You’ve probably heard of TikTok marketing, but did you know that it ranks sixth among apps for consumer spending worldwide?

Why TikTok

TikTok is a video-based social media platform where brands, creators, and influencers can express their individuality and drive brand awareness. Unlike other platforms, TikTok uses a unique discovery algorithm that gives every video an equal chance to go viral, regardless of how popular the content creator is.

UGC: There’s a new trending style of content that works well on eCommerce marketing, UGC style, which stands for User Generated Content. And TikTok has all the perfect features to satisfy this user-generated, authentic content demand. You can use TikTok to manifest your business into a true customer-brand relationship.

Commerce links: TikTok has also been testing video commerce links for some time, which was advanced last year with its new partner Shopify. Using the TikTok Shopify app, you can create video ads, track results, and manage all your orders inside Shopify which is a great way to reach a younger target audience and drive sales.

How to use TikTok for marketing?

TikTok’s discovery algorithm works in a mysterious way that’s meant to give every video a standing chance of going viral. Every video is shown on a small segment of users’ For You page. So how does this all relate to marketing?

1. Define your audience

Combining the UGC strategy, you need to create an ad that looks like one of the pieces of content they’re naturally consuming, hence you need to have a clear picture of your target audience and the people most likely to convert into your customers. 

2. Track down your competitors

On TikTok, you have two kinds of competitors: your business competition which sells the same niche as you do, and your content competition. TikTok, like all the other social media platforms, is filled with people and brands alike, so your business is not only competing with similar products but also with the creativity of other content.

Get the detailed data

TikTok gives Pro accounts, which are free and easy to sign up for, detailed analytics about their followers, traffic, and engagement. You can view data for things like:

• Video views, playtime, likes, comments, and shares
• Traffic source
• Profile views
• Audience demographics like gender, location, age, etc.
• Other content your audience likes (videos and sounds)
• Your trending videos

These types of detailed data can be used to analyze the quality of your content and where lacks improvement.

6 Tips for Your TikTok Marketing Practice

1. Keep it real

One thing to be always kept in mind when you are marketing your business on TikTok is that users on this platform want to be entertained or informed, not sold to. You don’t want to post videos that sound like sales pitches. Before starting marketing your brand, spend time on the app yourself, because once the algorithm learns what you like, it’ll feed you quality content in which you may find inspirations to boost creativity for your own content. In the world of TikTok, genuine content reigns supreme, users favor raw and engaging videos over highly edited, curated posts.

2. Keep it simple

Your videos on TikTok should be short and sweet, considering many users don’t have the attention span for a 60-second upload. Use 15-second videos to share high-level information, and pepper in 60-second deep dives to explain details further. If a topic is important, you can also break it down into multiple 15-second videos to keep the viewership. Unlike other video platforms, on TikTok, you can skip introductions and call for action to encourage users to click on your profile to learn more instead.

3. Master new features

New filters, GIF stickers, and so many other features keep getting pumped out on TikTok. Though we can’t tell the algorithm behind it, we can still use these features to keep the feed looking fresh and fun for the audience.

You can also look into TikTok’s beta program, it may offer you brand new content creation tools which have not gotten popular yet. This can be a great way to get a step ahead of your competition on this platform.

4. Make use of hashtags

TikTok’s Discover page has the day’s trending hashtags, these hashtags change on a daily basis, which would be a really good traffic boost if you can make your content jibe with them. Even if your content topic can’t fit the hashtag perfectly, checking the discover page constantly is still a great way to understand what’s trending on the platform and can give you some idea on how to better shape your posts.

5. Get a posting schedule

Sticking to a posting schedule has been proved an efficient way to get on the For You page, as the algorithm favors consistency. To achieve the goal of being known and remembered without overloading your followers with videos. You can post one to two times each day and go live a couple of times each week.

Besides sticking to the schedule you choose, if you happen to find out that your followers are more active on certain days of the week, you can also consider doubling up posts on those days to maximize viewership.

6. Interact with the comments

A comment section is an amazing place for conversation, communication, and explanation, where you can also convert people who are interested in your certain post into your followers. Hop into the comments and communicate with your viewers as often as you can.

You can also “like” comments that you want to acknowledge, it’s amazing how many users are thrilled to see a “Liked by Creator” notification pop up on their screen. A simple like or comment response will be virtually impossible for users to ignore. Liking a comment can often lead to a new follower.

Conclusion

To build your own brand on TikTok is nothing but 4 key factors: authentic content, frequent posting, active community management, and quality posts. The hardest part of doing anything is always the beginning, don’t get intimidated by all the work you need to do, just get started.

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