
February 3rd, 2023
How to know if TikTok is right for your business
TikTok is the addictive app that’s taken the world by storm and is the main topic of many of our office chats!
TikTok is a mobile-based video-sharing app where users can create and share short-form videos between 15 seconds to 10 minutes long, and with over one billion active users, it’s now the fastest-growing social media platform of all time!
With lip-syncing videos, dance videos and hashtag challenges amongst the platform’s most viewed content, many businesses are now looking at how they can jump on board the latest trends.
As TikTok does not base its algorithms on follower count, businesses don’t need a large following or popular content to successfully engage with their target audience, and it provides a golden opportunity to put your business in front of an unexpected audience. But how do you know if it’s right for your business?
1. Identify your Audience
Like with any area of your marketing, the first step you need to take is identifying your target audience. Consider what your target customer base is and ask yourself questions to build an idea of their personality, for example, what’s their age? What are they interested in? What social media platform are your customers most active on?
If you have a broad customer base, a great way of identifying your target customers is splitting them out by their demographics and create customers ‘personas’, based on their interests. This is a great way to create tailored content that will appeal to each of your target audiences.
Social listening is also a great way to get ideas for content that will engage with your audience. Create a fake account and follow brands your target demographic would be interested in to tap into their algorithm and also to understand your competitor’s approach to TikTok!
2. Define your TikTok Goals
Before you begin creating videos, you need to define what goals you want your TikTok content to achieve. These should align with your overall marketing strategy and form part of your marketing plan.
TikTok can help your business to:
- Increase brand awareness.
- Build engaged communities.
- Get feedback from customers and audiences.
- Advertise or sell products and services.
- Access user generated content (UGC)
3. Create the right content
Appealing to your target audience will drive the tone of your content. If your audience are mostly Gen-Zs who have their finger on the pulse of the latest TikTok trends, creating content with trending sounds can work well, but if your audience are older and less active on TikTok – trend-based content may miss the mark.
Some of our team’s favourite creators include airline, Ryanair who create humorous, tongue-in-cheek content which focuses on owning their negative press to improve brand reputation. Whatever your TikTok goal is, your content must reflect your brand’s personality!
TikTok can be more difficult for B2B companies, however there are many different trends that businesses can engage with whether it’s through the #BusinessTok community or by focusing on content which highlights the culture of the company (which can be great for recruiting talent too!)
4. How to create your TikToks
Here’s some of our top tips on what you should consider when creating TikTok content:
- Embrace mobile – your videos should be vertical, shot to a 16:9 aspect ratio, short, snappy, and thumb-stopping!
- Jump on current trends– your TikTok video is more likely to go viral. We understand that not everyone is up for dancing, but there’s lots of different trends that companies can use to raise awareness of their brand. The TikTok creative centre is a great place to look at the hashtags, sounds and creators that are trending right now.
- Use trending sounds or add music that works for your brand – Millions of sounds can be found in TikTok’s audience library.
- Ensure you use relevant #hashtags in each video to reach a wider audience.
- Use keywords in your cover image and captions - TikTok rewards videos which embrace search features.
- Utilise TikTok shop – Viewers can directly buy your products through TikTok in-feed videos or video ads, simplifying the customer journey.
- Prioritise community engagement - Consistently interact with and respond to your audience’s videos and comments.
5. Refine your strategy
Once you’ve chosen your objective and begun to create videos, it’s time to monitor your performance on your business account. Try posting content organically once a week and seeing how your TikTok audience reacts. Gain insights into your video’s performance through TikTok analytics - it’s a great way to learn what works and needs improvement.
Happy TikToking!
If you’re interested in finding out more about how we can help you to get a social media strategy that generates results, get in touch!