How Does TikTok Marketing Work?
TikTok in 2022 had over 1 billion monthly users. This means that whatever niche you are in or whatever thing you are selling, there is a market for you on TikTok. Let’s face it, we as consumers don’t operate how we used to. Traditional marketing in things like magazines and TV commercials are never going to outperform the internet. Naturally, you need a presence where there is an engaged market, and TikTok has that market.
Whether you have a brand, a business, or you are an influencer, marketing yourself on TikTok gives you the opportunity to reach a huge audience. Creators have the chance to create a community with loyal followers. From here, they can partner with brands to leverage their community as a monetary opportunity. As a brand or business, you can market your product directly and also have access to influencers who can push your brand in their own community.
Focusing on TikTok presence allows you to increase brand awareness, build a loyal community of followers and customers, and ultimately help you sell products.
How to set up your TikTok for success
As with any sort of marketing strategy, you shouldn't go into TikTok blind. It's important to have clear goals and plans set in place before you get started! For the rest of this article, let's go over best practices to make sure you find success on the app!
Know your goals
You can only reach your goals if you know what they are.
Start by thinking about what you hope to gain from using TikTok. Maybe you want to broaden your social media outreach. Maybe you want to broaden your social media following or sell a product or raise awareness for an upcoming event?
Whatever your ultimate goal is, define it clearly!
Find your audience
After knowing what you hope to gain through your TikTok presence, it's important to know WHO you are targeting with your content.
To do this, think of three groups you would like to target. Group 1 would be the direct audience you hope to get to follow you or buy your product. Let's say you're a photographer. Your group 1 would be people looking for your services.
From here, you need to niche out further. This would be a group that is less likely to follow or purchase now but has an interest in the future, or they may know someone who would fall into Group 1.
Your Group 2 would be a junior who knows they want their senior pictures taken the following year by a great local photographer. They are not directly your audience yet, but they are worth reaching for.
You might even consider niching out further and thinking of a Group 3, and those are simply your potential admirers. They may never be customers, but perhaps they are interested in brands you have partnered with or just like your content.
Breaking your audience into these three groups is a way to funnel your content where your audience's interest lies.
Follow other creators in your niche
You may feel like you need totally unique content and ideas for your page in order to be successful. But, honestly, why reinvent the wheel when what works, works? Find other successful creators in your niche.
Maybe it’s the creators who have the success you hope to gain. What are they doing to achieve the results you see? Are they prioritizing a specific subject or type of video? Maybe they are on a strict story-posting schedule. Whatever they are doing that you can emulate, do so and see if it works for you too.
Consider following at least five creators in your niche and two that are broader but connected in some way. If you are a travel photographer, you could follow two other travel photographers, someone who reviews the best cameras and a travel vlogger.
By doing this, you have given insights into your immediate niche and related niches that may give you access to more followers.
As you watch other creators' content, think about what you like or don't like about it. Take physical notes on your analysis. On average we have more than 6,000 thoughts per day, you might forget what you think you'll remember.
What caught your attention initially?
What would you do differently to make it better?
This is a learning strategy for you. Figure out what works, test it for yourself and then do it better.
Use varying lengths of video content
Try making videos of different lengths and see what your audience responds to the best. Short content would be videos of 15 seconds or less. This is an attention-grabber piece. Your audience needs to be reeled in immediately.
Long content would be videos between 1-3 minutes. This could be more of a monologue topic. Story times and how-tos would be great options.
Trending content may have nothing to do directly with your niche. Find the top trending videos for the platform and then for your niche, and then intertwine their subject matter and presentation style in your content. Test different ways for these concepts to resonate with your audience. This is one of the easiest ways to get more engaged eyes to your page.
Experiment and study analytics
You are not going to know what works for you right off the bat, and that's ok! This is how every successful creator starts, so studying other successful creators will always be the best place to begin.
Experiment with your content style, caption content and length, hashtags groups, and posting times - you will still have to tweak and fine-tune your content for the best results.
As you experiment, take notes and pay close attention to your analytics. What is working well, and what is bombing? Do more of what works. While there is an element of trial and error, it should always be educated.
Invest in TikTok Ads
TikTok is unique among social media platforms in that its algorithm is designed to push content from a variety of different sources to users' feeds, rather than just content from people they follow. That means that brands have a much greater chance of reaching new audiences through TikTok ads than they do on other platforms like Instagram or Facebook.
In addition, TikTok users are extremely engaged; the average user spends 52 minutes per day on the app, watching an average of 60 videos. That level of engagement is rare on any platform, let alone one as new as TikTok. Brands that can create engaging content that speaks to TikTok's predominantly Gen Z audience stand to reap major rewards.
Because of the way its algorithm works, a well-made TikTok ad has the potential to reach millions of users with very little money or effort on the part of the brand. We've already seen this happen with several brands' ads going viral and reaching a massive audience with very little paid promotion.
For example, Chipotle's #GuacDance ad reached over 5 million views within 24 hours of being posted, with no paid promotion at all. The ad was so popular that it prompted Chipotle to launch a #GuacDance challenge, inviting users to submit their own videos doing the dance for a chance to win free guacamole for a year.
Not only did this help Chipotle increase brand awareness and reach a new audience, but it also helped build loyalty among existing customers by giving them a chance to interact with the brand in a fun and positive way.
TikTok Ads Format
TikTok offers a variety of ad formats to choose from, so you can find one that best fits your business goals. For example, if you're looking to increase brand awareness, you might want to use an In-Feed Ad, which appears in users' feeds just like any other TikTok video.
Or if you're looking to drive traffic to your website, you can use an App Install Ad, which appears as a "Sponsored" post and links directly to the App Store or Google Play.
TikTok Ads Targeting
One of the great things about TikTok Ads is that they offer a variety of targeting options to help you reach your target audience. You can target users by age, location, gender, interests, and even behavior. For example, if you're promoting a new product, you could target users who have recently made a purchase on a similar product.
TikTok offers brands an invaluable data trove. The platform collects data on everything from user behavior to video views and shares. This data can be used to create highly targeted ad campaigns that are designed to reach the right people with the right message.
Thanks to its algorithm and engagement-Driven design, TikTok ads have immense potential when it comes to reach and virality—potential that other social media platforms simply can't match. So if you're not already experimenting with TikTok ads, now is the time to start.
Consistency
Marketing and outreach on social media are different from traditional marketing. Having one commercial that rotated channels would have worked for a business thirty years ago, but now, as creators and brands, you will need to produce consistent quality content in order to grow your audience.
It's been said before and it's true: consistency is essential.
Stay consistent with posting times, trending posting styles, and interacting with your audience.
Remember your why, your goals, and your audience, and commit to consistently reaching one more person than the day before.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that if you're not marketing your brand on TikTok, you're missing out. This platform is a major player in the social media world, and its influence is only going to continue to grow. So start strategizing your way to grow your audience and business through TikTok – it's where the action is!
