How to Use TikTok for Marketing
Making the most of your digital marketing means staying ahead of all the social media trends. If you’re wondering how you can use TikTok for marketing, get ready to get creative and connected! TikTok is the platform for making short-form, easily consumable, highly entertaining video clips that help you reach thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of people fast. It’s the hottest place where people are hanging out in the digital sphere and it’s the place where your content has the best chance of going viral.
TikTok has gained a lot of popularity with younger users (teenagers and 20-somethings), so it has created prime opportunities to tap into influencer marketing. And even if influencer marketing isn’t your primary means of reaching your target audience, you can still use this platform for creating content that will build a community around your brand. (And if you’re wondering what “build a community around your brand” means, don’t worry—we’ll get to that!)
Ways You Can Use TikTok for Marketing
When you get on TikTok, you’ll want to set your page up in a way that reflects your brand, just as you would on any other social media platform. Remember to create an account handle (username) that’s easy to remember, upload a profile picture that reflects your business, and write a short bio that tells people what kind of content you’re putting out there.
That last part is important—your bio. One thing you’ll quickly notice is that TikTok is made up of many different communities and niches. Building your TikTok presence around your niche will help the algorithm show your content to the right people (in other words, your target audience).
You might be tempted to create all kinds of content because, hey, TikTok is a lot of fun, as you’ll soon discover. But make sure everything you do can be connected back to your niche to maximize the potential reach of your account.
Here are some ways you can use TikTok for marketing:
Influencer marketing
If the idea of “influencer marketing” has you thinking of high-profile celebrities with millions of social media followers, think again. An influencer could be an ordinary consumer with an influential circle of 20 people. What’s important is that others tend to trust these people’s word on products and services rather than those of a traditional advertisement. Think of them as testimonials that get shared on social media. In the case of TikTok, people can record short videos talking about the problems that your product or service solved for them and even showing off their experience patronizing your brand.
Educate your customer base
If you have a target customer, let your TikTok account be a place where they can go to learn about all things related to your brand. For example, if you’re a real estate agent, you could create videos about DIY projects that increase your home value, things to look for in a home inspection, and even some home tours of the most amazing properties you see in your day-to-day life.
Build an engaged community
Your target audience is going to have questions—and maybe even some of them can answer one another’s questions so you don’t always have to jump in and be the authority (of course, if you have the availability to reply to each comment, doing so can demonstrate thought leadership). Building a community around your brand means that your brand is the go-to place for people to learn about your field, ask questions, connect with others who have similar interests, and share their insights. Your social media presence, in this case, becomes not just about establishing yourself as a leader but also as someone who has a following of those who are interested in your field.
What You Should Do When You Join TikTok
As soon as you sign up for TikTok, you might be overwhelmed—a lot is going on. You can scroll through endless videos, many of which won’t even seem relevant to you. That’s okay! Once TikTok starts to get a sense of the content you enjoy and the content you create, its algorithms will tailor what’s known as the For You Page—your primary feed for scrolling through videos—so that it fits your interests. Liking and engaging with videos will give the algorithm hints. Spend some time scrolling through TikTok so you get a sense of what kind of content you’re seeing here.
You’ll soon notice there are certain types of videos people like to create. Remember you can jump on board with any trends and tailor them to your niche by…
Using a sound
Choose a sound and either lip-sync to it or simply use it as background noise for the video you’re creating.
Duet
Create your own video alongside a video that’s already been created to provide your own insight or to show your reaction.
Stitch
Use a five-second clip from someone else’s video to open your own video so you can provide a reply or add more information.
Remember that your original videos can either be shot and edited right in the app or you can edit them outside the app and upload them later. Take advantage of captioning, text, stickers, and other effects to add some flair and personality to your videos.