Looking to charge up your brands’ digital strategy? You may be ready for the ultimate TikTok 2020 challenge.
TikTok is currently one of the most popular apps in the world with 150 markets and 500M+ installs on Google Play.
Ready to get started? In this post, I’m going to tell you everything you need to get started on TikTok.
Everything You Should Know About TikTok
What is TikTok?
Let’s start with the basics.
This app launched in China late 2016. Within a year, it had 100 million users. Seeing this success, the company launched a version that would appeal to an international market which brings us to TikTok.
As of October 2019, the app had 500 million worldwide users. With such a young audience demographic, it’s likely that TikTok will continue to see aggressive growth.
But what exactly is TikTok? TikTok is a mobile video streaming and sharing app that allows users to create funny videos on various topics. The videos can be between 15-60 seconds long.
The videos can have filters, special effects, overlaid music and more. The goal of TikTok is to be authentic - Real People. Real Videos.
Who uses TikTok?
If your brand is focused on the younger demographic (14-24 year olds), then TikTok is a great platform for you as over 41% of its user base fits this demographic.
But TikTok is not just limited to this younger demographic. According to the Washington Post, TikTok is now taking off with medical professionals, firefighters and other professionals.
About a quarter (24.5%) of TikToks user base falls into the 25-34 year old age demographic.
How can brands leverage TikTok?
Organically and through TikTok Ads.
Organically, this platform is a great way to reach your audience and relevant influencers to your brand in a unique way.
As TikTok Ads are still very new, the CPMs are higher here compared to other channels. The average TikTok CPM is $10 and campaigns are required to have a minimum budget of $500.
Ready to find out more?
Organic TikTok
TikTok’s algorithm is pretty welcoming -- though TikTok was exposed for asking human moderators to suppress posts from "ugly" users. It appears this is no longer an issue as it appears the AI looks more towards quality of the video.
If your content is interesting and relevant, your brand will have a better shot at sustained organic growth.
But you need to have the right content to grow on TikTok.
Create a TikTok profile and look at what content is working. If you have an avid TikToker in the Family or a younger family or team member, you can always pitch your creative idea to them. If they cringe, don’t move forward with that creative idea unless you want your brand to get roasted by users. Content on TikTok is constantly changing, so just wait until you see something that can work for your brand.
Let’s take a look at two companies; Chipotle,a Mexican restaurant, and Big Potato, a London-based board game studio.
Chipotle kicks off with its bio “Less Tok, More Guac” -- a motto I can get behind. They’re videos are funny and fit the platform, but also consistent which is important when establishing a brand presence. With 709K Followers and 7.1M Likes, the brand is clearly doing something right besides their guac.
Now, let’s look at Big Potato, a lesser known brand than Chipotle. Big Potato amassed almost 16.9K followers organically in a few months, mostly using their employees to host challenges and their (very cute) plush potato mascot.
We can learn a lot from both brands:
Don’t hop on every trend or hashtag challenge. There are too many, and not every trend will match your brand or message. Wait until there’s a trend that fits your brand. You won’t have to wait long.
Don’t overproduce your content. Everything on TikTok feels authentic and DIY -- it should feel like someone on your team just picked up their phone and started filming. This platform is for users to get to know the behind the scenes. Save your high production creative for Instagram.
Have a bid of budget to spend to test this platform? Let’s take a look at TikTok Ads.
TikTok Ads
Ad Formats: There are currently 6 ad formats available:
In-Feed Ads
Brand Takeover
Hashtag Challenge
Branded Lenses
Top Views
Custom Influencer
All ads require that you go through a TikTok advertising rep to get started.
In-Feed Video Ads (Biddable)
The In-Feed ad appears as a full-screen video and is embedded within a user’s For You feed. The sound automatically plays and allows users to engage (comment, share, like, etc) directly in the feed. These ads aren’t disruptive (great for a user!), but also don’t allow a lot of flexibility for an advertiser.
Advertisers can drive traffic to landing pages or to internal pages (challenges or hashtags).
Brand Takeover
A brand takeover is when an advertiser’s ad appears immediately after a user logs into the app, “taking over” the user’s opening screen. The video is a full screen experience, is between 3-5 seconds and can lead the user to either an internal or external site.
Similar to a YouTube brand takeover, this ad type is much more expensive than the in-feed ad format option.
Branded Hashtag Challenge
Branded hashtag challenges help advertisers maximize engagement with user-generated content. Choose the hashtag, create the challenge and encourage users to join your challenge by adding your hashtag in their post.
“...the branded hashtag challenge is a new and unique way to engage users. It taps into users’ passion for creation and expression by inviting them to join in on a collective movement. Over 50% creators have participated in a hashtag challenge with an average engagement rate of 8.5%, generating huge brand buzz and affinity.” - TikTok Ads
User-generated content typically is unique, shareable and adds the authenticity many brands seek to showcase on social media across channels. Users can participate in the challenge for 6 days and create content based around a certain theme.
To support brands, TikTok released Hashtag Challenge Plus, which allows users to shop for products featured in a Hashtag Challenge without leaving the app’s platform.
Branded Lenses
TikTok Branded lenses are similar to those users (and advertisers) are already familiar with from Snapchat and Instagram. The lenses include face filters, augmented reality filters and motion effects.
Top Views
Similar to a Brand Takeover, a top view ad shows your brand as soon as users open the app. However, this ad format fades into an in-feed video ad and lasts 15 seconds total.
Influencer
Like any social media platform, Tiktok influencers are a powerful tool. There’s a certain level of trust between the Influencers and their communities. Influencers know that their followers will only trust them if they only partner with brands that match their beliefs and values. When deciding which influencers to reach out to, ensure your company’s values match with the influencer’s.
Bidding
There are 4 different bidding methods an advertiser can use to optimize their TikTok campaigns.
CPC (cost-per-click): Pay by click, goal is to drive user to internal or external site
oCPC (optimized cost-per-click): Pay by optimized click, focused on conversions (leads, purchases, app downloads, etc). Can be set up using TikTok’s pixel
CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions): Good for reaching as many users are possible
CPV (cost-per-view): Pay for every 6-second video viewed, 6-second video views serve as the optimization goal
Targeting
Advertisers can target users based on:
Age
Gender
Location
Interests
Advertisers can also build custom lists and lookalikes based off of existing customer lists.
Things to keep in mind
TikTok is a great platform to reach and engage your target audience -- especially since the demographic using the platform is growing to include older audiences. But there are some things you should keep in mind:
Listen to the Music. Pick the right soundtrack to bring your story and your brand to life.
Be Authentic. This is the platform for users to see your brand's creative side and learn more about the people behind the brand. Be true to your brand and your employees. Your audience will appreciate it and engage more readily with your content.
Live a Little. Live a little, and take risks! TikTok is about real people, real videos. The content is authentic and unfiltered. This makes TikTok the perfect testing platform to try content that isn’t refined enough for Instagram or Facebook.
Seen any good TikTok videos? Comment below with which Brands have inspired you!
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