantly higher exposure. There are several types of ads to opt for. These are:

• Branded hashtags — The above mentioned Guess’s campaign is the result of a branded hashtag ad. Creating a hashtag challenge is an excellent approach if you’re looking for an effective way to start a trend.
• Branded effects — Even though this is an expensive investment, it does create a lot of exposure for your brand. You’ll need to be creative and see how people can use the effect in a fun way yet it promotes your brand.
• Brand takeover — Another expensive investment, the brand takeover is a popular option for more prominent brands. Once you set up this kind of campaign, when your target audience opens the TikTok app, they’ll see a promotion coming from you and everything about it. That is an instantaneous boost to your TikTok content, as the app has millions of active users daily.
• Top view ads — If you’re looking for a way to feature your content to a high number of viewers, top view ads are the perfect pick. Once users land on their “For You Page,” they’ll first see your ad, which can last up to 60 seconds.
• In-feed ads — The most commonly used ad is the one that appears while people are scrolling through their “For You Page” they’ll come across your ad in a video format.

See what options work for you, but keep in mind that the value in using TikTok comes from organic traffic. Leave the paid promotion strategies for later as the platform becomes saturated.

Analyze analytics

Last but not least, don’t forget to track analytics. That is not a tactic but a reminder that the app has built-in analytics supported. Head over to your profile settings and switch your account to Pro. It’s a completely free process that takes minutes, yet it unlocks the analytics section of the app.

Follow the vast range of analytics you’ll find in the section and see which types of videos are doing better. Create similar content to track your growing numbers. Additionally, see the effects of collaboration with other TikTok creators.

With this in mind, you’ll be able to immediately see what kind of content is perfect for your business.

Concluding thoughts

Each of these tactics will help you get bigger on TikTok, but there’s one crucial rule to follow. You have to remain consistent and create videos regularly. TikTok is one of the rare platforms where adding more content is not considered spammy.

The more content you create, the higher the chance your videos will go viral. Therefore, create a schedule and stick to it no matter what. Take a look at 420doggface208, one of his videos that put him on the TikTok creator map and the Ocean Spray brand. His short video went viral reaching over 80 million views in days.

Therefore, there’s always a chance you’re creating the next viral video to bring more people to your brand.

Apply these tactics to stay on top of your TikTok game. Growing your TikTok account is a journey that’ll require a little bit of creativity and persistence.

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