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If you haven’t heard or used TikTok yet, you must be like Patrick from Spongebob and literally live under a rock. The social media app, formally known as musical.ly, owned by Chinese parent company, ByteDance stormed to popularity over the last couple of years.
The app’s use of trending and popular sounds with a focus on talent and content is a match made in heaven, marketing heaven, for people like you and me.
According to TikTok, the app has over 1 billion users every single month and has been one of the most downloaded apps across the world in the last 12 months.
Originally, the app was seen as a fad for young people (between the ages of 12 and 18) but quite rapidly adoption across demographics has been huge and now there is a space for almost everybody on the app.
So, 1 billion people are on the app every month, it is now widely used across demographics and it’s free - sounds like an easy decision for brands to jump onto right?
Wrong! Adoption from brands has been much slower, probably as marketers suss out the platform but in the last 6 months, this has started to increase. Just in case you needed any more convincing, we’ve highlighted our top 3 reasons why you need to be posting to TikTok.
Naturally, you want a brand presence where your customers are. Whether you sell t-shirts, coffee, training courses or even landscaping; your next customer is waiting on TikTok.
Originally, the platform had a heavy skew towards young people (13-18), however throughout the pandemic, adoption rates have skyrocketed and now the split is similar to Instagram.
Alongside the traditional demographics, TikTok’s focus on sub-cultures has allowed niche communities to flourish. Perfect for brands, you can go and find your tribe with a few taps! A great example of this is #foodtok, a hashtag used by the platform’s numerous foodies. For brands that want to tap into these communities, hashtags are the perfect first step.
Just five years ago, video marketing for SMEs was an expensive option. The marketing medium had long been relegated to brands with big marketing budgets.
However, as Instagram developed its video function and Facebook started to give more airtime to videos, SMEs were able to realise an opportunity presented right to them.
Social media requires, or dare we say prefers, video content (especially vertical video content) now that Instagram and TikTok feeds have developed a new normal for us.
This video content doesn’t need to be shot on the latest technology, all you need is a smartphone (and a ring light would be ideal).
The easy part is recording, editing is where some of the true skill lies when it comes to TikTok. Luckily, there are a number of accounts on Instagram and TikTok that breakdown how to get all the cool trending transitions with a few clicks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvZZBTsoZFI
Do you remember the days when ALL of your followers would see your posts? Ah, like reminiscing about the perfect summer evening in deep winter, you just hope it is going to come back.
Unfortunately for us all, we’re still waiting to experience that!
That being said, TikTok seems to be offering brands and creators somewhat of a similar experience where organic reach is still achievable! Using a mix of trending sounds, high-quality content and hashtags; users have been able to reach 1million+ organic views!
For brands, this should sound incredibly promising and might even be enough to convince you to jump into TikTok with both feet.
Focus on creating content that your community will enjoy and the organic reach will come!
So, have we convinced you to jump into TikTok?
We understand it can seem dauncting at first. From researching trends to editing clips and of course starring in your own TikToks, it is no mean feat. However, we have seen incredible results for brands across the world who dedicate time to making their TikTok really standout.
If you’d like some help or want to talk about your TikTok strategy, click the link below and get in touch with your social media strategists today!
