17 TikTok Marketing Strategies:
How TikTok Gained Popularity
While it may seem like this platform shot out of nowhere, its distinctive short-form video format was showing enormous potential as far back as 2012, when the now-defunct platform Vine began to take off. Despite its issue with monetization, Vine successfully tapped into something the younger emerging generation was looking for, and around the same time, the Chinese lip-syncing and dance-oriented video platform Musical.ly exploded too. When mobile app megacompany Bytedance saw the potential gains to be made from the rise in popularity of short-form video, they decided to purchase Musical.ly. Shortly thereafter, they had a major rebrand, and TikTok was born. Bytedane has been an all-out assault on the social media market ever since.
Why Is TikTok Great For Marketing?
With its focus on short, snappy videos, TikTok is the perfect platform for creating content that engages and entertains your target audience. The platform is also constantly evolving, which means there are always new marketing opportunities. What’s more, TikTok has a highly engaged user base, with users spending an average of 89 minutes per day on the app. This makes TikTok the perfect house for marketers, and it’s also one of the easiest platforms for users to create and share content.
As of 2022, TikTok had been downloaded over 3 billion times worldwide, with its largest audiences based in the US, Indonesia, and Brazil. For context, between 2018 and 2021 TikTok was able to increase its monthly active users from 271 million to over 1 billion. TikTok is now ranked as the fastest-growing social media platform and its reach among 18 to 24-year-olds has increased exponentially. In 2021, 37.3 million of its US users belonged to Gen Z, and by 2025 this audience segment is set to grow to 48.8 million.
Is TikTok Effective For Marketing?
Those still doubting TikTok’s marketing potential must consider this: when you take into account TikTok’s usage numbers, you can potentially get your brand in front of 11.2% of all the people in the world through TikTok ads in 2022. Not too shabby for a social media platform that was only launched in 2017. TikTok provides an incredibly powerful way to build brand awareness. Even if users aren’t actively searching for your brand on the platform, they’ll still see your content if it’s relevant to them. This is thanks to TikTok’s algorithm, which learns about users and their interests as they use the app and then tailors their experience to match. Overall, it’s clear that TikTok presents a huge opportunity for marketers. But with great opportunity comes great responsibility, so it’s important to approach your TikTok marketing strategy with care.
Thriving with a Strong TikTok Marketing Strategy
There’s no doubt that TikTok presents a huge opportunity for marketers and brands to reach their target audiences in new, engaging ways. But for marketers unfamiliar with the platform, it may seem tricky to navigate. What works on other social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook, may not translate to TikTok, so it’s important to tailor your content and approach accordingly. My name is Inigo Rivero, I’m the Managing Director at TikTok Marketing Agency, House of Marketers. To help you navigate this new terrain, I’ve put together 17 of the best TikTok marketing strategies you need to know. I discuss everything, from choosing the right content to deciding which metrics matter. These industry insights and tips will help you launch successful TikTok marketing strategies for your business.
The Ultimate 17 TikTok Marketing Strategies
TikTok is a great way to connect with future customers and build super-engaged communities that love your content, and your brand. But with so many tactical options available, it can be tough to know where to start. That’s why we’ve put together this guide on the best TikTok marketing strategies to help you get started.
1. Entertain & Inform When Advertising On TikTok
The key to any successful marketing campaign is creating content that revolves around and resonates with your target audience. And on TikTok, that means creating content that is entertaining and informative. Think about the kind of content that you personally enjoy watching on the app. Chances are, it’s probably intriguing or emotionally provoking, and it’s most likely relatable. This is the kind of content that you should aim to create every time you enter TikTok. It’s all about making your audience feel that modern connection with your brand. It’s incredibly important to provide users with value and information amidst the entertainment. Doing so will help you to establish your brand as a source of quality content and gain the trust of your target audience.
