Two billion downloads, 800 million active users who spend around 52 minutes a day using the app, these numbers certainly lend credence to the view that the world consists of people who have seen TikTok videos and then those who don’t yet know that they have seen a TikTok video.
What’s TikTok?
TikTok is a mobile video-sharing platform where users can shoot and share 15-second videos on the app. This simple concept has led to a virtual explosion of funny, quirky, entertaining, and, in some cases, totally weird content that’s unbelievably addictive.
The app is dominated by Gen Z users between 13 and 22 years, which means there’s very little emphasis on serious or sober content. Instead, it’s all about expressing yourself, having a blast, and gaining fans and a loyal audience base in the process.
A recent update allows users to string together four segments to create a minute-long video but, unlike YouTube or other video sharing sites, less is more on TikTok.
Why TikTok Works
TikTok works because it’s perfect for the fast-moving what’s next obsessed Gen Z generation that thinks fast and forms its conclusions in a span of just eight to ten seconds.
So, while YouTube is filled with professionally created videos and Instagram is dominated by glossy and glammed up photos, TikTok keeps it short, simple, funny, and entertaining.
An Essential Marketing Channel
A social platform that’s very popular among youngsters is a great investment because people won’t automatically move on just because they have grown older. So, TikTok represents a great marketing channel where hard-won loyalty of a young audience can translate into steady returns for decades to come.
TikTok is all about entertainment, which means you can even use your marketing mistakes, gaffes, and failures to attract eyeballs on the platform. Poking fun at yourself is a sure shot route to gain approval among TikTok users, which can help brands that want to shed the sober image and adopt a more fun and relaxed vibe.
Creating a Successful and Viral TikTok Marketing Strategy
Purposefully creating viral content is like trying to purposefully create a masterpiece. It just doesn’t happen that way. You need to focus on the basics and then hope your TikTok video becomes popular.
Keep these points in mind when expanding your social marketing presence to TikTok.
Volume is Key
Presuming it takes ten minutes to create, edit, and finalize a 15-second video and considering there are 800 million active users, you are looking at millions of videos being released on the platform through the day.
Considering this, it is foolish to think that releasing one or two videos a day will be enough to generate traction on the site. Of course, quality matters, but you must focus on high volumes to enjoy faster recognition.
Learn, Learn, and Keep Learning
Every TikTok video, good or bad, is a live tutorial on what you should and should not do to get it right on the platform. Learn from your competitors, influencers, followers, and even random users on how to make better TikTok videos.
Your basic strategy may remain the same but make sure you hop on to popular trends very quickly to ride the wave. One example of trends is the bottle-cap challenge that went viral recently. Or the whole #JCBDigging hashtag that exploded across India for a month before fizzling out.
Unlike other platforms, everything goes on TikTok because nothing lasts too long anyway. That’s how the Gen Z thinks and you should finetune your TikTok strategy accordingly.
#Hashtags—Get it Right
Hashtags are key for a productive TikTok experience. These keywords can help you find interesting videos and learn from them. Further, your audience will probably reach your videos by searching and sifting through hashtags.
So, you need to identify the hashtags that your target audience is likely to subscribe, find a few low-volume options to build up your audience base and then ramp up content to target high-volume high-competition hashtags.
Of course, you need to be on the lookout for newer hashtags too because things are always changing on TikTok.
Monitor Peak Times
What time of the day is your target audience likely to access their apps and check out their preferred hashtags? This is a particularly important question because releasing your videos at the wrong time of the day can leave you invisible to your target audience.
So, analyze your audience, understand what they like and how they access content and focus on releasing quality content in high volumes to extract maximum benefits out of peak engagement times.
Be a Gen Z and Think Bold
The best thing about a TikTok video is that it can be shared on virtually any social platform without any hassles. A compilation can be added to YouTube. A minute-long video won’t look out of place on Insta or Facebook.
Further, you can boost synergies with other sites by choosing to buy FB likes, Insta views, and Insta saves along with TikTok likes and TikTok followers to ramp up numbers, boost your brand’s credibility and get more returns for the time and money invested in deploying the TikTok strategy.
