TikTok, a new upcoming social media platform from China, has currently made its footsteps in Western society. The fast-growing social media app is providing a dynamic and easy form of video sharing and is especially popular to a young audience. With the growth in TikTok’s popularity, influencer marketing cannot be left behind. You could therefore consider working with influencers on TikTok or shift as an influencer to this new platform of music video sharing. In this article we will introduce you into the world of TikTok and the opportunities it has to offer to you as an influencer or brand!
TikTok, what is that?
Just like YouTube, TikTok’s most significant feature is sharing videos. TikTok influencer marketing tactics are therefore centred around making and sharing short video content which promotes brands to followers. The original selling point was providing an easy-to-use platform on which users could create and share short videos. The videos contained miming karaoke on consumers favourite music tracks. However, things have changed recently since people are uploading a more extensive range of genres.
How does it work?
TikTok offers a homepage and discover page. The homepage provides an overview of the latest trending videos from popular users. One advantage of this homepage is that new users are immediately revealed to content and therefore do not need to follow creators from the start. The discover page on the other hand, is established to search users and hashtags as well as popular content. TikTok videos last 15 seconds long and users are even able to string them together into a 60-seconds Instagram story-like post.
What types of content do well on TikTok?
Video content on TikTok is mostly focused on entertainment and are generally short. Home-Made videos still perform well on TikTok, but we see a shift to more non-music video content. A lot of these videos are comedic meme sketches, but also contain short skits, fashion and beauty tips, short cuts of sports actions and cooking demonstrations.
Why using TikTok for influencer marketing?
At the moment, TikTok has a mainly young audience. 41% of the users are aged between the 16 and 24. However, the social media app is slowly extending to a broader age category and has a highly engaged user base. It was therefore only a matter of time before companies and brands started using TikTok for influencer marketing purposes. As with all influencer marketing, the key to success is to work with influencers whose followers match your target audience. TikTok provides some marketing tools that could help promote your brand to a specific target audience:
1. Hashtag challenge
TikTok users respond very well to this advertising format. It motivates users to participate on a particular challenge, in which they have to upload a specific video and share it under a hashtag.
An example of a sponsored hashtag challenge ad is fashion brand Guess, which ran a campaign with the #InMyDenim challenge. Guess worked with popular influential creators @ourfire (2.3 million fans), @madison_willow (+983K fans) @jimmincammy (+184K fans), and @operamericano (+380K fans). The video linked to the #InMyDenim challenge has now been viewed more than 36 million times.
2. Brand Takeover Ads
3. In-Feed Native Video
This ad-type supports multiple objectives such as app downloads and website clicks, whereas videos last up to 15 seconds.
4. Branded Lenses
Similar to Snapchats’s AR lenses, TikTok’s 2D and 3D lenses can be live for up to 10 days and being ranked in the top five spots of the ‘Hot’ or ‘Trending’ tab for the first five days. They are interactive, fun and encourage playful moments between users and brands.
Conclusion
TikTok is an exciting social media platform and with ads rolling out since 2019, there are many opportunities to businesses and influencers to generate ROI from this fast-growing social media app. Have you tried TikTok marketing yet? Join is very curious and would love to hear your thoughts!