2. Utilise The Best TikTok Influencers & Creators
TikTok is a great platform for influencer marketing. TikTok users are more likely to trust the recommendations of influencers than on Instagram, because of how authentic and relatable 99% of content on the platform feels. Brands have no better connection with their audience, anywhere other than on TikTok. What’s more, influencer marketing on TikTok can be very cost-effective, making it more of an affordable option for many small businesses. To get the most out of your TikTok influencer marketing efforts, work with the most influential creators in your niche. Look for those with engaged followings, who can create high-quality content that’s relevant to your brand. Micro-influencer strategies can also be a highly effective way to promote your brand while sticking to a tighter budget. By working with a wider selection of creators who have a smaller but active base of followers, you’ll be able to reach a highly targeted audience while reducing your ad spend. Inigo Rivero, House of Marketers agency
3. Partner With A Top TikTok Ad Agency
Navigating the world of TikTok can seem daunting, especially when you’re not a platform user yourself. That’s one reason why partnering with a top TikTok ad agency can help take some of the pressure off. What’s more, by working with an experienced team, you’ll waste less time trying to figure out what works on the platform and can focus more on other sides of your business. Also, TikTok agencies offer more flexibility with projects, as opposed to hiring new employees, which you may not require during certain weeks or months. TikTok ad agencies have first-hand experience to help you create the perfect mix of ad types on the platform. They help ensure that your campaign performances are as optimised as possible. But when choosing a TikTok ad agency, it’s important to consider a few elements. This includes their reputation, expertise, and the results they’ve achieved for other clients. We’ll shed more light on this later in the article (after the 17th tip).
4. Scale Quickly With TikTok Ads
TikTok allows smaller businesses to scale their campaigns quickly and effectively. The platform states that increasing your advertising budget does not necessarily mean higher ROI. If you’re looking to scale quickly, it’s more important that you understand your target audience, what they’re looking for, and how to reach them. However, since TikTok’s algorithm will calculate those who are most likely to convert, hyper-segmentation may harm your campaign. Create broader audience categories and let the platform do the work for you.
5. Ensure Your Content Is Fit For TikTok
TikTok is a very different platform from other social media sites. As such, it’s important to ensure that your content is fit for the app. For example, the optimal video length for a video on TikTok is generally considered to be between 21 and 34 seconds. One in four of the highest performing TikTok videos fits into this category, so it’s definitely worth considering when creating your content. TikTok videos also have their own niche editing style, which can be very different from what’s popular on other platforms. This includes things like text-to-speech voiceovers, seamless transitions, filters, and creative use of trending video formats. It means that while some content may be taken from other campaigns and repurposed for TikTok, it’s generally better to create TikTok original content from the start. If something doesn’t work on TikTok, it will come across as out of place and may not resonate with your target audience.
6. Use Spark Ads - They Help Convert More
While all of TikTok’s ad types can be effective in promoting your brand, Spark Ads stand out as an especially efficient choice. This native ad format allows you to leverage your own organic content (or influencer content) to create in-feed advertisements that target your niche audience. Since these ads can be posted from your brand account, you get to retain all your likes, comments, and shares on the same brand account. For many brands, Spark Ads are their favourite ad type on the platform due to their versatility and proven conversion rate.
7. Choose The Right Ad Type For Your Brand
When developing your TikTok marketing strategies consider that there are currently five ad types on TikTok. These are:
TopView Brand Takeover In-Feed Video Ads Branded Effects Branded Hashtags
Within these ad formats, there are many different options to choose from in terms of length, content, and style. The best ad type for your brand will depend on several factors, including your budget, your target audience, and your brand identity. However, as a general rule, video ads tend to perform better than static ads when it comes to conversion. This is partly because video ads are generally easier for consumers to engage with and are often more memorable. It’s also because video ads are designed to be native to the platform, making them more likely to capture the attention of your target audience.
8. Test, Test, Test
As with any social media platform, it’s important to test different content types, ad types, target audiences, and budgets to see what works best for your brand. TikTok provides a lot of creative freedom, so there are many different variables that you can test to see what gets the best results for your campaigns. You could try a range of different content styles, video lengths, and ad types to see what gets you the best results. Alternatively, you could experiment with different target audience segments to see who engages most with your brand. Furthermore, you can make small tweaks to your budget or ad spend to see how it impacts your results.
