You probably already heard about TikTok, but did you try it? The app, that used to be Musical.ly allows to share short video clips soundtracked by music clips. Its growth is impressive, with 850 million active users.
After starting to use Instagram Reels, a new format inspired from TikTok, I decided to try this platform to understand the buzz behind it. I created an account for my music blog, thinking that TikTok is full of people interested in music.
While TikTok is probably not adapted for every brand, it’s worth wondering if it can be for yours. These 4 points can help you better understand the platform before launching a TikTok marketing strategy.
1 -TikTok is not only for teenagers
TikTok is often considered as made exclusively for teenagers, who film themselves dancing and singing. When you browse the app, you’ll sure see this kind of videos, but not only.
TikTok is not only for teenagers anymore, and its content is not limited to lip-syncing videos.
With 850 million active users, it’s worth wondering if your audience is using it. To get an idea, you can check if your competitors are already active on the platform.
Some brands that you would not expect to see on TikTok are actually very successful:
- The Washington Post has more than 700k followers. Their content is completely different from other channels. They post funny clips featuring their employees, mainly in their offices. This strategy allows the media, created in 1877, to renew its image.
- Mercedes Benz launched the #MBStarChallenge, encouraging users to re-envision its logo in their own way. The results? More than 180 million video views and over 73K participants. A great visibility for Mercedes among its potential future customer base!
These brands are good examples of how the platform can be used to reach a new segment of customers, as long as you adopt the right codes.
2 — Update your social media skills
Did you ever wonder why is TikTok so popular? Creating an account and trying the app is the best way to understand this success.
Social media requires to constantly upgrade your skills to adapt to the changes. Trying TikTok is like entering a whole new world of social media. It works completely differently from other platforms. It will force you to explore the platform, do some research, and observe what works.
You’ll have to get familiar with their trending hashtags, challenges, editing tools, duet feature & more.
One of the main differences with standard social media is that followers count is not that important. You don’t have to wait to build a large following to make your video viral. It’s probably the only platform where you can get millions of views overnight, even if you just started and don’t have followers. Reactivity and creativity are the rules.
3 — You can find your niche audience on TikTok
With so many users, there’s an unlimited number of communities on the platform. By getting away from trending TikTok hashtags, you can find niche ones, that are less competitive, giving you more opportunities to stand out.
TikTok users spend an average of 52 minutes per day on the app (Business of Apps)
Look for hashtags related to your activity, in the tab “Explore”. As an example, for my music blog’s account, I’m interested in indie music. #Indiemusic has 176.5 million views: I can include it in my video description, but there’s a high volume of videos posted with this hashtag, making it harder to be visible.
Looking at the other results, I can find more specific hashtags, with less views but still a huge volume: #indiemusicians (200k), #musicindie (170k), #indierockmusic (71.2k).
By using this kind of niche hashtags, I got 2,000 video views within my first week, without any followers. This is not an impressive result, but it gives an idea of how TikTok works!
4 — TikTok encourages creativity
On TikTok, you can’t just repost the same content as on other social platforms. Users are looking for entertaining videos and snackable content. If they see a standard video, they’ll just skip to the next one.
These specificities mean that you need to find a way to adopt the platform’s codes while staying true to your brand.
Discovering all the features of TikTok will take time, but can be fun. There are endless possibilities with the filters, effects, transitions, etc… When I started using it, I was quite impressed by the video editing features.
Creating videos on TikTok will force you to be concise and to find a catchy storytelling angle. Adopting this approach will boost your creativity, which can benefit your social media strategy as a whole.
Are you ready to take the jump?
TikTok is not for everyone, but if you’re interested in social media, give it a try! This will give you the opportunity to understand how it works and observe what’s happening in your sector. You may have good surprises and new ideas to make the most of the platform.