With one billion monthly users, it’s hard to ignore the opportunity to market your business on TikTok. It’s the fastest growing social media and entertainment platform and has recently surpassed Google to become the world’s most visited website.
With this in mind, businesses are embracing TikTok as a legitimate marketing channel but often struggle to make an impact and get noticed by their target audience. The short-form, lo-fi video content that initially dominated TikTok didn’t appeal to many businesses as this production style went against the familiar marketing practices that many brands were (and still are) used to.
However, just like the rise of Instagram, TikTok creators are becoming experts in their field, polishing their content to a professional standard and producing high-quality videos with confidence and flair. Viewers still favour authentic, engaging and transparent content but the production standards have been elevated.
This is a vital time for businesses to enter the app and utilise this new wave of content creation to their benefit. TikTok’s demographic now ranges from the ages of 13-60, offering huge potential to grow brand awareness, drive sales and generate revenue for your brand.
In order to implement an effective TikTok marketing strategy, we’ve outlined a selection of proven core guidelines and best practices to give your organic content the best chance to go viral.
Niche and Target Audience
As an established business, you’ll already be well aware of the importance of having a solid market niche. Trying to relate to everyone often means you relate to no-one. By outlining your niche it sets you apart from the masses and speaks directly to your target audience. This applies to TikTok now more than ever due to the extraordinary amount of users on the app. People want to know what they’ll be getting from your content from the outset and you need to train the algorithm to push your videos to the right people.
Your TikTok niche should be a reflection of your brand, with an additional element of engagement to appeal to your followers such as educational value or entertainment. For example, premium cookware manufacturer Le Creuset has successfully attracted Gen Z TikTokers through aspirational product videos and educational cooking content. Le Creuset’s cleverly curated feed exhibits their luxurious brand through simple recipes and useful tutorials, appealing to young audiences in a meaningful and aesthetically pleasing manner.
It’s vital to research your niche and examine the highest performing videos in your industry. Understanding the factors that contribute to viral content such as hooks, structure, length, lighting, location, sound and captions allows any new creator to acquire a strong knowledge of their desired niche so they can put this into practice. Additionally, getting to know the needs, wants, desires and problems of your target audience will define the direction and content of your videos.
Video Styles and Content
The TikTok algorithm rewards accounts that utilise a variety of video styles. In order to keep audiences engaged and excited, it’s important to experiment with diverse methods of short-form content. For example, you can use trending audios to build momentum and direct traffic to your account, talk directly to the camera to engage viewers through interest and intrigue, combine videos with voiceovers for an educational and entertaining effect or utilise text on screen to retain your audiences attention. Successful video lengths on TikTok range from anywhere between 5 seconds and 3 minutes so it’s useful to trial a variety of durations to see what performs best for your business.
Instead of prioritising likes, TikTok focuses on video metrics such as watch time, viewer retention and completion rate. A recent study by Microsoft concluded that the average attention span has dropped to eight seconds. Our concentration periods are getting shorter, but content that is highly relevant or entertaining will always have the ability to hold its audience with the right strategy. For example, ensuring that every video provides substance and value with relevance to your niche, that it has a captivating hook within the first 3 seconds and a call to action within the last 3 seconds. If your business can master these strategies whilst providing valuable, shareable content, your videos have the potential to reach thousands of prospective clients and customers every time you post.
Personalisation and SEO
TikTok is all about personalised, scroll-stopping content. 79% of users watch videos primarily on the ‘For You Page’ as opposed to their follower feed. TikTok has learnt the type of content that each individual wants to watch and offers new posts that they’re likely to enjoy. The goal is to give TikTok the best chance of pushing your content in front of the right audience and this can be done through strategic SEO planning. For example, ensuring that you’re using keywords related to your niche and demographic in every aspect of your video. Speech, text, captions, copy and hashtags all heavily contribute to the discoverability and shareability of your content.
TikTok ended Google’s reign of 15 years as the most used website. This is a wake up call for all businesses that have neglected to see the value in this platform until now. At present, very few hospitality brands have mastered (or even entered) the TikTok space and we’re here to change that.
AXJ is a London-based digital marketing agency dedicated to bringing hospitality brands to life on social. If you're looking to put an impactful TikTok marketing strategy in place, let's start the conversation.
