TikTok is the emerging social platform, where users can create short videos for their followers. With the vast majority of TikTok users being highly-engaged Generation Z and Millennials, brands can instantly connect with the next generation of consumers through the app. In September 2019, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the world with 60 million installs according to data from SensorTower, and 800 million users worldwide in 2020.
Now, TikTok is open for business. Recently announcing to advertisers their introduction of “TikTok For Business”, which will serve as the home for all its current and future marketing solutions for brands.
The suite of tools that businesses can now access through the portal include TopView, Brand Takeover, In-Feed Videos, Hashtag Challenges and Branded Effects. If you’re wondering how you could use them to market your business to your audience, then look no further. We’re here to give you the ultimate guide to using these brand-new features, to ensure that your business is fully optimising the benefits that come with them!
Is My Brand The Right Fit For TikTok?
You don’t even need to sign up for a TikTok account to be able to view the most current and popular videos happening on the app, many of which are branded. It’s so easy to do a quick search to see what kind of content is attracting wide audiences, and you’ll quickly be able to tell if your brand could fit into the culture well.
Perhaps a clever step to make would be to use some social listening in order to react to content that is already being made about your brand, or things relating to your brand. By employing social listening, you’ll be able to track hashtags and mentions to engage with your audience and react and respond in the comment section.
Brand Takeover
Generally, TikTok serves its users with posts from fellow users when they initially open the app, however Brand Takeovers force users to be served with branded content in the first few seconds of clicking into the app. Brand Takeovers are useful for promoting branded hashtag challenges within, and although arguably slightly intrusive to the user, they are given the option to click out of the ad whenever they wish.
In 2018 popular fashion brand, Guess wanted to promote their Fall’18 Denim Fit Collection. Their campaign aimed to present a confident and adventurous brand image, whilst driving awareness to the back-to-school shopping season for millennials and Gen Z consumers. Guess launched a Brand Takeover to increase awareness of the challenge campaign. They also released videos from popular influencers of the app to demo the idea. Letting content creators do their work, the dramatic yet easy-to-imitate video stories instantly garnered enormous attention and inspired 1,629 user-generated videos. Over the week long campaign period, #InMyDenim gained over 5,550 user-generated videos, 10.5 million video views, 14.3% engagement rate and over 12,000 additional followers for Guess’ TikTok account.
Hashtag Challenges
Hashtag challenges are one of TikTok’s signature offerings for businesses looking to use the platform to increase their engagement and brand awareness. Hashtag challenge campaigns encourage users to share their own individual takes on the challenges posed by different brands and has proven to be an effective way to create user-generated content and build strong consumer relationships.
Healthy snack company, Kind, launched a three-week Hashtag Challenge back in October 2019, to promote its new Simple Crunch Bar range. The concept was simple, users were encouraged to post TikTok’s emphasising the bar’s crunch using the hashtag #KindSimpleCrunchContest. The TikTok user who gained the most plays received a free trip to New York and a year’s supply of Kind Simple Crunch Bars. To promote the contest, Kind worked with popular TikTok influencers, garnering millions of followers collectively, to share their own videos for the contest and encouraging their followers to get involved. It’s fair to say that with the help from influencers, Kind’s contest gained a lot of traction and brand awareness.
In-Feed Videos
Similarly to Instagram, users can browse through content and see what others are posting. In-feed videos consist of native videos which appear whilst users explore posted content, they can be viewed in full screen and include music in the background, creating an immersive experience for the user for the 15 second video. This kind of advertising is perfect to gain exposure and encourage calls to action, as there is a CTA section which redirects people towards a specific website page or hashtag challenge.
TopView
Topview is a brand new video-based ad format that presents the brand when the app opens, thereby reaching a wider audience. TopView has the same effect as a Brand Takeover, except videos such as In-Feed Videos can be used as advertising material. First global tests yield better results and could significantly increase video views and engagement.
Branded Effects
Branded Effects allow brands to insert themselves more directly into the content creation experience. The effects allow a brand or product to be added to a video in a 2D, 3D or AR format in either the foreground or background of the video. These can also be combined with Hashtag Challenges to boost engagement with a brand.
What Kind Of Audience Can I Reach?
60% of US TikTok users are aged between 16-24, according to a 2019 Reuters report. However, MarketingCharts TikTok data found that over 50% of TikTok users in the US are aged between 18-34, with an almost even split between 18-24 year olds and 25-34 year olds. Interestingly though, it’s important to note that a quarter of US TikTok users are aged 45-64. Therefore, it’s important to note that TikTok’s appeal is not limited to the younger generation, and you shouldn’t be so quick to rule it out of your digital marketing approach so quickly!
What Will It Cost?
When advertising using TikTok for Business, a minimum budget is required when setting both lifetime budgets and daily budgets, in order to ensure a continuous delivery of your ad. For campaigns, daily budgets and total budgets must exceed $50. For ad groups, daily budgets must exceed $20. Lifetime budgets are calculated as the minimum daily budget ($20) × scheduled days. While the initial expenditure of running ads may seem costly, it’s important to keep in mind your main goals and objectives; from increased brand awareness and site traffic, to higher conversion rates and increase in brand loyalty. If you’re prepared to invest some cash (suited to your budget) into online advertising, you’re bound to reap the benefits.
If you’re looking to boost your digital presence with an all-encompassing digital marketing strategy, the team at Colehouse can offer you a bespoke service that focuses on your businesses main goals and objectives. Get in touch to book a free, no obligation consultation to find out how we can best help you!
