Now, it’s no news that as of 2022, TikTok became the most downloaded social media app across the globe. And where there are people, there are opportunities to promote your business! So, in a sequence of the natural order, plenty of businesses are now trying to get themselves noticed among the billions of videos and seize the opportunity of becoming visible on TikTok. And while there are plenty of ways to do it, influencer marketing seems like the most viable option for this exact app.
Keep on reading to learn more about creating a strategy for your TikTok influencer marketing campaigns that deliver and all the groundwork leading up to it.
And the first thing on our agenda is:
What Is TikTok?
Since you’ve opened this article, chances are, you already know what TikTok is, but for those unsure, here’s an explanation. TikTok is a short-form video-sharing platform that allows its users to create videos no longer than three minutes in duration and share the content with their followers. However, there’s one catch – TikTok is especially known for its participatory aspects, meaning that the users of the app aren’t just consumers of content but also creators. Which, naturally, makes the app so much more fun and immersive to use.
How Does TikTok Work?
Okay, now we know that TikTok is all about short-format video, but we haven’t talked about how the videos can be set to music or original audio creations and made much more eye-catching by using filters, special effects, and editing tools that are all within the app.
As for whom your content TikTok’s algorithm chooses to show, there are, of course, some variables – the hashtags you use, your location, music snips, and even the TikToks you yourself liked months ago. Same as with the algorithms of other social media platforms, TikTok also shows its users the content they most interact with or are most likely to. Meaning that liking, commenting, and engaging with content makes it all the more visible and puts it on the road to possibly becoming trending.
Who Uses TikTok?
Hoping to reach millennials and Gen Z’ers? Well then, TikTok is your best choice since 81% of the app’s users are under the age of 39, and 63% are under 29. So, if that’s your target demographic, your best bet to find them is definitely TikTok. That said, the app isn’t limited to those two demographics; remember – it’s a wildly popular app with users across every age demographic.
How Do Brands Promote On TikTok?
TikTok’s got you here – the app provides a variety of ways to reach new audiences. So, here are the avenues that are available for business promotions:
- Top view ads – while a bit intrusive, they are a great way to get yourself seen. The top view ads show up at the top of a user’s feed when they first open the app. These full-screen videos can be up to sixty seconds long, include audio, and are played automatically without the user having to click on them.
- In-feed ads – a user can find them in their feed while scrolling through the ‘For You’ page. The in-feed ads are usually cheaper than top-view ads. However, it is much easier for a user to scroll past them without even taking a look.
- Branded hashtag ads – now that’s where you can harness the power of TikTok challenges! Branded hashtag ads allow you to create ‘hashtag challenges’ where users or influencers can create their own content based on your brief and the specific hashtag you’ve created. Other users are then able to search for this hashtag or click on it to see all the content that has been created under it.
- Branded effects ads – that’s a unique video effect that you yourself can create. Users then can use your special effect further promote your brand.
- Brand takeover ads – the most premium of what you can get in the app. Brand takeover ads are displayed immediately after a user opens the app, taking up the entire screen for a few seconds. This ad guarantees that the user will see at least a couple of seconds of the ad before the view switching to the video feed.
Get Creative
You know the importance of a thorough briefing; everyone has to be completely on board before the start of a campaign. That being said, you have to trust your creator (that’s why you hired them, after all) and don’t control their creative process too much. It’s best to give them a chance to learn all there is about your business, outline the do’s and the don’ts, and trust their work.
Here are some ideas of what you could include in your creative brief:
- Ask your influencers to unleash their creativity – the more fun and quirky the video is, the more likely it will become trending.
- Include popular trends – whether it’s an effect or a song, trending stuff always allows you to be more visible.
- Ask them to bring your products to life. Now, this might sound a bit cryptic but think of it this way – your products in everyday situations, but on steroids.
- Focus on catchiness – this way, the users are more likely to watch the video in its entirety.
- Don’t forget that branding should always be clearly visible!
- Do not include any other branded imagery in your videos – it’s both distracting and needs special permissions, so better not bother with it all.
How To Find And Choose The Right Influencers For Your Brand
Choosing the right influencer isn’t rocket science, but it’s definitely an art. However, you can easily master it with these nine steps we’ve outlined in one of our earlier articles, or you could choose to leave this work to Agenic. Working with us, all you have to do is to answer a couple of questions, and we will choose the most suitable influencer for you. Easy breezy!
However, if you’re a person who likes to do it all by yourself, TikTok has a page dedicated to highlighting the platform creators called Creator Marketplace where you can search for the perfect candidates yourself.
Still, there’s one more way to find the creators you’d like to work with, and that is investing some time into the platform, keeping an eye on the trends, and following emerging creators. However, this is definitely a time-consuming practice.
Creating An Effective Collaboration
As with any campaign, including influencers and/or social media, you need to set some things clear for the collaboration to work effectively. Those things are:
- Clear marketing goals – setting clear goals and communicating them to your influencer is always an important first step to creating an effective partnership. Whatever your marketing goals are (conversions, brand awareness, etc.), make sure they are clearly defined and that your creators are on board with them.
- Understand your target audience – understanding your audience is a vital part of any marketing campaign, and TikTok is no different. And demographics aren’t the only thing you should be aware of, as audience interests and desires play just as important a part in knowing how to communicate with them.
- Brand and influencer alignment – this is about your brand and your creator’s brand being a match made in heaven. Say you sell cosmetics but took a liking for an influencer who’s all about cars. Now, you can be sure that their followers will also be interested in cars and not so likely in beauty products. So, although the said influencer flaunts amazing stats and you are tempted to collaborate with them, your message might get lost with their audience.
Measuring Success
Let’s say you did all the steps above and launched your TikTok influencer marketing campaign, and now it is time to measure your success. Same as with any other social media platform, there are several benchmarks that you can use to define the campaign’s success, including metrics like:
- Engagement rate – the more your videos get likes, comments, or any other forms of engagement, the more likely they will be shown to other people, too. So, if you’d like to go viral with your videos, engagement rate is an important metric to take note of.
- Conversion rate – if your TikTok ads have links leading to a product or a landing page, the conversion rate is an important metric to keep an eye on.
- Shares – true, shares belong to the engagement rates group, but they also should be counted separately. With each share, your video’s view will grow exponentially, and a high number of shares should be one of the priority goals of any TikTok marketing campaign.
Takeaway Note
TikTok is a place where trends happen seemingly overnight, and creativity is a highly celebrated trait. It’s also a platform with over a billion active users, so if you’re hoping for big crowds, TikTok is a prime spot for that.
Since almost all of the platform’s content is led by its users and popular creators, a collaboration with one of them might be the most lucrative way to promote your business. And it is absolutely doable!
So, create your strategy, choose your creators, and off you go.
P.S.: or you could just leave all the manual work for the Agenic influencer marketing platform and smooth-sail through your campaign.
