If you’re unsure about the need for a TikTok social media marketing strategy, we’re here to convince you that it is absolutely essential. TikTok has emerged as the fastest-growing social media platform to date, reaching a remarkable milestone of 1 billion users in September 2021, a record achieved within just four years of its global launch.
We may lack the most recent user base data for TikTok, there are other compelling statistics that highlight the platform’s immense popularity. Within this article, we will delve into the essence of TikTok marketing, guide you on creating your own TikTok business account, and offer six invaluable tips to enhance your brand’s TikTok marketing strategy, among other essential insights.
What Does TikTok Marketing Entail?
In the realm of TikTok marketing, you harness the power of the platform and its captivating content to amplify your brand and promote your products or services. This comprehensive TikTok Marketing guide empowers you to forge a formidable online presence through compelling short-form videos that captivate your audience and highlight your business offerings.
The TikTok Marketing guide focuses on the distinctive elements of promoting your brand on the TikTok platform within the realm of social media marketing. While maintaining consistency in your messaging across all platforms is vital for your brand’s presence, it’s essential to acknowledge that TikTok content often deviates significantly from content found on other channels.
How to create a TikTok business account
To create a TikTok business account, it’s important to understand the distinction between a TikTok business vs creator account. Here are the key differences:
- Access to Business Tools: Business accounts provide access to essential business tools such as ads and analytics. These tools enable you to track the performance of your TikTok marketing campaigns and gain valuable insights.
- Limited Access to Sound Clips: Business accounts have limited access to sound clips compared to creator accounts.
- Ecommerce Storefront: Business accounts have the advantage of creating an ecommerce storefront. This feature allows you to showcase and sell your products or services directly on the TikTok platform, providing a seamless shopping experience for your audience.
- Third-Party Tools Integration: With a business account, you can leverage third-party tools to schedule and manage your TikTok content efficiently. This integration simplifies content planning and ensures a consistent presence on the platform.
- Website Link: Business accounts have the option to add a website link to their TikTok profile. This link can direct users to your website, landing page, or any other relevant online destination, helping to drive traffic and conversions.
TikTok business accounts may not have access to the full sound library, the additional tools and features more than make up for it. Follow these simple steps to create your TikTok business account:
- Download the TikTok app and create a new account.
- Access your TikTok profile and tap the hamburger menu located in the top right corner.
- Tap on “Settings and privacy.”
- Select “Manage account.”
- Tap “Switch to Business Account.”
- Choose the category that best aligns with your business type.
That’s it! You now have a business profile and can begin optimizing your account to effectively appeal to your target audience.
10 Tips for Crafting Your TikTok Marketing Strategy
Are you prepared to embark on a TikTok marketing journey and cultivate a significant following on the platform? This TikTok Marketing guide is your gateway to success. We’ve condensed our top TikTok marketing tips into a video for your convenience:
1. Create and Brand Your TikTok Account
After following the steps to create your TikTok business account, the next crucial step is to optimize and brand it to ensure it aligns with your other social media profiles. To brand your TikTok account effectively, follow these steps:
- Tap on “Edit Profile.”
- Upload a high-resolution version of your logo as your profile photo, or consider using an animated version of your logo as a profile video.
- Provide your business name in the appropriate field.
- Use your business name as your username, preferably without any spaces.
- If applicable, indicate your pronouns as a sole proprietor.
- Utilize the 80-character bio section to give a concise summary of your business.
- Include your company’s contact email.
- Tag any nonprofits your business collaborates with or supports.
- Select the most suitable category that represents your industry.
- Connect your Instagram and/or YouTube accounts to showcase your social media presence.
- Consider setting up an auto-message for user DMs through the Business Suite, accessible from the hamburger menu.
- Once you reach 1,000 followers, you can add your website URL to your profile.
Starbucks provides an excellent example of a fully fleshed-out business profile, complete with pinned videos showcasing new products.
By crafting a TikTok presence that aligns with your target audience and complements your overarching marketing strategy, you can effectively establish a strong and recognizable brand on the platform.
2. Define Your TikTok Audience
To succeed on TikTok, it’s crucial to identify your target audience.
TikTok primarily attracts a younger demographic, with almost 7 out of 10 individuals aged 18-19 having a presence on the platform, and approximately half of all 20-39-year-olds utilizing TikTok. It’s important to go beyond just the age factor.
