TikTok: Is It Part Of Your Marketing Strategy?

Over the last 18 months, TikTok has completely changed how we interact with social media. Fuelled by the dark days of lockdown, the video sharing platform has given everyday people another outlet to share their creativity and gain popularity.

Whilst TikTok is still in its infancy in comparison to the likes of Facebook and Instagram, the platform already has 1 billion users globally and 100 million monthly active users.

Whilst TikTok has become an everyday habit for a large proportion of the population, just how important is it for brands? 

Let’s take a look at some of the questions you should be asking yourself when considering TikTok within your marketing strategy.

Are your audience on TikTok?

It’s a misconception that TikTok is used exclusively by millennials and GenZs. In fact, 67% of TikTok users are over the age of 35 years. 

Whilst age may have influenced your opinion on TikTok, you should also consider the types of people you are looking to target and the nature of the industry that you operate in. For example, an online retailer is probably better suited than a finance company looking to drive leads. 

However, this is something to keep an eye on. It was only a few weeks ago that the platform announced the release of TikTok Resumes whereby users can apply for jobs by simply uploading a short video CV.

Can you create the right content?

TikTok audiences come to the platform looking for authentic content that speaks to them on a personal level. Traditional video assets that you may have used across Instagram and YouTube, will not be enough to attract the average TikTok user. In fact, in TikTok’s world we’re not even allowed to refer to them as videos – they’re TikToks.

The mixture of a good TikTok includes the following:

• An authentic experience that users can relate to.
• A strong, impactful and attention grabbing intro.
• A length of no longer than 15 seconds.

Recently, a number of small business owners have started to use the platform to engage with customers directly and show a behind-the-scenes outlook of how their business operates. 

Can you create enough content?

Whilst it’s one thing to create the right type of TikTok, you’ll need to ensure that you can create enough of them. Due to the nature of the platform and the rate of content consumption, you’ll need to have the capacity to generate regular and timely TikToks. 

Does TikTok align with your brand values?

In order to succeed with TikTok, authenticity is key. If you’re a brand that is considered fun and personable then TikTok is a massive consideration. Brands that pride themselves on professional standards are probably best to avoid it.

TikTok advertising

If what you’ve read so far has encouraged you to pursue TikTok, then you’re probably questioning what the paid social opportunities are like.

Whilst TikTok are monetising the platform through sponsored content, the ad platform itself is still pretty limited. 

Before proceeding with the setup of a paid campaign there are some important limitations to be aware of.

Content frequency & ad fatigue

As mentioned above, you will need to ensure that you have capacity to refresh your ad content every 7 days in order to avoid ad fatigue. 

Conversion volume

In order to optimise your campaign to a particular conversion such as purchases, your TikTok Pixel will need to have recorded 1,000 events of this action from direct TikTok users. Unless you are a high volume retailer with a large TikTok following already, it’s unlikely that a conversion based campaign is going to work for you. 

For newly created paid accounts, you will need to consider using more top of funnel tactics.

Location targeting

One of the biggest limitations for TikTok at the moment is that you can only target locations based on country. Meaning, if you’re a bricks and mortar store looking to attract local footfall, TikTok ads are definitely ruled out for you.

Whilst it seems everyone is on TikTok, the uptake from brands has been slower. Having a brand that has the right target audience, brand values and capacity to create a high volume of authentic pieces of content is one of the biggest drawbacks in current company uptake.

However, I don’t expect this to be the case for very long. Give it a few years and I think we can not only expect to see more brands using it but the depth of industries using it will grow. What is now considered a channel more for B2Cs the potential for B2Bs will undoubtedly grow.

Is your brand ready for TikTok? Get in touch with our team today to see how we can support your social media strategy.