With new sites and new cultures popping up all the time, it’s getting harder for business owners to keep pace with the users they want to reach. 

The COVID-19 pandemic created an opening for a new social novelty called TikTok. But unlike your typical trend, TikTok doesn't appear to have been a mere passing fancy and, instead, has an enthusiastic and rapidly-growing base of users. Data even shows TikTok to be the fastest-growing social media platform ever and is already the third-largest social network overall with over a billion monthly users. 

In addition to the entertainment value for users, TikTok has created an exciting new opportunity for business owners to connect with their audiences in a unique way. But what does marketing on TikTok entail? And how do you get started? 

Let's dive in.

Why Market Your Business on TikTok? 

Before we get into the thick of it, let's start by answering the question you're probably asking yourself: Why TikTok?

Massive Audience 

TikTok is huge, holding its own even against internet giants like Facebook and Twitter. It's even become the most-visited site on the internet, beating out Google!

Because of the vast amount of traffic being funneled to the platform, business owners who are marketing on TikTok are seeing rapid and significant returns on investment. In fact, TikTok is yielding better ad performance for advertisers than Facebook, meaning that the return on ad spend (ROAS) is greater on TikTok than on Facebook, which previously accounted for the lion's share of the nearly $57 billion spent on social media advertising.

According to metrics, TikTok users skew younger, Giving marketers the ability to reach highly coveted 18-to-34-year-old audiences who tend to ignore traditional advertising. Marketers have to reach young people where they live since this is the most effective way of delivering branded marketing content.

Infrastructure

TikTok knows how valuable its audience is since the platform allows brands to create specialized business accounts. You can combine the benefits of those business accounts with a host of features for both marketer and audience.

TikTok Business Creative Hub 

Brands that have already started to market on TikTok benefit from the platform’s willingness to work with brands, including those that have never used the app before. However, the TikTok Creative Hub was created to make marketing on TikTok easy, providing a source of inspiration for ad copy and marketing content. 

TikTok Shopping  

Social media ads have been successful so far because of a pattern of behavior known as impulse purchasing. Basically, this occurs when the process of making a purchase has been condensed and made very quick and easy for the audience, allowing the individual to buy products or services without significantly interrupting their usage of the platform. This makes cart abandonment far less likely than if a user must jump through a number of hoops—e.g. creating an account—before they’re able to make a purchase.

 As with other social platforms, TikTok users can learn about a company’s products and buy them in seconds with the TikTok shopping function—all without ever needing to leave the app.

TikTok Pro 

Although the name might imply a subscription, TikTok pro is free. The main difference between a regular and pro account is access to analytics, much like a traditional CRM, to tell you how your posts are performing and engaging the community.  

How to Market Your Business on TikTok 

No amount of pro-business infrastructure will help if you can’t reach your audience. However, if you take advantage of the community as well as the services, and by applying some best practices for marketing, you can maximize your return on marketing investment. 

Utilize the Algorithm

The key to TikTok marketing is to go with the flow. This means playing into the existing algorithm the site uses so that users will see your content as they browse instead of needing to actively search for it. 

Your content should also include some type of call-to-action (CTA), such as: 

• Liking a post 
• Sharing a post 
• Commenting 
• Rewatching 
• Watching til the end 
• Engaging with hashtags and captions 
• Searching for your content 
• Finding your content through trending audio 

Note the trending audio option, which is one of the things that makes TikTok unique. If you use those, you can leverage an existing discussion without seeming like an outsider or intruder. 

However, it’s important to match your account and content to the language and location you want to reach. TikTok is an internal application and has even gotten caught up in geopolitics. 

Engage the Audience 

TikTokers seek out content that speaks to what they want. What they want is content that is unpolished, authentic, and genuine. In other words, the exact opposite of traditional, curated content reviewed at every step of the process. 

Luckily there are a few easy ways to do that. 

Meet the Masses 

Branded hashtags and mentioning your business in posts, and encouraging others to do the same, means you can create a much more limited amount of content and rely on native audiences to spread the word. 

If a user creates content on your behalf that you want to highlight, the Duet function makes it easy to respond and show you care. 

A little bit of viral activity makes it easy to generate a large volume of content quickly because you’re outsourcing your marketing to people with a genuine passion for both your work and their community. 

This approach is chaotic, decentralized, unedited, and most of all—effective. 

Interact with Influencers 

Influencers have large audiences that trust them far more than they do traditional advertising. They care more about their peers than they do businesses. 

If you can’t afford or aren’t looking for a large influencer with millions of followers, there are plenty of smaller “micro-influencers” out there. These smaller-scale influencers are more than discount services at discount rates—they feature a high level of engagement with their audiences and often cater to niche interests who are more likely to buy specialized products and services. 

Getting Started With TikTok Marketing 

Now that you know the benefits of TikTok marketing, how do you get there? 

What to Consider 

When creating a TikTok marketing strategy, the first step is to determine the audience you want to reach. 

Because of the app’s user base, you’ll be focusing primarily on Gen Z, which is, in and of itself, a massive consumer base that is too broad to target on its own. 

Instead, you should get granular with the breakdown of your TikTok audience. Consider the following characteristics: 

• Location 
• Age 
• Gender 
• Interests 
• Career 
• Income 
• Relationship status 
• Preferred sites and apps 
• Reason to buy 
• Concerns 

With this information, you’ll be better able to create content that speaks to them. 

It’s equally important to analyze the marketplace that you’re entering. Specifically, take a look at what your competitors are doing and whether they’re ahead of you. Is there a way to make what works for somene else work for you as well? Are there any lessons you could learn with regard to what doesn’t work? 

What to Do 

People go to TikTok to be entertained, not sold. If you can meet that need for entertainment, your audience will have more interest in your brand. 

A few quick tips help integrate into the culture fast and start producing content of the quality and type TikTokers expect and want to see.

Be Authentic 

Authenticity is crucial, particularly when it comes to advertising on social media. But it goes beyond just the videos as you can connect to your audience through comments and live streams. This more candid content tends to be perceived as more authentic as it creates an unrehearsed look at your business and what you have to offer. 

Use Professional Gear 

Although there’s no shame in using your smartphone if that’s all you have, the use of professional gear—everything from cameras to editing software—can really elevate your content. Additionally,, the actual TikTok app provides a number of creative features and tools with which to produce high-quality content more easily and quickly. 

Short and Sweet 

While the ideal length varies, the most successful TikToks are less than a minute long. The idea is to say what you need to say and move on; this allows you to keep pace with audiences’ attention spans and the rapid flow of content that TikTok is built on. 

Keep Up With New Features 

TikTok adds new features and highlights new stars all the time. Knowing them and interacting with them as soon as they emerge can be the difference between being ahead of the curve and behind the times. 

Become a TikTok Marketing Master with Alan + Company 

With all these options and considerations as you begin, you may feel that it’s difficult to get started marketing on TikTok. However, with over a billion active users, marketing on TikTok is a way to increase the reach of your company, especially if you’re intending to target younger demographics. 

Alan & Co is a boutique marketing agency that’s here to help you navigate this challenging new environment. With our assistance, your company can reap the benefits of what is the hottest platform in the digital world. 

Reach out today to learn how we can help you.