Why TikTok should be part of your marketing strategy

TikTok has exploded in popularity over the last couple of years. The short-form video app now has over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide. For marketers, TikTok presents a massive new platform to reach and engage with a highly coveted demographic – Gen Z and Millennials. In today’s social media landscape, you can no longer afford to ignore TikTok. Here are some compelling reasons why it needs to become part of your marketing strategy:

(Image credit) It allows brands to get followers

One of the biggest advantages of TikTok for brands is the opportunity to rapidly grow your follower count. Gaining followers and building an audience is essential for brands as it helps them repeatedly market. Here is how to get followers on TikTok:

• Leverage Trends & Hashtags: Use popular trends, challenges and hashtags to put your content in front of engaged users. This can earn followers from viewers interested in that topic.
• Cross-Promote: Promote your TikTok account and content across other social platforms. This drives existing followers to check out your TikTok and follow you there as well.
• Engage With Your Niche: Actively like, comment and engage with content from users in your niche. This builds relationships and earns you follows within your target audience.
• Collaborate: Team up with TikTok influencers in your industry to tap into their audience. Giveaways and challenges work well to incentivise their followers to follow you.
• Optimise Your Profile: Ensure your profile is set up for success with links, strong branding, a good bio, profile photo, etc. This incentivises users to follow you after viewing your content.
• Go Live: Live streams are a great way to interact with users in real time and get on the “For You” page. This leads to a spike in new followers.
• Run Ads: Consider running TikTok ad campaigns with a “Follow” call-to-action to gain more followers. Especially helpful for rapidly kickstarting growth.

It has a huge and rapidly growing user base

The numbers speak for themselves. TikTok currently has over 1 billion monthly active users globally. To put that into perspective, that’s more than Instagram and Snapchat combined.

TikTok’s growth has been meteoric. The app only launched internationally in 2018, and it’s already one of the most downloaded apps in the world. It was the 7th most downloaded app of the decade.

The app is particularly popular among younger demographics. 41% of TikTok users are aged 16-24. This makes it a very attractive platform for brands targeting Gen Z and Millennials.

It’s a powerful tool for brand building

TikTok offers a major opportunity for brands to build awareness and engagement organically.

The platform’s algorithm favours original, entertaining content that gets engagement. This means you can grow a large following from scratch by consistently posting fun, creative short videos that resonate with viewers.

Successful brand campaigns on TikTok leverage trends, challenges, hashtags, and influencer collaborations. This viral content spreads rapidly and gets your brand noticed.

Chipotle’s #boorito TikTok campaign generated ideal brand awareness and engagement. It attracted 4 billion views in the days leading up to Halloween.

It facilitates deep engagement & viral content

A key advantage of TikTok is that it’s designed for hyper-engagement. The short vertical video format makes it easy for users to watch, engage with, and share content.

Hashtags and viral trends spread like wildfire on TikTok. A catchy dance, meme, or challenge can gain millions of video creations and views in a matter of days.

This virality presents a prime opportunity for brands. One creative, well-executed TikTok campaign can dramatically boost your brand visibility and following.

Red Bull leveraged viral trends brilliantly with #RedBullDanceYourStyle – generating 8.6 billion views and a 36% increase in followers.

It offers powerful targeting options

TikTok allows brands to target their ads and sponsored content based on user demographics, interests, behaviours, and more.

You can target TikTok users by age, gender, location, device, interests, and other characteristics. This advanced targeting ensures your content and products reach exactly the right audience.

Interest targeting is particularly useful for brands. You can target users specifically interested in your brand, products, services or industry. Showcasing video content to these high-potential users gives fantastic ROI.

It’s a major e-commerce driver

TikTok has also emerged as a significant driver of ecommerce traffic and sales.

The platform is rapidly optimising ecommerce capabilities through TikTok Shop and Shopify integration. Users can now shop for products directly via branded TikTok accounts, livestreams, and ads.

TikTok also drives major traffic to online stores. 72% of users say they have purchased a product they first discovered on TikTok.

Fashion, beauty, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands now regard TikTok as a vital channel in their ecommerce marketing funnel.

The time to embrace TikTok for your brand is now. With the right strategy, it can become one of your most powerful and cost-efficient marketing channels this year and beyond.

Featured image credit: Solen Feyissa/Unsplash