Tiktok is here to stay, yep I’ve said it. There may have been bumps in the road when potential lawsuits and privacy scares threatened a US ban on the app, but Biden has steadied the ship, the lawsuit has been paused, and TikTok is going nowhere. But is TikTok right for your brand?

That’s a great question and it all depends on your goal.

The social app has been responsible for landing recording contracts, sky-rocketing small businesses and perhaps what you may be most interested in, propelling brands to reach new audiences. So to help you see if TikTok is something your brand needs to be looking at, this guide will give the best practise and the strategies you could utilise.

Who’s actually on TikTok?

TikTok is not exclusively for gen z anymore. There is nearly the same amount of 20-29-year-olds on the platforms as there are 10-19-year-olds. If your target audience is between the ages of 10-39 you can target them through the platform.

Data based on US population.

Statista also predicts that the peak is yet to come with numbers of using rising each year until 2024.

Getting started on TikTok

Getting started on a whole new social platform can seem daunting at first. But TikTok is not a platform that rewards polished, high production content. In fact, content shot on a mobile phone has authenticity to it and helps the brand be relatable. The best performing brands on TikTok have this nailed. If you want to see some of the best examples of TikTok strategy, just look at the genius who is running the RyanAir account.

There are essentially three options for the creation of content for TikTok. It’s not one or another situation, multiple content types can be run simultaneously or separately with huge success, and yes, we can help you with them all.

User-generated content and influencer partnerships

This is an option for brands who do not have the resources to create their own content, and is a strategy that can be easily utilised on a large scale. By harnessing influencers or brand ambassadors to create the content for you, you don’t need to find added time and budgets, and can leave the task to the experts.

This is a popular option for big businesses that can harness their own customers. The likes of Gymshark and Pretty Little Thing are using this effectively and have amassed a large following on the platform, leading the way for other fashion brands.

The advantages of UGC and influencer partnerships:

  • Plan and execute videos on a large scale
  • You’re not creating the content yourself
  • The use of influencers helps drive traffic and engagement
  • Gives your brand a face

The disadvantages:

  • Lose the ability to jump on trending tracks
  • Struggle to be reactive
  • It is hard to keep up with current trends

This brings us on to...

Organic content

Yes, my favourite again. Give this social media manager a raise already.

TikTok is a trend based platform. Trends can be created, jumped on and utilised but this has to be done quickly and has to be executed intelligently. But this is not easy, reactivity and creativity is key to this. If you wait to jump on a trend too long, your content may seem dated and lose sentiment amongst your audience. It’s like turning up to the party in your grandad’s clothes… it’s not a look.

Our top tips for creating your own organic content:

  • Use your mobile phone
  • Try to jump on trending songs within the app
  • Try to engage your viewer within the first two seconds
  • Engage in existing trends on the platform, it’s ok to make a fool out of yourself on TikTok

Archive footage repurposed

The majority of brands have banks of old footage that can easily be repurposed for TikTok. One sector which is excelling in this is the sports market. Sports teams have endless video footage that can be quickly repurposed for TikTok. Take Manchester United, for example; they have been posting highlights, behind the scenes and interviews on their TikTok to great success amassing over 1 million followers in a short space of time.

The key to success in repurposing footage is to resize your video and optimise it for mobile. Resizing footage can be easily done by a video editor and captions can be added within the TikTok user-interface. The big advantage of repurposing old footage is that you have no need to shoot more, whilst getting continued value from existing video work.

Myths of TikTok

“It’s easy to go viral on TikTok”

Everyone has their opinions on TikTok. The number of times I have heard people say, “It’s easy to viral on TikTok” - it’s not. Tesco is still facing a shortage of Little Moons - but what you may not have known is that this trend was carefully orchestrated using paid advertising to kick start it.

“TikTok is only for dancing videos”

TikTok is filled with MULTIPLE types of content from tutorials in hair to cooking and comedy, and these are all equally possible to users. If you think a certain company/sector is not right for TikTok, you’re not thinking creatively.

“You can’t drive traffic from TikTok”

I am just going to leave this here…

This graph shows the google search data for the term “Little Moons” and this drove a 700% profit increase for Tesco from the product. If that is not driving traffic, and in turn money, then I don’t know what is.

If you want any help in breaking into TikTok and going viral, get in touch. Oh, and feel free to send me funny TikToks on Twitter @jjhb92.