9. Use TikTok Insights To Optimise Your Campaigns
TikTok provides some in-depth analytics tools that can help you to optimise your campaigns and achieve better results. The platform’s Insights tool lets you see your most popular videos, top followers, and demographic information for your target audience. This can help you to discover what does and doesn’t work in your campaigns. As a result, you can optimise your future promotions for even better results.
10. Carefully Align Your Campaign Objectives
When creating your TikTok marketing strategies, it’s important to balance your campaign objectives with your business objectives. If you’re running an action-based ad campaign, your bidding objectives should be aligned with what you’re trying to achieve with your campaigns. There are seven main bidding objectives on TikTok. These are reach, app installs, app event optimisation (AEO), video views, conversion, catalogue sales, and lead generation. There are also four main bidding strategies available on TikTok. These are Cost per Thousand Views (CPV), Cost per Click (CPC), Cost per Mille/ Thousand Impressions (CPM), and Optimised Cost per Mille/ Thousand Impressions (oCPM). Depending on your campaign objective, you will need to carefully select the right bidding strategy and platform objective, so that you can get the most effective results.
11. Try Using TikTok’s Self-Serve Ad Platform
If you’re running a small business or you’re new to social media advertising, you might want to try using TikTok’s self-serve ad platform. It’s designed for smaller businesses, and it gives you the ability to create and run your own ad campaigns without the need for a TikTok marketing agency. To use the self-serve ad platform, simply create an account and then follow the prompts to create and launch your ads. This is a great way to learn the basics of social media advertising and test out what works best for your brand on TikTok.
12. Set Aside Enough Budget For At Least 50 Conversions
If you’re running an action-based campaign on TikTok, set aside enough budget to get at least 50 conversions, so you can get past the learning phase. TikTok’s algorithms need at least 50 conversions before they can start to optimise your campaigns for results. Once they have 50 conversions, they can better predict who is most likely to convert. The algorithm will then start to show your ads to more people who are like the ones that have already converted.
13. Use TikTok Pixels
TikTok pixels are small pieces of code that you can add to your website to track the visitors who have clicked through an ad on TikTok to get to your site. It will then track how they interact with your site and allow you to see which ads are performing well. By gathering this invaluable data, you’ll be able to discover what kind of customer segment is most likely to perform a specific action on your site, and recalibrate your TikTok ads to target your most promising audience segments. To set up TikTok pixels, simply login to your TikTok Business account and navigate to Library > Website Pixel > Manage. From here, Click ‘Create Pixel’. This will generate the code that you can manually add to your website.
14. Try TikTok Creative Tools
TikTok has a number of different creative tools that you can use to make your ads more engaging and effective. This includes:
Video Templates - TikTok video templates offer a way to easily assemble an ad video using a pre-supplied template. You can upload the assets such as text and images, and then choose the style, and template that you want. It doesn’t just save you time but also allows you to create a professional-looking final product with very little video editing knowledge. Smart Video - TikTok’s Smart Video tool uses AI to analyse your assets (video, images, text) and create a video that best matches the style of your brand. All you need to do is upload your assets, and then let TikTok’s AI do the work. It will even choose appropriate background music for you. Landing Page to Video - This TikTok video creation tool allows you to simply provide your landing page link and then TikTok will automatically take the assets on your page and convert it into a video format.
In a world where people are bombarded with marketing messages every day, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. But what sets TikTok apart is its level of authenticity and genuineness.
15. Authenticity & Vulnerability Are Key
If you want your TikTok ads to be successful, it’s important to focus on authenticity and vulnerability. In a world where people are bombarded with marketing messages every day, it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. But what sets TikTok apart is its level of authenticity and genuineness. People on TikTok respond well to ads that feel real and relatable. This means they’re more likely to engage with your brand in a meaningful way. When creating your ad campaigns, focus on being authentic and vulnerable. Share your brand’s story in a way that is relatable and honest. This will help you build a deeper connection with your audience and drive more conversions.
