Is TikTok crucial for my brand?

What is TikTok?

Tiktok is a social media platform that allows users to watch and discover millions of authentic videos, created and shared by other users of the app. Each short-form entertainment video that is uploaded can be up to three minutes long, and is a unique way for users to express themselves, with many using humour, a glimpse into their life, or jumping on a recent trend such as dances or seamless transitions.

If you hadn’t already heard, TikTok overtook Google as the most visited website of 2021, jumping from 7th place in 2020.

The social media giant now has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, making it a powerful marketing tool for businesses trying to tap into GenZ and millennial generations.

With all of the above in mind, you may be wondering, is TikTok crucial for my brand in 2022 and beyond? Let’s take a look at some of the benefits for businesses.

The benefits of TikTok.

Huge audience reach.

The platform has experienced huge growth in recent years, with millions of users logging in to the app several times a day as a means of escapism and for entertainment purposes. In a 2021 survey of over 18 year olds, 17% of respondents spend over 5 hours on the social video app a week.

(Statista)

Many businesses will be leveraging the likes of Twitter and Snapchat in their marketing strategies, so why would they not also launch on TikTok? There are now more users than Snapchat and Twitter combined. 

The audience reach is incredible for brands, and what’s more, TikTok has confirmed that the number of followers an account has does not determine how easily discoverable their content is in the app. A business account starting up can only have a handful of followers and still have great success with their first video post, due to the app’s intelligent content discovery process.

Trends.

Typically, a trend can be a sound, a hashtag, dance or challenge. Without knowing what the latest trends are, a user can scroll their feed for only a couple of minutes and the latest craze will quickly become apparent. 

Tapping into TikTok trends is a huge opportunity for businesses worldwide.

The beauty of TikTok trends? Anyone can jump on them! You don’t have to be a professional dancer to share your take on a dance trend. Nor do you have to be a model to showcase an outfit transition. That’s one of the reasons why it is perfect for marketing and increasing the awareness of your own brand. Businesses are able to cost-effectively create short, authentic videos that have the potential to go viral if executed correctly.

User generated content.

Does your business encourage user generated content across your social channels such as Facebook and Instagram? TikTok is no different, and businesses can essentially receive free advertising through the use of user generated content. Starting a conversation or a challenge, and encouraging your customers to hashtag your business name, or perhaps  the slogan of your current marketing campaign in their own TikToks can result in huge exposure for your business.

What’s more, hashtags and ‘challenges’ act as an invitation for users to interact with your brand, and help to increase your credibility with little or no effort from your own marketing team.

Advertising capabilities.

TikTok is not a platform for hard sales messaging, instead it is an opportunity to showcase your brand’s personality and produce content that your target audience can relate to, and be inspired by.

“92% of users globally have taken an action after watching a TikTok”

Data source: Marketing Science Global Time Well Spent research conducted by Kantar in 2021

You don’t need any real expertise with the platform to get started, the Ads Manager provides all of the tools needed to effectively create and manage ad campaigns in one place. TikTok offers several ad formats for brands to choose from including TopView, In-Feed, Branded Hashtag Challenge and Branded Efforts. 

Advertisers are able to select their campaign objective, and build an audience based on demographics, interests and behaviours as well as device type, to ensure they are reaching a highly targeted audience.

Arguably, the key to success in a TikTok ad campaign is getting the creative right. Unlike other platforms, ads shouldn’t feel or look like ads, they shouldn’t stand out as a hard sell, instead ads should fit in with the other authentic content that is posted around it.

The versatile ad formats, cheap traffic and possibility for high levels of engagement and brand exposure are just three of the reasons that TikTok Ads are making a forefront in 2022 marketing strategies across the globe.

Influencers.

If advertising on TikTok still seems a little way off for your company, many find huge success through partnering with a TikTok Influencer, who will post about your product or service on your behalf. Using a tool such as Influence Grid, businesses can find an influencer based on their followers, likes count, video views and engagement rate. 

Influencer marketing has high success rates. This is because unlike adverts, product recommendations come from a user who your target audience trusts and is already familiar with. Therefore, your target audience is more likely to take notice of your product offering and take action.

To summarise, TikTok has taken the world by storm and was officially the most visited website in 2021. With over 1 billion monthly active users, the social media platform offers a wealth of opportunities for brands to increase their credibility, engage and relate to their target audience and massively increase their exposure.