TikTok has recently become a giant in the social media arena. The short 5-60 second videos found on this platform have drawn people’s attention since it was launched. Trending videos can see views in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. With the limited investment necessary and the potential audience, the site has also developed as a marketing strategy for businesses.
Using TikTok as a platform for marketing can greatly boost your audience. With more than 500 million users actively browsing TikTok on a daily basis, posting videos has the same effect as posting an advertisement. Since the platform itself is still relatively new, they have been focusing on gaining new members rather than monetizing the site, making it perfect for businesses of any size to jump in.
Here are 4 ways to use TikTok to promote your business:
Create Your Own Content
Creating content is one of the best ways to promote yourself on TikTok. Over 1 million new videos are published and viewed every day, making it one of the best platforms you can ask for.
You also get to reap the benefits of using videos to advertise instead of links and blurbs like other social media sites. Remember though that TikTok users are consumers on a large scale, seeking entertainment, so be sure to make your content unique.
Fake smiles and business professional attitude won’t get you very far on the site. Instead, you can follow trends and hashtag challenges such as dancing, singing, and skits as a guideline if you are struggling to make content on your own.
Share User-Generated Content
Rather than posting original content yourself, you can take advantage of the #hashtag system to build a community. Nike is one of the leading figures of this trend as the company itself doesn’t even have its own videos published, but the hashtag #nike has almost 1 billion views with millions of videos.
Don’t expect to be the next Nike right off the bat, but you get the idea. You can take advantage of the audience you have and use them to grow your business without having to constantly make new, unique content.
Partner With a TikTok Influencer
Similar to other platforms that can use influencers to generate and expand content, you can partner with an influencer on TikTok. Influencers are people with a large following in a specific category that can talk about your product and your brand. If you partner with an influencer, you might pay them to:
- Talk about your product
- Post about your business in the video descriptions
- Link to your brand
Influencers can greatly extend your reach. Much like any other platform, partnering with an influencer is a great advertising strategy if you are a small business.
Keep in mind though that who you partner with matters. You will want to find someone who creates content about products similar to what your brand is advertising and can appeal to your intended audience.
Advertise on TikTok
Although the site is still pushing for more users rather than the monetization arena, they do have advertising areas that you can purchase. There are three different advertising strategies you can pay for on TikTok:
- Brand Takeover. This is a single slot ad unique to a category that is rotated per day. It is located right at the top of all users’ feeds before they scroll down.
- Native Ads. This works similar to other video website ads where they will play an ad in between user content. They are usually only 9-15 seconds long and can be skipped or scrolled past.
- Sponsored Challenges. Challenges are extremely influential on TikTok. When a new challenge is issued, millions of users can see it and post content relating to the challenge hashtag. Your business can sponsor a challenge that creates a banner on the discover page. Users who click the banner will be taken to your videos, where you can explain and demonstrate the challenge while promoting your brand.
In addition, almost every hashtag challenge generates millions of videos and views. This gives you the perfect starting point to share user-generated content and curate a following for yourself.
Develop Your Strategy
Like all types of marketing, you will want a strategy that is tailored to your business. Smaller businesses will have a hard time paying the advertising rates, but creating content for TikTok is free, as is curating and sharing user content. You will want to develop a strategy that fits your business size and style so you can fully take advantage of the platform to reach a broader audience.
If you are looking for marketing and management help, Imagine Monkey is the perfect place to start. Their services in web design include social media integration for those looking to expand their audience on TikTok. Contact us online or by phone at (949)-742-2156 to get a free quote today.
