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How to Market on TikTok: Discover the Power of Smart TikTok Strategy with this Guide

If you are yet to start marketing your products on TikTok, then it is high time to take the big step. According to Forbes, TikTok has been rated the fastest-growing social media platform in recent times, with a ground-breaking record of over 1 billion users within four years of its launch.

Unlike other social media channels like Facebook, which took about eight years to reach this number, TikTok has proved to be one of the leading platforms in the marketing industry. This is one of the reasons why you need an effective TikTok growth service to present your business to your target audience.

In addition to its growth, it was termed the first non-game app to generate(synonym) about $10 billion in consumer spending in Google and Apple Play Store. This article will provide a detailed guide on TikTok marketing and how to develop a smart marketing plan for your brand in 2024.

TikTok marketing strategy: Overview

This refers to processes involved in strategically understanding your audience and creating content that resonates with them, which will help push your business to more people. 

Here, you ought to identify your target demographics, analyze trending content, and engage in different forms of TikTok marketing. Leveraging influencers and user-generated content, amongst others, can help increase your brand reach. 

How to market on TikTok

Due to the nature of this platform, you need to understand properly how marketing works and how different it is from other social media like Facebook and Instagram. 

The dynamic nature of TikTok offers a unique platform for businesses and brand owners to get on board and leverage the features available to create captivating videos, promote their brand, and build a future. 

1. Create a professional account

A TikTok business account is a great way to ensure your brand gets the visibility it deserves. TikTok business account has many features that are considered beneficial to your business. 

So, before you get started with marketing on this platform, the first task is to create a professional business account, and here’s how to do that.

  1. Download the TikTok app on your mobile device
  2. Open the app and tap on the ‘Me’ icon in the bottom right corner to go to your profile
  3. Click on the three dots in the top right corner.
  4. Choose ‘Manage Account’
  5. Select ‘Switch to Business Account’
  6. Enter your business category, and provide your contact details and other needed info.
  7. Verify your account via email or phone number. 

Congratulations! If you just follow these steps, you will be ready to get started promoting your business on TT. 

2. Define your brand audience

As we all know, TikTok is mostly popular amongst the younger generation, popularly known as Gen Z, but that’s not the only category of people you can reach. Recently, there has been another demographic called Gen Alpha who are referred to as future consumers on the platform. 

To define your brand audience, you have to outline the people who are more likely to relate to and engage with your content. Simply put, here are certain things to look out for;

  • Location: Where do the majority of your customers live? You could start by finding out their country of residence, but getting to know their specific geographical location is best, especially if you intend to serve a specific area. 
  • Sex: Is your audience mostly male? Or is it female-dominated? If your product is gender-based, then you must answer these questions.
  • Age range: Are you targeting young people? Middle-aged or elderly? Most times, it’s advisable to keep this age range as broad as possible in order not to miss exceptional customers who are interested in what your brand offers. 
  • Economic class: Depending on the type of product you offer, quality, and usage, you can categorize people based on their income level. If you sell high-consuming products, then your audience is more likely to gear towards people who can spend more money on premium products. 
  • Likes/Dislikes: What are they passionate about? What pricks their interest? Knowing this will help you create better content on things they like, such as yoga, traveling, cooking, etc.
  • Status: The relationship status of your audience might matter especially if you are into the wedding industry or if you are into selling family products. 
  • Reason to buy: What drives their buying decisions? Do they prefer to make a purchase based on quality or quantity? 

3. Create short yet catchy videos

When it comes to creating TikTok videos, it’s all about capturing attention quickly and keeping your audience engaged. Humans tend to have low attention spans, but the first few seconds of a TikTok video determine how long a viewer stays on a video.

Here are things to look out for:

Grab attention early

Always start your video with something attention-grabbing in the first few seconds. Whether it is a unique dance move, an interesting prop, or a quick hook, make sure to hook your viewers right from the start.

Show your personality

Let your personality shine through your videos. Whether you’re funny, bold, or informative, let it show through your videos as authenticity resonates with viewers and can help you build a loyal following.

Keep it short and sweet

Most videos on this platform have a maximum length of 60 seconds, as shorter videos often perform better. Aim to convey your message or story concisely and engagingly within a given time.

4. Create a visually appealing content

TikTok editing is the key to visually appealing and interesting video content, and luckily, this app provides a range of editing tools to help enhance your TikTok presence on the platform. Here, you can cut, trim, and merge clips to create a seamless video flow. Adding effects like filters, stickers, and text overlays can make your video more eye-catching. 

Learn to experiment with transitions to create smooth scene changes, and utilize TikTok’s music library to add the perfect soundtrack to your videos. Also, ensure you pay close attention to video quality and lighting, as this gives your marketing videos an overall polished look. 

5. Participate in trends

Participating in trending challenges, using popular sounds, and adding viral dances to your marketing videos can help boost your visibility. When you start aligning your brand with relevant trends, you tend to reach a wider audience.

