What brands need to know about TikTok
Where do trends begin, and what is the most popular short-form mobile video entertainment channel? It's TikTok! A new audience was born as a result of its unique position in the media environment. This is a fantastic opportunity for marketers to reach a new audience. But how can you take advantage of this opportunity, and more importantly, what are the traps you must avoid?
Making relevant content for your customers is important as a brand. TikTok's audience was fairly young when it first gained traction in 2020, but the age bracket is now a bit bigger. Extending a brand's social media strategy to include this new channel is a fantastic idea. Multiple campaigns have been successful for brands such as Boni, Colruyt Group, and Colruyt Laagste Prijzen.
Tik Tok Tik Tok, your viral trend is ticking by ⏰
Viral trends are one of the factors that contribute to TikTok's success. They are focused on gaining popularity quickly through content, but they do not guarantee that it will persist for a long time. It's not simple to get on the viral trend bus when making a TikTok for a brand. From concept to final delivery, the creation of a video takes at least two weeks. By that time, the viral trend has passed and a new one had begun. You can still use the viral trend if it's a good fit for your company and will help you achieve your goal. For example, the viral trend on the song Choices (Nope, Yup) where the music answers the questions that pop up on the video would have been perfect for Colruyt Ecoscore. Because it was viral, it is very recognizable for the TikTok generation so you can use a different song and still link the viral trend to the video.
TikTok’s music library 🎵
This brings us to the second challenge. You can't choose any music you want as a brand. Brands are unable to use the TikTok Sounds library due to concerns with copyright material for promotional purposes. As a result, TikTok has also created its own TikTok Commercial Music Library, which includes royalty-free music that have been pre-cleared. The majority of the time, the most popular songs aren't featured there. As a result, your brand will be unable to follow the music trend, thus the difficulty will be to be creative and choose appropriate music.
What you see, is not what you get. You get more! 👀
A TikTok isn't simply a video; it's frequently a video with copy as well. The three words you should always remember for TikTok are "short, enjoyable, and easy." As a brand, you must remember that copy on a TikTok video is not the same as subtitles. It's not like the videos on Facebook or Instagram (exclude the reels). You don't include everything you see on the video in the copy because users will already be aware of it. Your video's copy should complement the video while also adding value to the material.
Just be real 💁🏽♀️
Finally, there's the old adage, "Don't make commercials, make TikToks." This refers to the authenticity of your content. If you want to use TikTok to promote your business, you must think like the TikTok generation and create footage that is as genuine as possible. This is how you can go about doing it:
The quality of your phone is almost just as good as a camera and it’s way easier to film with your phone. Your phone will also immediately shoot in a format that fits the feed and you save time while making it more authentic.
Using influencers for your brand is as authentic as it gets. Ask influencers who are already very active on TikTok for a partnership and let them make content where they use your product/service. It’s important they make the video in their own style and thus they stay authentic to themselves. In Germany and France Advanced Power Solutions nv did it for their batteries and it worked out great.
Errors you can avoid
Quick fixes for your TikTok video ✅
It is quite easy to make a mistake. Mistakes, thankfully, exist to teach us something. Here are some basic improvements you may do if you're utilizing TikTok to promote your business:
- Look for viral hashtags as soon as you post your video online. Is there a relevant hashtag for a certain time period, such as #Xmas22 during the Christmas break? To increase your visibility, include them in your description.
- Don't use the hashtag #ForYou because it's overused. When you click on it, you get a mix of different TikToks, thus it's not relevant to your material.
- When you want to boost your videos, don't use liquor. Because of the platform's age accessibility, TikTok does not support it.
- Don’t use liquor in your videos when you want to boost them. TikTok does not support it because of the age accessibility of the platform.
- Make sure your TikTok profile is not linked to a phone number. The contacts in your phone can be targeted on their ForYou-page with the mention ‘via a contact’. This makes your reporting and audience not reliable.
- If you want to increase interaction, include your question or call to action in the video itself, not just in the description.
You can already avoid these 5 mistakes. Do you want to use TikTok to promote your business but lack the creative ideas, materials, or time to do so?
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