What you must know about TikTok for business

30-second summary:

• The majority of TikTok users are under the age of 29. So, TikTok is the perfect place if you want to reach Millenials and Gen Zers.
• TikTok allows users to create short videos with filters, voiceovers, soundtracks, and other additional features.
• If you want to promote your business, there are multiple paid advertising options. You can run branded hashtag challenges, brand takeovers, and infeed content ads.
• Influencers are a big deal on TikTok. By partnering with influencers, you can expand your reach and grow your TikTok audience.
• Countries across the world are raising concerns over TikTok’s data and security policies. Therefore, before you start creating a marketing strategy for TikTok, it’s worth checking the local regulations.
• Find out how you can take advantage of TikTok for business.

Early adopters of Instagram demonstrated that if you can find the right strategy to leverage the platform during its initial days, you can easily become the top influencer and monetize your success. So, if you’re looking to stay ahead of the competition, the game of signing up for new social media platforms is worth the candle. Are you thinking of TikTok for business?

If you haven’t already, now is the best time to create a TikTok account for your business. Being the fastest growing social media of the decade, TikTok has around 800 million active monthly users globally. This makes TikTok the seventh most popular social media platform in the world. Given the numbers, it should not come as a surprise that so many businesses are moving their marketing efforts to TikTok. 

So, where do you start your business’ journey on TikTok? This article is a great start! We’ve gathered all the important aspects your business should know about this trendy platform. 

Audience

The first important thing you should know about Tiktok is that it has a very specific audience. The platform is extremely popular among Gen Zers. In fact, 41% of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24. When it comes to gender demographics, 55.4% of TikTok users are male compared to 44.4% of female users. When asked why they like TikTok, platform users say they enjoy watching someone else’s videos, liking content, and following other users. 

Source: Global Web Index 

So, TikTok is a perfect platform for targeting Gen Zers. Keep in mind that Gen Z is a tech-savvy audience that’s unlike other generations. They are not interested in hard sales and are immune to typical marketing campaigns. When marketing to Gen Zers, it’s important to focus on the experiences rather than the benefits of the product. That’s why if you’re primarily targeting Gen Z, your business can’t afford to ignore TikTok.  

Content

Source: TikTok for business 

Another important thing you should consider about TikTok is its unique content format. Often compared to Vine, TikTok is a short-form video platform. It’s not the place for your traditional perfectly polished advertisement campaign. As stated on the official website, TikTok is made for real people to create real videos. 

Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok is a creative and entertainment space rather than a social space for communication. So, a smart way for brands to maximize their influence on TikTok is to understand the content popular within the platform and have their creative teams brainstorm content ideas. 

So, what are the most popular content types on TikTok? Studies show that entertainment, dance, prank, and fitness videos are the most popular within the platform. DIY videos, skincare reviews, makeup tutorials, and fashion videos are beloved by TikTok users as well.  

Source: Statista 

Advertisement options

There are multiple ways you can use TikTok to promote your business. Firstly, you should create a channel to share relevant videos. Yet, if you want to maximize your reach, it’s helpful to use in-app advertising. Let’s take a look at three popular ad types, so you can better understand how to market on TikTok. 

1. Infeed content ads 

Similarly to Snapchat and Instagram story ads, infeed content ads are short videos displayed in the user’s feed in between other content. Infeed ads take the full screen, but users have an option to skip them. So, if you choose to create native ads, they must be engaging enough to grab users’ attention within the first two seconds of the video. 

Here’s an example of an infeed ad on TikTok. 

GIF Source

2. Branded hashtag challenges

Launching a branded hashtag challenge is another way to promote your business on TikTok. In fact, it’s one of the most popular ways to advertise products and business on the platform.

So, what exactly is a branded hashtag challenge? A hashtag challenge is a unique TikTok’s content format where brands ask users to post a certain task using a specific hashtag. When TikTok users see your hashtag challenge, they will be redirected to the main challenge page which includes instructions on how they can participate along with other important details. The most popular branded hashtag challenges make their way to TikTok’s trending page where millions of users can see them. 

Here’s an example of a branded hashtag challenge on TikTok. 

GIF Source

3. Brand takeovers 

A brand takeover is a full-screen ad that appears on users’ devices when they open TikTok for the first time a day. Brand takeovers typically run for three to five seconds and are either videos or images. One great thing about brand takeovers is that you can link them to your TikTok profile, website, or a hashtag challenge page. TikTok allows only one brand to take over a category each day, meaning that your ad will play on a single day only. 

Here’s an example of a brand takeover. 

GIF Source

4. Influencers

Partnering with influencers is another way to promote your business on the platform. Influencers are a big deal on TikTok and businesses are increasingly putting the pedal to the metal and invest in TikTok marketing campaigns. 

If you want to use influencers to promote your business on TikTok, consider starting with micro-influencers. Unlike macro-influencer, micro-influencers have a smaller reach in the range of 1,000-10,000 followers. Even though they have a smaller audience, micro-influencers usually have higher engagement and are, therefore, more likely to help you with conversions.

Potential challenges

Even though TikTok gained enormous popularity over the last few years, governments have raised security concerns about the app. India banned TikTok over security concerns despite the 200 million users in the country. 

The talks around the TikTok ban have escalated fast into reality as countries continue to investigate the potential security threat and the platform’s data and security policies. In the meantime, Tiktok users found a way around the ban using NordVPN and other virtual private networks. Even though the destiny of TikTok in the United States is still up in the air, companies nonetheless continue marketing within the platform. 

The bottom line

TikTok keeps millions of users glued to their screens, and offers unique opportunities for brands to promote their products and go viral by using TikTok for business. By understanding these aspects, you can create relevant marketing content that will resonate with your audience on the platform. Hopefully, now you have a better idea about the addictive scrolling app that Gen Zers are so obsessed with.

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