TikTok is the latest and most popular social media channel amongst youngsters. It has registered an explosive growth in a very short time. Since it is so popular and has over 2 billion users it’s a big mistake for the digital marketers to ignore TikTok for Business Marketing.
TikTok is a site for short videos like the Vine or Periscope used to be. But, the reason for the mass popularity of this channel is its ease of use, filters, technology, etc.
All of these make it popular amongst youngsters.
It is based in China but its users are across the world. It is gaining popularity in the U.S. and other first world countries quite rapidly.
Though it still lacks the universal appeal of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. But, the trends indicate that it would soon be universally accepted like Facebook and Twitter.
Why You Should Use TikTok for Business Marketing?
There are various reasons which justify the use of TikTok for Business Marketing:
- Currently, short videos are the hottest trends in social media and TikTok is all about short videos. In the short video segment, TikTok is directly competing with Instagram and other video hosting sites.
- It is important to note that TikTok has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times and in a way outperform Instagram and other video sites. Most of the users of TikTok are based in the Asian region but the platform is growing quickly in other countries as well which includes, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Russian Federation, etc.
- TikTok offers many interesting advertising options that are more targeted and cheaper than Facebook, Google, Instagram, and other networks. So, advertisers and brands can get better ROI if they use TikTok for Business Marketing.
- If millennials are the target audience of your business then using Tiktok for Business Marketing makes sense. It would give your business an edge you’re your competitors who haven’t yet discovered the potential of TikTok for Business Marketing.
- Brands that want to cultivate a youthful and hip image can benefit immensely if they use TikTok for Business Marketing. Brands into fashion, food, travel, fitness, health, beauty, cars, sports bikes, etc., can leverage TikTok as a great marketing tool.
- You can drive huge traffic on your website if you want to use TikTok for Business Marketing.
- TikTok like Instagram is a mobile app, so it’s ideal for reaching the ever-expanding people (youth) who prefer to access content on smartphones and tablets.
Features of TikTok which Make it Right Platform for Business Marketing
Tiktok is growing very fast and becoming quite popular among youngsters. Recently it started attracting brands and companies to advertise and engage with their audience. There are many features in TikTok which makes it a perfect platform for business marketing.
Posting Videos
TikTok allows videos of up to 15 seconds each. But, it also facilitates to join four videos together and make it up to 60 seconds. 60 seconds is enough to convey a brand message and attract the audience.
But, if you want to post longer videos like product feature videos which are more than 60 seconds longer TikTok might not be the appropriate platform.
However, for creating visibility, introducing your brand and products to a wider audience the platform is perfect.
Youngsters value creativity, humor, and spontaneity than formal and serious approach, hence you should keep in mind to make your videos which are creative and appealing. You can also use the filters to create more dramatic effects in your videos on TikTok.
Live Streaming on TikTok
TikTok also like Youtube and many other video streaming platforms offers live streaming of videos. Live streaming is the best way to engage with your audience if you have something to communicate and which requires more than 60 minutes’ time.
Tell your audience beforehand when you are going to live stream and what are you going to talk about in your live streaming video. This way your audience would connect with you in real-time.
They may ask questions, offer suggestions, etc., during the live stream.
On TikTok, you can do all of the important marketing activities like creating awareness, promote your brand, promote your product and services, answer to your customer’s questions, engage with them in real-time, know about your audience, gaze their sentiments, etc.
Influencer Marketing on TikTok
There are people who have a good number of followers on TikTok. These young people can become an influencer to promote your brand and products on TikTok among their followers.
TikTok is connected with another very popular app which is Musical.ly and it is very popular amongst the people who love to create music videos or love to listen and watch new music videos created by the creators there.
Even if as a brand you are not involved in music video production you can use TikTok with some who are already popular on the platform for a shoutout about your brand.
Advertising on TikTok
Advertising on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn is becoming expensive day by day and many businesses are finding it a challenge to deal with the stiff competition on these platforms. But, now TikTok offers another great place to advertise and reach your target audience.
Globally, TikTok has over 600 million active users and the number is growing rapidly. The best part is that it is less crowded with ads than Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Instagram, so you as an advertiser have a fair chance of getting noticed and driving your audience to your website with the right call to action.
Advertising on TikTok is, however, not cheap, but it is effective than the Facebook advertisement as the advertisers report to have to get better ROI from TikTok than Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter ads. TikTok requires you to spend a minimum of $500 on a campaign.
If you think you can spend that kind of money you have a solid opportunity ahead of you to advertise on TikTok and reach a new audience you have never engaged with on Facebook and Google Ad platforms.
Many major brands are trying to establish their presence on TikTok, hence it is the right time for you to make your presence on TikTok as well. Obviously, you don’t want to be left behind and miss the opportunity to engage with your audience.
Similar to Facebook, TikTok allows you to target your ads to the audience based on demographics such as gender, age, and location.
Types of Ads Available on TikTok
TikTok offers various types of ad placement options to advertisers. Some of the TikTok Advertisement options are as follows:
- Native Ads / in-feed Ads: These ads appear in the user’s feeds when they scroll through the content on their wall. This is exactly like the Facebook in-feed ads you see on your Facebook wall while you scroll through your wall posts. These ads can be linked to a call to action button which can take the users to your website or any other place you want.
- Hashtag Challenges: This is like twitter’s trends of hashtags. But in this type of advertising, the advertisers entice the users to enter the competition and post videos with the hashtags the advertiser wants. This hashtag could be your brand name, product name or anything you want. This is kind of an interactive and engaging advertising model which the youngsters like very much. Brands who have done this type of advertisement on TikTok have high engagement and visibility on the platform.
- Other Ads: TikTok has started to offer advertising on its platform recently, so it has only very few advertising options. But, as it grows there will more advertising options available.
The Potential of TikTok for Business Marketing
Majority of the TikTok users are youngsters under the age of 30 years. And it has started to catch up in the western countries in terms of popularity recently. Whereas, it is already quite popular in China and other Asian countries. Hence, if your audiences are youngsters you should consider using this platform if your brand is into youth-oriented niches.
Besides the market research, sentiment gazing, spotting the trends, generating user-generated content to promote your brand, increase your brand visibility and reach, and expanding your target market, this platform can give you many other opportunities to engage with your audience and convert them into customers.
Conclusion
TikTok with its rapid growth is sure to become the most popular platform in the coming years. Many brands are already creatively using the platform to broadcast their messages on TikTok. It’s definitely a mistake as a brand to ignore this platform if your audiences are youth. At least you should keep an eye on this and add it to your social media marketing strategy when you think is right.
