TikTok: It might become the next major social media platform for advertising. TikTok is set to dominate 2020, as it ranks #1 among the top 15 free apps in the App Store with huge worldwide popularity. TikTok will show you content you enjoy. When you post your own video, this platform will make you feel valued online, and rightfully so.

A Brief Background of TikTok

TikTok is a video-sharing social media platform created by Zhang Yiming, launched in 2012. As it grew and entered new markets, TikTok is now accessible in over 150 regions and available in 75 languages. India stands out as the top country with 119.3 million users. TikTok experienced rapid growth in early 2018, achieving over 104 million downloads from the Apple App Store (according to data from Sensor Tower provided to CNBC). TikTok outperformed Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to become the most downloaded iOS app worldwide during that time.

What makes TikTok special? What do we know about Tik-Tok?

TikTok is an endless source of entertainment. When I first downloaded and opened Tik-Tok, it started showing me a customized stream of hilarious videos. I didn’t understand why people were going so crazy in recreating videos of different genres, based on various sound clips from movies and other pop culture events.

As a novice to Tik Tok, I thought only young kids or teenagers were making videos using the pre-built templates within the app. To my surprise, I learned that the user base includes everyone from tweens to the elderly. Armed with this information, now I can see a big change in consumer habits especially when it comes to social media.

By providing editing tools, music clips, sound effects, filters, and more features for the users to use in their videos, TikTok developers have made it incredibly easy to make a high-quality short video clip. To the uninformed, it may seem like just a lip-syncing video app for teens, but it’s much more than that.

If you haven’t used the app before, here’s a quick crash course with some of the most popular TikTok videos from last year.

When asked if he thinks TikTok should be paying him per stream on the app, Lil Nas X responded with, “Oh, no, no. I should maybe be paying TikTok. They really boosted the song. It was getting to the point that it was almost stagnant. When TikTok hit it, almost every day since that, the streams have been up. I credit them a lot.”

That’s cool… So how do I promote my TikTok videos?

Launch a hashtag challenge:

One way to promote your business on TikTok is by launching a hashtag challenge. One of the simplest ways to engage your audience/fans is by creating/recreating a small clip of your video content and tagging it with the brand-specific hashtag that the business has chosen. For example, the brand Guess was one of the first companies to launch a hashtag challenge.

GUESS launched the first-ever fashion takeover on TikTok with #InMyDenim campaign, which encouraged users to flaunt their GUESS denim in a creative way.

Creating Fun Content:

One of the best ideas to create fun content is to hold a giveaway or contest– who doesn’t love gifts? I have seen a few companies who got resounding success by running a giveaway/contest. However, I have seen many failures, too. So you should know your goals and target audience.

TikTok target audience can be categorized using various parameters like the devices used, demographics, social media usage, and geographic locations. For example, if we have data of the most-used devices, on average how many hours users are spending on which social media platform, what age group would be the best to share the giveaway with, we can grow audience and expand reach on TikTok.

For goals, you should know what kind of contest you want to run, the details and the prize that would grab the attention of your target audience.

Anti-Marketing Marketing: Millennials generally don’t like advertising. 51% of them now use ad-blockers when browsing. Read more here.

Post-behind-the-scenes clips: To get the interest of the audience, there should be small video clips of how a particular video is made. By doing this we can expect more engagement on those videos. Posting behind-the-scenes videos of the business activity would let the audience know the unique glimpse of the ideas, fun, and the process of how to make perfect TikTok videos. It will also let them know that nobody is perfect at the first shot.

Influencers

Of course, like other social channels, influencers are rampant on TikTok and can help promote your campaign to millions of their followers. Authenticity and determining the piece of content that they are posting are both critical factors when picking an influencer. GUESS, Google, and other brands that have utilized TikTok have all used influencers to help spread their challenge or hashtag campaign. However, choosing the right influencer and allowing them to create content that suits their brand is critical.

One more thing to consider is the “TikTok ad format.”

According to this article, many influencers have been given the chance to use tools for shoppable in-feed ads to make the platform a more lucrative way to drive social e-commerce.

So…How Do You Get Started?

Alright! All of this is good to know but how do you get started? Download the app, create an account, spend at least half an hour browsing through videos to see how people are using the platform and create your first video. Experiment, get a feel of the app. It will take a lot of time to get used to. But most importantly, start to develop a presence on the app because advertisers are focusing on this video format.

Rather than trying to start a campaign out of nowhere, create a community around your product/service/brand and that way, when you are all set, and when you decide on making a push on the platform, you will already have a base with which you can start. As I encourage with any app, get creative, experiment, play around, and have fun!