You can go even deeper and start to build customer journey maps, identifying what might motivate a user to buy your product or service, what concerns they might have, and what they might want to know about your business.
Complete A Competitor Audit
As TikTok is becoming so popular, there is plenty of competition with brands already experimenting. So, run a full TikTok competitor audit to help you understand where your brand stands in relation to your competitors.
Look at these other brands to understand how they’re using TikTok and the types of content they’re producing. As your audiences are likely to be similar, you can get an idea of what content is resonating with those users.
However, it’s important to still be unique on TikTok, so make sure you’re not simply copying content you’ve seen completely. TikTok is full of inspiration for new ideas.
Aside from your direct competitors and industry, you can also take inspiration from other content and hashtags that are trending as this is central to how TikToks can go viral.
Look At The Different TikTok Ad Types
As a TikTok business account, you will also have access to TikTok ads. These take different forms on the platform, so it’s a good idea to get to know them.
Running TikTok Paid Ads
With TikTok Ad Manager, creating paid ads for the platform is incredibly easy. Rather than posting content organically, you can set a budget behind a video or photo and have TikTok push it to new users.
This can increase the visibility of your content to new audiences. It’s managed all through the Ad Manager with analytics to track impressions and engagement.
You can also use TikTok Promote to boost your existing content and livestreams, helping your business profile to gain new followers and increase traffic.
Consider Using TikTok Influencers
TikTok influencers are users with engaged audiences and high follower counts compared to the average user.
They can range from micro influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers, up to celebrity influencers on the platform with follower counts in the hundreds of millions.
Working with influencers can be a great way to get your brand in front of new audiences.
As mentioned above, the mid-tier influencers are the accounts that are followed the most. So, working with smaller influencers can be a strong strategy.
Fender has great examples here and here.
When partnering with an influencer, it’s important to choose one that has some overlap with your audience.
There are plenty of tools out there to help match your business profile with suitable influencers, such as HypeAuditor’s free Audit Checker.
Look Into Affiliate Marketing On TikTok
Affiliates are an effective way to get your brand noticed by having multiple users talking about your brand.
While potentially not as authentic as influencers, the discount codes and vouching done by the affiliate can still help convert users into customers.
Create Your TikTok Marketing Calendar
At this point, you should have an idea of who your audience is, what sort of content you’d like to create, which hashtags you want to include, and whether you’d want to experiment using paid ads or partnerships.
You can introduce paid content at any time, but it can also be a great tool to get your profile off the ground.
With the information you have, you can start to map out content creation and posting dates so you can get a full view of your marketing calendar.
By having an organized plan of what needs to be achieved, you can keep up your TikTok content production and post regularly.
As with all social media channels, consistency is key.
Monitor Your Profile’s TikTok Analytics
After you’ve set your strategy in motion, monitor the analytics TikTok provides.
By tracking how your content and profile are performing, you can use this information to start planning how you can refine your TikTok marketing strategy.
This doesn’t mean you need to be reactionary and change everything if the metrics aren’t where you’d like initially. It can take time for new profiles to get going.
What is useful is noting down what content has done well, what content you’ve spotted that could be good for your brand, and where you can make improvements.
These can then be discussed at a review checkpoint when looking at your goals. Then, you can set new goals for your business and continue the process.
6 Examples Of Brands Marketing On TikTok
1. Duolingo
By having an anthropomorphized mascot, Duolingo takes advantage of various trends and audio, using Duo as the star of the video.
Happy Duo and Sad Duo examples.
The online world has also turned Duo into a meme, as the app frequently notifies users about lessons.
This has been parodied into Duo being an intimidating teacher figure, which the brand’s TikTok account then uses to post shareable, user-generated content.
2. Scrub Daddy
Scrub Daddy has a strong brand and a strong following on TikTok, where it posts trend-based content using its product as a substitute for a character.
However, it also has some great examples of educational content around its product and how to use it effectively.
Such as Scrub Hub and how to use them in hot and cold water.
Scrub Daddy has also been quick to jump on trends such as Subtle Foreshadowing.
3. NBA
The NBA has an incredibly successful TikTok profile that features highlights from recent games.
It does a great job at showing the best bits of its product – the matches – to entice more people to watch the full games. Did Anthony Edwards really just do this?
The captions and text that the NBA TikTok account adds to its posts are authentic to the TikTok video format, despite using professionally shot footage.
This makes its content feel more at home on the platform despite not being shot using a phone as the majority of TikTok content is.
4. Crocs
As a cult fashion product, Crocs has quite a following across social media.
The Crocs TikTok account features lots of lo-fi content that feels native to the platform, but it also uses it to feature official collaborations such as Fortnite and Shrek Crocs.
It also leans into timely content and partnerships with influencers like the Rockettes.
5. Chipotle
Mexican chain Chipotle has also grown its TikTok following to a respectable size, too.
One of its favored forms of content is “hack” content, using user-generated content that mixes up popular items from Chipotle’s menu to create new foods.
These usually involve food influencers, such as Logan and Yano, who bring their audience to Chipotle’s profile, which is a great way to grow and reach an established audience.
6. Gucci
Luxury fashion brands are also making full use of TikTok marketing, bringing their business to the platform with their own take on content.
With many celebrities wearing custom articles, as well as others acting as brand ambassadors, Gucci features them heavily within its content.
It can also bring in red-carpet events like the Gladiator II premiere and Olivier Awards to keep its content current and relevant.
It also uses TikTok to showcase behind-the-scenes content from its runway looks, giving more context to the clothes that people have seen, such as deconstructing Sabato De Sarno’s creations.
How TikTok Can Work For Brands
The best way to get started is just to try and experiment to see what works for your brand. Try different formats and see what connects with your audience.
It can take some time to get fully comfortable with the platform, especially if you don’t use it personally, so start by emulating other successful brands and TikToks and then start getting creative with your own ideas.
Depending on the budget available to you, combine organic TikToks with paid content.
Balancing the two with a steady production of high-quality branded content that shows your brand off will help to get traction.
Ultimately, focusing on being authentic, creative, and jumping on trends is the best approach to take for marketing on TikTok.
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