How to Use TikTok for Business

Principles and strategy for promoting promotional videos on TikTok.

How to create viral videos and whether to create at all? Algorithms, promising topics for development and what should be the promotion strategy on the platform.

TikTok has one of the highest engagement rates of any social platform, which means businesses that are featured on the app can get a more engaged audience.

For example, EA Games and L’Oreal, which played at the initial stage of TikTok’s growth, created unique hashtags and videos for this social network, which have already gained many billions of views. And these are just two of many cases.

The key difference of the platform is the need to develop your own marketing strategy: you cannot repost posts or videos from Instagram or Facebook. To promote a company on TikTok, you need unique content that has only one task – to become viral.

TikTok algorithms and popular topics

TikTok studies the user’s preferences by showing him videos of different topics. The application simultaneously analyzes the user’s tastes based on likes and dislikes, as well as what audience your content will have. The videos that get the most likes, shares, and views are shown in the recommended for a long time. The most popular videos on TikTok are videos about sports, dancing, cooking, animals, craftsmanship and creativity, humor, and beauty. Promising options for promotion: storytelling, expert content and edutainment (learning in the form of a game).

How to make a video go viral

Let’s discuss in more detail what qualities a viral video should have and what techniques will allow it to become popular.

Video volume.

There are only a few seconds to get the target audience interested in your video among the millions of others that compete for the attention of users. Try to engage viewers immediately, such as with a colorful headline, a question, an interesting touch, or even a clickbait in the first few seconds of the video.

Video lengths are 15 seconds if it is entertainment content and up to 75 seconds. training or expert format.

Trends.

Important in any social network and TikTok is no exception. Check the Trending tab in the app frequently. If you notice a popular hashtag or challenge, use it as soon as possible before the trend becomes boring for users. Most often it is the first 1-2 days. Trending videos garner huge views as TikTok showcases them as a priority. This is a great way to grab the attention of an audience that might not be interested in your product otherwise.

Creative.

TikTok has become the repository of billions of videos and millions are posted daily. If you want your video to stand out from the rest, it’s important to be as creative as possible. Follow the trends, but make sure you infuse them with your own meaning. Any business has a unique identity and social content, and must constantly demonstrate this. Often the most experimental ideas are the most successful, so don’t hold back on your creativity, especially when it comes to TikTok videos.

What if not creative? TikTok isn’t all about memes and fun dances, many of the most popular videos are about sharing useful or informative content. Recommendations, life hacks, expert and even product content are gaining huge popularity. Your company can make a video that quickly and easily teaches users how to do something, such as how to cook a certain dish or any other skill related to you. First you need to remake your company’s content plan from another social network under TikTok. Analyze what topics your audience is interested in on other platforms and create videos for them.

Hashtags.

Collect a list of popular hashtags in your niche. By using them, you can get new video traffic.

TikTok for business

2020 was a watershed year for businesses on TikTok: last summer, the social network introduced the TikTok for Business vector, bringing together all the promotional tools and offers for companies and marketers to effectively connect with app users. For large companies, there is an opportunity to organize their own challenges with special placement and involvement of popular bloggers.

For example, the car company KIA has added its “Choose KIA” soundtrack to TikTok and its own unique effect (mask). Users are invited to create their own video using them and participate in the drawing of expensive prizes.

TikTok promotion strategy

It is necessary not only to shoot high-quality videos, but also to understand how to sell them. It is important to apply a specific strategy.

Here are the principles of a successful strategy:

Goals.

You need to have specific goals for promoting on TikTok, whether it be finding new customers, growing sales, growing your social media audience, or anything else. A list of goals will allow you to focus and analyze your growth.

Regularity.

Develop a schedule for posting videos that will allow you to retain your audience and interest new users. The optimal number of publications per month is close to 30. Channel promotion requires a lot of time, so you don’t have to start if you don’t plan on qualitative growth.

Budget.

Like any other marketing resource, TikTok has huge opportunities to increase profits, improve the company’s reputation and increase awareness. Be sure that you have determined the necessary budget for its promotion.

Analytics.

You can easily check if your TikTok strategy is right by looking at analytics data on views, interactions, audience of video viewers, traffic sources and video duration.

Pros and Cons: всем ли надо использовать TikTok в маркетинговой стратегии

Of course, TikTok is not for everyone. You need to understand for the solution of what tasks and goals you come here. Here are examples of cases where it gives a good result:

1. The company has a young target audience and a wide GEO;
2. We need a young target audience;
3. It is necessary to improve brand awareness (you can set up good coverage in TikTok);
4. Broad business topics (mass consumption product)

Which companies do not need TikTok:

1. With a narrow theme;
2. With a narrow geography;
3. Without a specific goal “Why does your business need Tik Tok and what do you intend to get”, a strategy and a rubricator;
4. For hype. Can have a negative impact on brand reputation and cause bad, uncontrollable “noise”.