By Ajay Yadav
TikTok is growing in popularity amongst content creators and brands that are looking to grow their audiences. It’s a fun, authentic way for brands to experiment with their content and reach thousands of viewers. The recent launch of TikTok for Business has further accelerated the usage of the platform. In this blog, we have Simplified TikTok for Business and want to show you how small businesses can use TikTok Marketing to promote their brands.
What is TikTok?
TikTok, formerly known as Musical.ly is the new-age social media app that allows users to make and share 5 to 60 second videos. These videos are set to music and often involve choreography. They also feature comedy, skits, challenges, recipes, and memes.
Can you increase Sales with TikTok for Business?
TikTok has been growing for years. At 315 million installs, TikTok set the record for the most downloads of a social app in a social quarter in Q1 2020. With over 90 million DAUs in the US alone, and with celebrities joining the TikTok bandwagon, we are confident the app is here to stay.
“With the launch of TikTok For Business, we set out to embrace the creative, positive, and real moments that make our community so special with solutions for businesses to connect and grow with our wonderfully expressive community.”
Even though 48% of TikTok users in the U.S. are 18–29-year-olds, the percentage of 30-49 year old users (currently at 20%) is slowly increasing. Another key point to note is that TikTok ranks as the second-biggest app, ranked only behind Tinder, in consumer spend.
In the book, Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth, authors Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mare interviewed Alex Pachikov of Evernote on exploring new platforms:
“Every year there’s a new platform, new device, new somethings, and as somebody who’s starting a company you should consider if there’s something really cool you can do on an upcoming platform.”
TikTok Marketing is a great choice for small businesses as it focuses primarily on building communities that vouch for your products and services. TikTok for Business also allows small businesses to experiment with their marketing content using music, sound-effects, voiceovers, reactions, and more. What we especially love about TikTok for small business is their viral marketing. If your consumers are inspired by your marketing campaigns, they will create their own version of it.
TikTok for Business: How to use TikTok for Business in ?
Businesses can use TikTok’s ad platform or create video content to attract consumers organically. Given that TikTok for Business is still nascent, the cost of earning consumers through TikTok marketing is quite cheap.
Related: 8 Mind-blowing TikTok Marketing Examples to Inspire Your Next Campaign
TikTok for Business: Influence Consumers with Different Content Styles
The most important aspect of creating a TikTok marketing strategy is planning the content you post. We’ve compiled a few ideas for videos you can use to promote business on TikTok.
- Introduce Yourself: A great first video for small businesses is an introductory video. The more personal your videos feel, the more people will be able to relate.
- Day in the Life: Take your viewers along with you on a typical day as a small business owner. Show them how you get the paperwork done, how you design the new product line, or how you personalize every package while shipping.
- Meet The Team: The most important tool in marketing for small businesses is emotions. Connect your viewers with the team that helps your small business stay afloat.
- Best Sellers and New Releases: Show off your products! For instance, your best sellers, what you’re restocking, or new releases.
TikTok for Business: Promote Business on TikTok Through Paid Ads
The TikTok for Business Ads Manager helps marketers create ads, and they can choose from 5 different formats.
- Brand Takeovers: This ad replaces a user post when they open the app with either a three-second image or a three to five-second video from an advertiser. Only one advertiser can takeover a category each day. Cost: Minimum spend is $53,000 per day, which buys you 8.9 million impressions.
Guess wanted to promote their Fall’18 Denim Fit Collection and launched the #InMyDenim challenge. Their Brand Takeover included TopView Ads, Branded Hashtags, and In-Feed Ads. Guess earned 12K+ new followers in just 6 days!
- Top View Ads: Similar to Takeover Ads, Top View ads appear upon opening the app. Unlike Takeover ads, however, Top View Ads are videos lasting up to 60 seconds. Cost: $53,000 per day for 7.4 million impressions.
- Branded Hashtags: In a TikTok hashtag challenge, users create content inspired by brand-related hashtags. TikTok estimates over 35% of its user base participate in hashtag challenges, which is why so many companies are sponsoring their own hashtag challenge on TikTok (called Branded Hashtag Challenges) to build brand recognition and awareness. Cost: Approximately $150,000.
- In-Feed Ads: These are 5 to 15 second-long videos that are shown in feeds for a single day. The ad is the fourth in-fee video shown to users. Cost: The starting price is $26,000 for 3.6 million impressions.
- Branded Effects: This format lets you add 2D animated lenses to viewers that can be triggered by face and hand movements. The effects are created by TikTok’s in-house creative team. Cost: The format costs $45,000 for 30 days.
Up launched Australia’s first-ever Gamified Branded Effect on TikTok during the launch of their new brand platform, Easy Money.
Conclusion
We hope you found our Simplified guide on TikTok marketing insightful. If you’re still unsure, don’t worry, you’re learning the new platform with the rest of the world. As you continue to learn and grow with the platform, you can adapt your marketing strategy.