Consider the specific demographics you aim to target. Conduct your own social media market research and develop a customer persona that precisely defines your business’s intended audience.
3. Create High-Quality TikTok Videos
Your next step is mastering the art of crafting compelling TikTok videos. Begin by immersing yourself in the platform and exploring the content that appears on your “For You” page, especially if you’re not already a frequent TikTok viewer. Browse through the TikTok Discover page to discover trending content, popular accounts, sound bytes, and trending hashtags. This will provide you with valuable insights and inspiration for your own TikTok content.
Analyze successful brands on TikTok to understand their strategies and adopt similar tactics in your videos. To resonate with your audience, it’s crucial to experiment with various video types and maintain diversity across your profile.
Record your team creating the product, demonstrate your product in action, and utilize popular sound bytes to create humorous videos. Here are some additional video ideas to kickstart your creativity.
Consistency is key on TikTok. To make a significant impact, regularly publish new content. TikTok itself recommends posting 1-4 times per day for optimal results. By maintaining a consistent posting schedule, you’ll maximize your visibility and engagement on the platform.
4. Incorporate TikTok Ads into Your Marketing Strategy
To expand your reach and target a broader audience, consider allocating a portion of your social media advertising budget to TikTok ads. Similar to Facebook and Instagram ads, the cost is determined through bidding. You have the flexibility to select your target audience, create engaging video ads, and promote them based on your preferred daily or lifetime budget.
5. Tap into TikTok Influencer Marketing
Utilizing influencers is another effective TikTok marketing tactic. Here are a few TikTok influencer marketing strategies:
- Product Send-outs: Brands with limited budgets but ample products can approach influencers and offer free products. This approach does not guarantee a feature on their channel, consistent outreach to multiple influencers may result in a spotlight in an unboxing or merchandise video.
- Collaborative Videos: Collaborate with influencers on a single video or a series of videos that exclusively showcase your brand.
- New Product Line Partnership: Join forces with a mega-influencer or celebrity to create a product line together. The influencer will receive a share of the profits and promote the product line to their audience.
By leveraging TikTok influencer marketing strategies, you can tap into the influencers’ established audience and benefit from their creativity and reach within your target market.
6. Track Performance with TikTok Analytics
To gain valuable insights into your TikTok marketing efforts, closely monitor your TikTok analytics. Switching to a business account grants you access to these analytics, providing crucial information about your most popular videos and the optimal posting times throughout the day.
Key metrics to track include:
- Video views
- Growth rate
- Trending videos
- Average watch time
You can integrate your TikTok business account with your Sprout Social dashboard to conveniently access analytics alongside your other social media platforms.
7. Embrace Popular TikTok Trends
Increase your chances of going viral by capitalizing on trending audio clips, challenges, and video types. If a popular trend aligns with your business, create a relevant video using that trend.
TikTok’s Discover page can assist in finding trends, immersing yourself in TikTok content consumption is the best approach. This allows you to organically discover popular trends and observe how other users incorporate them into their content. The next time someone questions your scrolling, you can confidently explain its work-related significance.
8. Utilize TikTok’s Editing Capabilities
In the world of TikTok marketing, unleash your creativity by crafting captivating videos right within the TikTok app itself. This comprehensive TikTok Marketing guide empowers you with a wide array of built-in editing features, allowing you to create compelling content using just your smartphone and a single app.
Enhance your videos with filters, trim clips, add text overlays and captions, incorporate stickers and visual effects, experiment with voiceovers and audio editing, create stunning slow-motion sequences, and seamlessly transition between scenes.
9. Keep Videos Concise
TikTok suggests that the optimal video length ranges from 21 to 34 seconds, an increase from the previous recommendation of 11 to 17 seconds in 2020. To achieve optimal results, aim for an average video duration of around 30 seconds, ensuring your content remains concise and engaging.
10. Leverage Live Video
In the realm of TikTok marketing, harness the power of live-streaming by integrating it into your brand’s strategy. With TikTok’s live feature, your captivating videos can reach viewers’ “For You” pages, enticing interested users to join in and engage.
Take advantage of TikTok’s monetization perks for live videos, where viewers can show their support through stickers and other accolades.
As your videos gain popularity, you can unlock the potential of TikTok Live as an additional revenue stream for your brand. This comprehensive TikTok Marketing guide explores the possibilities.