TikTok is currently the raging social network around the world. It was born in China in 2016 and, during 2020, due to the pandemic and confinement by COVID-19; it grew exponentially due to its playful and creative nature.
However, TikTok is much more than funny videos that young people consume. It is a social network with great potential for brands and in particular for social selling (online sales strategy through social networks). Yes, believe it or not, you can sell on TikTok!
In this article we tell you everything you need to know about this social network and how to use it in your digital marketing strategy.
What is TikTok?
It is a social network for the production of content exclusively in video format. These videos are characterized by being short (between 15 and 60 seconds), funny and high impact.
In this type of content, we seek to exploit creativity, humor and generate a visual impact through editing resources and filters, which are typical of the mobile application (you do not need to install any additional tools). These characteristics make the videos quickly become massive and, when displayed on 100% of the cell phone screen (vertically), it manages to capture the full and complete attention of the user.
Like other social networks, TikTok has an extremely powerful search algorithm to display “tailored” content. How does it work? Suggesting new “TikTok” based on the interactions and content that the user is consuming.
From there, the person can see random content generated by users that they do not need to follow. That means that their organic reach level is very powerful, even higher than Instagram.
Currently TikTok also enables live streaming (a growing trend on all social platforms) and in some countries it has already begun to integrate e-commerce and advertising on its platform. Keep reading to find out more!
TikTok in figures
Before telling you about how to use TikTok to boost your brand, we want to show you some numbers from this social network that will undoubtedly surprise you.
We Are Social and Hootsuite (two leading companies in the digital world) annually produce a global report that provides data on internet penetration and the evolution of the use of social networks, among other key data for the digital world and ecommerce.
According to their latest report, updated to January 2021, TikTok:
- It has 689 million monthly active users, well above Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat and closely following Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
- It recorded, in December 2020, 56 million downloads of its mobile application.
- It is located in the seventh place of the most used social platforms, behind Facebook, Youtube, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Wechat, but its growth is accelerated.
- As for who the users of this social network are, 49% are women and 51% are men. The so-called generation Z (who were born between 1995 and 2010) are the ones who use it the most and entertain for hours, but its use is also spreading to a more adult audience.
Taking these data into account, you are probably wondering if it makes sense that, as a brand, you start to have a presence on this social network. Find out below!
TikTok for your brand
For a brand to be successful, it is essential that it connect with its potential customers since, as you know, every purchase has an emotional motivation.
TikTok is an ideal tool for reaching out to them through humor and entertainment. To use TikTok as a digital marketing strategy, you have to be clear about your personality as a brand, what is the message you want to give and, of course, who is your target audience.
Perhaps most of your potential customers are not on TikTok yet, but this social network has the peculiarity that it is in full expansion and the power of viralization of its contents is very great.
In addition to that, TikTok allows you to create multichannel videos and its content policy is open, that is, the videos that you create on this network, then you will be able to use them on other social networks, such as on Instagram reels.
A fact no less is that there are still relatively few brands and entrepreneurs who got on the TikTok move. So, you are going to have little competition in your field, it is time for you to take advantage of it!
With TikTok videos you will achieve interaction and, above all, it will help you build a community. We share some ideas so that you can start thinking about your next content on this social network:
- Show your production processes and your work team in a fun way.
- Create humorous videos to tell about essential topics for your ecommerce. For example, the benefits of interest-free installments, frequently asked questions by customers or any special discount you want to offer. Thus, you will generate informative content in a more authentic way and closer to your followers.
- You can also use this social network to spread your products through alliances with influencers.
- Join the TikTok Challenges. These challenges consist of repeating and improvising choreography over a song. Surely you can join any of them to publicize your products or services. Although, of course, don’t try to force your content to fit!
To generate content on TikTok, it is key that you consume the contents of the social network. That is, take the time to see what is trending, what the most viral songs are, what challenges are the most popular, what audios can help you to tell something about your brand or what the most used hashtags are.
Then, you have to think about the types of videos that will help you create content that represents the personality of your brand.
Sell on TikTok
For a few months and in several countries around the world, TikTok began to offer advertising within its platform. TikTok Ads are still in beta (testing) and their characteristics are a little different from the advertising that we are more used to on social networks.
Advertising on TikTok, which is managed through its platform called TikTok for Business, seeks to merge not only with the type of social network content, but also with the way it is consumed. In the words of TikTok: “Don’t make ads, make TikToks.”
The ad formats offered by TikTok, in addition to videos (of course), are hashtags and filters that can be sponsored by brands. It also offers a unique full-screen banner format, which has its limitations to avoid user saturation.
We share the success story of the North American brand Guess which, on the one hand, created content on TikTok for the dissemination of a specific collection campaign and, on the other hand, used TikTok Ads for its amplification.
This campaign quickly achieved great interaction. People used the hashtag sponsored by the brand (#InMyDenim) in their videos and participated in a Guess Challenge that consisted of showing a change of look using a jean garment from this brand.
To encourage participation, the brand released four sponsored videos interpreted by influencers, who showed the Challenge. In addition, they used the “Brand Takeover” format (full-screen banner) on the first day of the campaign to capture the attention of thousands of TikTok users as soon as they opened the application.
The result? The campaign went viral in no time, users generated 5,550 videos and got millions of views and comments!
It is a fact that very soon we will begin to see more advertising on TikTok and this will allow brands to further exploit this social network.
Conclusion
Like Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, TikTok is also positioning itself as a powerful online sales tool and it is to be expected that, in the future, it will be increasingly integrated with electronic commerce.
Now that you know how you can use TikTok for your online business, are you going to dare to try it? The main thing is to lose your fear and have fun! With a clear digital marketing strategy, you will be able to sell on TikTok and add more customers.