Social media is the name of the game for today’s marketing campaigns as it is the hub where brands or businesses can immediately see, share, and connect with potential customers from different parts of the world. Due to social media’s ubiquity, the influencing marketing arena is no longer limited to celebrities and has now moved onto digital influencers that saturate the online marketing landscape.
In many ways, collaborating with these dedicated bloggers and social media influencers are the best avenue for brands to reach people as they offer exposure and act as a bridge to solidify their connection with followers and to a broader demographic range. People tend to trust them more than they trust brands.
One of the biggest platforms that has been stealing the spotlight, especially now during the Covid-19 lockdowns, is TikTok (Douyin in China), a relative newcomer that began as a Musical.ly social media network that boomed in popularity for its user-friendly and fun lipsync videos. After it was acquired by Beijing-based ByteDance, the app became a short-form, video-sharing platform driven by a community of young and creative users from different parts of the globe.
How is TikTok the Next Big Thing for Brands?
In 2018, TikTok surpassed the one billion download mark all over the world, making it one of the most popular apps on Google Play and App Store. As of April 2020 there were over 800 million monthly active users worldwide, producing and consuming engaging content that caters to multiple demographics, from those interested in short comedy skits, dance videos, beauty, sports, food, fashion, and music.
The app is designed to produce quick and snackable bites of content that are highly stimulating, addictive, and ultimately entertaining for the younger generation. TikTok’s video selection garners an estimate of 17 billion monthly average views, while the time users spend on the app is at least 46 minutes per day. To that end, here are different ways your brand can incorporate TikTok into your social media marketing strategy:
1. TikTok for Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is arguably the most common and classic tactic of social media marketing for influencers in partnership with brands. This strategy allows your services or products to be shared to dedicated followers of the influencer, allowing your brand to be seen and stay afloat from the highly saturated market on the social market.
Influencers can create well-designed and planned content that highlights your service or product to promote your brand on TikTok using various stimulating visual content. To implement this, your company will first have to choose the best influencer that would suit the tone and style of your branding, while the influencer will need a set of guidelines, instructions, and requirements required for their content.
It’s essential to note that your choice of influencer is necessary as your brand’s voice should also compliment the influencer’s personality to create a post that is authentic for your consumers.
2. TikTok for Influencers to Host Competitions and Giveaways
If your brand is focused on building awareness and introducing your target market to your product or service, an influencer marketing campaign is one of the ideal ways to reach consumers as influencers can create competitions or giveaways that can promote your brand. This strategy is highly beneficial as consumers love receiving gifts, and giveaways from their favorite influencer.
This guarantees a high success rate and growth for your brand as the influencer can instantly gain followers, likes, shares, retweets, and comments. Followers will typically need to follow a guideline to join the competition, wherein they will have to use specific hashtags, and follow the influencer and your brand, which is a mutually beneficial way to gain more exposure for both parties.
3. TikTok as an Avenue to Share Discount Codes and Affiliate Marketing
If your strategy is focused on converting leads and driving sales, one powerful way to do it is to collaborate with an influencer to build a marketing strategy that is designed to prompt purchases.
This can be done by offering discounts to followers using a unique code for each of participating influencers included in the campaign, which they will need to share through their multiple social media accounts with a strong incentive to encourage followers to buy and ultimately drive sales to your brand.
With TikTok surging to the top of the social media game both inside and outside of China, now is the time to begin engaging with these millions of users. The fun app offers e-commerce options within China and various other offers outside of China to help reach and convert more users. If you are interested in learning more about TikTok, simply contact us using the form here.
