With over 1 billion active monthly users, TikTok has undergone unparalleled growth, solidifying its position as an essential digital marketing platform. The app’s capacity to foster a unique online environment where content can go viral overnight, as well as tap into a diverse and wide audience beyond a user’s immediate followers, is what makes TikTok a game changer in the online world — especially the marketing world.
Fuelled by its global popularity, TikTok has become a powerhouse in modern marketing. Its unique ability to capture the attention of younger demographics has fuelled the viral rise of countless products.
While TikTok’s explosive growth offers an immense marketing potential, a strategic plan to unlock it is required. This article will go through ways to craft a winning TikTok marketing strategy.
Understanding the platform
The community that TikTok creates is what makes it so popular; its global reach isn’t the only driver. In contrast to other platforms such as Instagram, Youtube, and Facebook, TikTok is all about spontaneity and originality. This translates to a highly varied range of content, from professionally produced advertisements featuring celebrities or influencers, to relatable videos made by everyday users. This diversity is essential as it keeps users captivated and interested, with most users having an average of 1.5 hours of screen time on the app — an increase of 113% since 2019.
In this digital landscape, brands have found an abundance of opportunities to market their products and services on TikTok. They can leverage a wide range of marketing strategies, from subtle persuasive storytelling in influencer content to simple product placements within videos. Brands are continuously innovating, finding new and exciting marketing strategies to create unique content. The TikTok influencer is a brand’s secret weapon in marketing; these content creators, trusted by their audience, can incorporate products and brands into their videos in a way that feels authentic. A funny skit that highlights a new product, or a beauty tutorial showcasing items from a particular brand can start viral trends, increasing brand recognition, and, by default, sales. It is important to remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to TikTok marketing.However, marketers do have the possibility to connect with the upcoming (and current) generation of consumers. This is executed through embracing the platform’s key values of creativity, engagement, and influencer power.
Crafting your TikTok marketing strategy in 7 steps
Now that the power of TikTok marketing has been established, it’s a good idea to dive into the ways you can craft a TikTok marketing strategy. This section will equip you with a clear roadmap — from setting goals to analysing results, in order to ensure your brand thrives in the dynamic world of TikTok.
1. Establish goals
Drawing up definitive goals is essential in your strategy. Knowing what you are seeking to accomplish, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, building a community, or driving sales, will help you create content strategies that match your objectives and are both audience and business-friendly.
2. Audience analysis
Researching the preferences and demographics of your target audience is the first step in creating an effective marketing strategy on the app. The comprehensive and easy-to-read analytics guide that TikTok provides helps facilitate marketers in creating content that aligns and resonates with their intended audience. It offers insights into their behaviours, interests, and interaction patterns.
3. Content creation
The content available on TikTok is what makes the app so appealing. Visibility and audience engagement can be increased significantly by producing high-quality, engaging, and authentic content that embraces the combination of TikTok’s style and brand identity. In order to do this effectively, it is important to use the platform’s range of creative tools and stay up to date on viral trends and challenges.
4. Influencer partnerships
Influencer collaborations increase a brand’s legitimacy and reach. With their well-established audiences and experiences creating viral content, these trendsetters are ideally positioned to introduce brands and products to new audiences in a natural and compelling way. This strategy taps into the influencers’ credibility, leveraging their creative talent for brand promotion.
5. Use TikTok trends and features
By making the most of TikTok’s features such as filters, effects, and trending audios, brands can produce enjoyable content that stands out. Engaging in trends and challenges shows a brand’s relevance and adaptability to the fast-paced nature of TikTok, as well as increasing visibility.
6. Community building and engagement
Beyond creating content, active participation (from the brand, creator, and users) is needed to build a community on TikTok. Building real connections with an audience, replying to comments, and producing interactive content is crucial to building a loyal and engaged following.
7. Analysis and measurement
It is essential to regularly monitor TikTok analytics in order to fully understand the performance of your content, and techniques to improve it. Indicators such as views, engagement rates, and follower growth/loss provide valuable feedback that helps marketers maximise the performance of their content.
Success stories
The collaboration between Pitch and EA Sports FC on TikTok is a prime example of the effectiveness of a platform-specific, nuanced marketing strategy. By creating content that resonated with the gaming and football community, Pitch successfully closed the gap between brand content and broader cultural moments within football. This was done through utilising the rich visuals of EA Sports FC and tapping into popular conversations and trends. This strategy not only increased EA Sports FC’s visibility on TikTok, but also highlighted how vital it is to match a brand’s message with TikTok’s dynamic platform.
Conclusion
The fast-growing platform of TikTok provides a constantly-changing environment which allows brands to experiment with innovative marketing techniques. Brands can create engaging narratives that connect with their target audience by participating in trends, incorporating content creation tools, and utilising the app’s analytics tool. TikTok marketing has exciting potential for any brand who can think outside of the box and adjust to a fast paced atmosphere.
Through the integration of a TikTok marketing strategy and an exploration of its creative potential, brands can engage with consumers meaningfully, and therefore increase exposure and drive conversations. Experiment with TikTok today to unlock the dynamic platform’s full potential.
Pitch’s award-winning team can help you navigate this dynamic platform and craft a data-driven TikTok strategy that ignites engagement and fuels brand conversations. Let Pitch help you make your brand go viral on TikTok.