You can also connect with TikTok users who are actively following the trends and who may be interested in what your brand offers. Therefore, ensure you keep an eye on the ‘For You’ page to stay updated with trends that make your brand stand out.

6. Know when to run TikTok Ads

When it comes to Ads, consider peak usage times on the platform, typically in the evenings and weekends when users are most active. Also, align your Ad schedule with your target audiences, their behavior, and time zones to ensure optimal reach. 

Following other TikTok marketing examples will help you stand out. In addition, keep an eye on trending topics and events that enhance the relevance of your TikTok Ads. Test different time slots and days to know the one that works best for your target audience, and you’ll be on your way to bringing your brand to a global audience.

Benefits of a Business account

1. It allows you access to analytics

Accessing analytics provides valuable insights into your account’s performance, helping you understand your audience better. With the help of TikTok analytics, you can track metrics like views, likes, shares, and follower growth. This data allows you to access the effectiveness of your content and marketing plans, enabling you to make informed decisions to optimize your online presence. 

2. Ability to run TikTok Ads more effectively

Running Ads is a powerful tool to boost visibility and reach a larger audience. By utilizing the Ad tool, you can create various Ad formats, such as in-feed Ads, branded hashtags, and effects. This ad can be tailored to your marketing goals and target specific demographics, increasing the chances of reaching potential customers effectively. 

3. Effective engagement with your audience

Engaging with your audience on this platform is like having a heart-to-heart chat with your followers. It’s all about connecting with them, responding to comments, asking questions, and creating interactive content that keeps them active. With a business account, you track metrics like likes and shares, which in turn helps you discover what your audience likes. 

Understanding TikTok promotion strategy

Aside from knowing what your audience wants and creating branded videos to align with their needs, you can skyrocket your marketing process by engaging in different types of marketing promotion strategies. These include UGC, influencer marketing, native marketing, etc. 

User-generated content

This refers to the type of content where users of a particular brand generate content using a product purchased. UGC on TT has a huge impact on marketing as it brings into light a more relatable form of marketing. These videos could be in the form of reviews, challenges, or tutorials on how to use the products by the buyers themselves. 

In 2022, about 39% of users on TikTok acclaimed to have found a variety of products and brands they had no idea of before, and 47% said they were prompted to purchase because they saw the product on TikTok. 

Here are 5 benefits of UGC:

  • Build trust and engagement
  • Authenticity
  • Broader reach
  • Showcases creativity
  • Cost-effective

Influencer marketing

TikTok influencer marketing is another TikTok marketing strategy that directly puts your brand in a highly influential audience belonging to someone who serves as special proof. 

One major advantage of this type of TikTok marketing strategy is that the audience tends to trust your brand because the influencer has already built trust with his/her audience. 

Firstly,

  • Research on influencers to see who resonates more with your brand voice and core values, and reach out to them via direct messaging. 
  • Gift your brand products to TikTok influencers as a way of showing commitment to the partnership. Most times, the influencer is prompted to create more content with the gifted items from your brand.
  • Partner with them on a video and have these reposted on both their accounts and yours. This way, TikTok users who happen to find this content online are more enthusiastic to engage after seeing their favorite influencer using your product. 
  • Collaborate with them to launch a product line if you are thinking of expanding or just starting your business. This helps to create more visibility for the new product line, and before you know it, you have surpassed your sales target.

Native marketing

This involves seamlessly integrating branded content into the platform in a way that seems natural and fits the overall user experience. 

It may include blending your brand’s message with the organic content on TT, making it feel like a natural part of the video without disrupting the user experience. Native marketing has proven to show authenticity, relevance, and engagement to brands. 

Hashtag Challenge

With the hashtag challenge, you can create specific challenges or themes related to your brand and encourage users to participate with a special hashtag. 

Over time, this strategy has boosted engagement, increased brand awareness, and reached broader audiences. It appears to be a rather fun and interactive way of connecting with your audience in a creative light.

Why Choose TikTok for marketing?

Below are some of the reasons why you should choose TikTok over other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

  1. Every content has a high chance of gaining visibility within a stipulated time
  2. Users tend to buy what they ‘see,’ and TT is a famous video-based platform.
  3. TikTok gives room for user-to-user engagement through videos, sharing, and gifting.
  4. Brands enjoy a high level of visibility, with over a billion users on TikTok.
  5. TikTok features such as influencer marketing, targeted Ads, and creator mode makes it easier to effectively market your products. 

Wrapping Up

Now is the best time to hop on TikTok and create a unique marketing strategy for your brand. Even with the ever-changing algorithm, TT still maintains the best platform to market your brand.

So, if you’re looking to showcase your brand to the world, then you need to leverage this platform for maximum visibility. Simply by embracing your creativity, showing consistency, and actively engaging in different modes of TikTok marketing, this platform can help you take your business from local to global.