For brands, incorporating TikTok into your influencer marketing strategy is essential. TikTok holds the potential to showcase your products and services to a highly targeted and engaged audience, cultivating positive associations with your brand and driving purchase intent when executed effectively.
Moreover, with over 3 billion downloads, TikTok emerged as the most downloaded app last year, boasting unparalleled reach. Users access the app approximately 19 times a day on average, with young viewers dedicating approximately 87 minutes daily to consuming its content. Notably, TikTok boasts an average engagement rate of nearly 7%, surpassing other social media platforms and continuing its upward trend.
Now, you might be wondering how to effectively connect with the TikTok audience. Unlike other social platforms, TikTok favors content that avoids excessive promotion. If your ultimate goal is to redirect traffic to your brand's website and enhance sales conversions, a strategic approach is essential. Navigating this requires careful consideration and planning to ensure success.
Here are 7 easy steps for brands to get a head start on TikTok.
1. Establish Your TikTok Presence
TikTok stands out as the preferred platform for brands across various industries. If you haven't done so already, it's time to create your brand account.
Clarify Your Main Objective As a brand, pinpoint your primary goal on TikTok, which could include:
It's crucial to clearly define your goals before embarking on the content creation process. Additionally, consider other factors such as whether you'll exclusively collaborate with influencers for product promotion or create internal content on your own page. Will your videos emphasize product features or focus on evoking emotions and highlighting the benefits for users? Lastly, decide whether you prefer 1 or 2 creators closely aligned with your brand values as the exclusive faces of your brand on TikTok, or if you'd like to work with a diverse range of influencers to tap into varied audiences.
2. Understand Your Audience Thoroughly
Before initiating any posts on your brand account, invest time in comprehensively researching your target audience. It is crucial to grasp who these users are and what captivates their interest, enabling effective communication through your branded content.Begin by defining your target demographic, considering factors such as age, gender, location, and interests as valuable starting points. This information becomes the foundation for your content strategy. For instance, if your target audience predominantly consists of 80% male young adults aged 18 to 25 in Europe, your videos must adapt to resonate with this specific viewer demographic.Subsequently, delve into understanding the content that is most likely to engage your target audience. Analyze the followers of other brands, competitors, and creators in your niche. Explore deeply: Are these users inclined towards the latest trending songs or dance moves? Do they favor well-presented, visual content? Identify any recurring themes that emerge from this analysis to tailor your content accordingly.
3. Share Genuine Content
On TikTok, it's best to simply be yourself, according to data. Viewers prefer natural, authentic, and relatable content, making TikTok stand out as a platform. Unlike other social media apps, TikTok is perceived as more honest and genuine, and your brand should align with these expectations. No need for excessive polish as required on platforms like Instagram – on TikTok, authenticity, fun, and entertainment take precedence.Nielsen research reveals that TikTok is well-suited for product discovery, with one in three users making purchases influenced by TikTok content. Brands are advised to focus on educating consumers and introducing them to their brand universe before focusing on content that drives sales.Maintaining a natural approach is crucial, treating content as a genuine, two-way conversation rather than a sales pitch. When collaborating with influencers, ensure that creative briefs emphasize the need for genuine reviews that seamlessly integrate into their page. Choose influencers who are passionate about your brand and have a history of engaging product unboxing content.Every video should distinctly reflect your brand, identity, and culture, making it unmistakable to viewers. A quick tip: tailor content specifically for TikTok instead of cross-posting from other social platforms, aligning with what TikTok users seek – authentic, fun, entertaining, and natural content.
4. Review Your TikTok Performance
Once you've posted a few videos and built a following on TikTok, analyze your results by examining your Analytics page regularly, preferably every other week or month. Focus on key metrics to shape your ongoing TikTok strategy:
- Likes: Identify patterns in videos receiving more likes to optimize your content.
- Comments: Analyze the tone (positive, negative, or neutral) and respond accordingly. For ads, TikTok's Ad Manager helps filter sentiments.
- Shares: Shared content indicates engagement and boosts the potential for virality, a factor valued by the TikTok algorithm.
5. Partner with Influencers on TikTok
Influencers play a central role on TikTok, covering a wide array of niches. Regardless of your niche or target audience, finding creators to collaborate with is possible.
The key is to identify relevant creators to partner with—those with the right audience, strong engagement rates, and content styles that align with your brand. Your message or products should seamlessly integrate into the creator's page.
Choose influencers based on your goals: nano-influencers with 5,000 followers may offer limited reach but have a highly engaged audience. On the other hand, mega influencers with millions of fans provide a broader platform but may yield lower engagement due to their audience size and content nature. Awareness from mega influencers may not necessarily translate into engagement or purchase intent.
In summary, select influencers based on the balance between reach and engagement, considering your main goal and alignment with your brand's tone and values.
A successful TikTok influencer strategy relies on reaching users passionate about your niche, consuming related content from a trusted source—the influencer(s) you collaborate with. Once you've found the right match, provide a clear creative brief while allowing creative freedom. Let influencers showcase their unique style and be themselves, as this authenticity leads to higher engagement. This approach is essential for launching successful influencer campaigns on TikTok.
6. Engage in TikTok Challenges
To make your mark on TikTok, actively participate in trending challenges and bring your unique flair to the platform. Whether it's joining a dance challenge like "why don’t you say so" or contributing to a hashtag challenge such as “#elclasicochallenge” or “#foodwehate,” create original content inspired by these trends.
After sharing content for a challenge, ensure active engagement with the user community. Respond to comments and likes in a manner consistent with your brand's tone of voice.
As your TikTok presence grows, consider launching your brand's challenges. Brands like Haribo and Burberry have successfully embraced this approach. To initiate a branded challenge, collaborate directly with TikTok. You can enhance its impact by combining it with an influencer marketing campaign, maximizing reach and engagement. Consider adding a competitive element with prizes to elevate the challenge experience. Explore creative ideas to make your challenge stand out!
7. Utilize TikTok Ads for Paid Campaigns
In addition to organic content, TikTok provides various options for running ads:
With TikTok ads, you can boost leads and sales, optimize return on investment (RoI) by ensuring targeted ad placement, and monitor metrics seamlessly through the Ad Manager.
Wrapping Up
That's a wrap! Follow these 7 straightforward steps to kickstart your brand on TikTok and connect with your audience in a whole new way. Gain inspiration from successful brands on the platform and start crafting your content!
Feeling overwhelmed? Unsure of how to navigate and harness the influencer marketing superpowers on TikTok? No need to stress – we're here to assist.
With EcomPlus, we facilitate connections between brands and the most fitting TikTok influencers, ensuring a seamless and trustworthy path to achieving your goals. Reach out and let's get started!