16. Build A Community with TikTok Business Profile Content
TikTok is more than just an advertising platform. You need to build a community with TikTok business profile content. It’s a powerful social network that allows you to build a community around your brand’s personality. By regularly sharing organic content that your community looks forward to, you can continue expanding your audience. It’s one of the most sustainable and effective ways to win more customers and turn them into advocates who carry your message far and wide, further extending the reach of your brand. Invest in the future, today.
17. Emotion is your Biggest Tool on TikTok
Focus on evoking emotion in people to maximise the impact of your TikTok ads. Because of its short video format and focus on fast engagement, TikTok is the perfect platform for emotionally-charged content. To tap into emotion in your ads. Focus on telling inspiring stories that resonate with your audience. Promote your brand’s values and mission in an emotive way. And focus on creating ads that are visually impactful and memorable.
How To Pick A Top TikTok Agency
1. Pick a TikTok agency that actually focuses on TikTok
There are so many agencies that have added TikTok as an additional service, but they don’t actually specialise in it. You don’t want a jack of all trades when it comes to advertising on TikTok. You want a partner that knows the ins and the outs of the platform, and concentrates on the platform day in, day out. Yes, it can be tempting to have an agency that manages every platform - but when it comes to TikTok, you really need to find specialists in TikTok influencers and TikTok ads. The audience is so different, the way they behave on the app is so different, and the content required is so unique. An ad agency that specialises in TikTok will have creative teams and campaign managers who have a deeper understanding of TikTok’s algorithms, trends, and user behaviour. Their whole team focuses on TikTok every day and therefore has much more of an affinity and understanding of the platform. You want to work with a team that makes your audience feel that true emotional connection with your brand, every day.
2. Work with people that have proven experience in running highly scaled TikTok influencer & TikTok ad campaigns.
It’s important to work with a TikTok marketing agency that has a proven track record of running successful influencer and ad campaigns on TikTok, at scale. When reviewing potential agencies, ask to see case studies of previous work. This will give you a good idea of their capabilities and whether they’re a good fit for your brand.
3. Make sure they’ve worked in your industry before.
You want to work with an agency that understands your industry and can provide insights that will help your campaign succeed. Ask to see case studies of previous work. Ask their account managers about any industry-specific challenges they might have faced. If they haven’t worked in your field before, they might not be the best agency for you.
4. Make sure they can scale globally and have a multi-lingual team.
If you’re planning on running a global campaign, you need to work with an agency that can scale. Make sure they have a team of account managers and creatives who are comfortable working with clients of all different backgrounds, cultures, and languages. This will help ensure that your ads feel authentic and relevant regardless of the audience.
5. Hiring the cheapest TikTok ads management services isn’t always a good idea.
When it comes to choosing an agency, many people take the route of going for the cheapest option. But in reality, you get what you pay for. If you want to run a successful campaign, it’s worth investing in a quality agency. Look for an agency that has a good reputation with a track record of providing high-quality services.
6. Ask them for references or check out their website testimonials.
When you’re considering an agency, ask them for references. This will help you get a better idea of their work ethic and whether they’re a good fit for your brand. You can also check out their website testimonials to see what other clients have said about their services.
7. If you’re targeting Generation Z, make sure they have Generation Z on their team.
If you’re targeting Generation Z on TikTok, work with an agency that has members of Generation Z on its team. They will understand your audience and what appeals to them. They can also provide insights that will help you better engage with this demographic on TikTok.
Your 17 TikTok Marketing Strategies and 7 Tips for Choosing A TikTok Ad Agency
We hope that this article has transformed your understanding of TikTok, and why brands are rapidly transferring their budgets to the platform. We’re in a pivotal period in social media marketing, and we expect the flame that TikTok has lit, to remain for years, and we expect that as their data increases, so will the effectiveness of campaigns on TikTok. Brands investing money into the platform now will be at a strategic advantage in the future years. To get ahead as quickly as possible, we recommend identifying a powerful TikTok Ad Agency that can support your brand’s growth on the platform.
