Image credit: Kon Karampelas, Unsplash
Last updated November 1st, 2021.
So you’ve downloaded TikTok. What’s next?
TikTok is best known as the home for short dance, lip-sync, comedy and talent videos, so content creation for your brand is going to look a lot different here compared to other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The best performing TikToks are a twist on an existing trend, easy to replicate, or are just a bit of fun – like Chipotle’s singing chip crowd.
Search trending songs, sounds and hashtags
Unlike Instagram Stories where adding a song is just a way to get creative with your video, songs and sounds are like hashtags on TikTok – it’s another way to get discovered. Find trending sounds and hashtags on the Discover feed and then get creative with how you use them in your videos.
Sydney-based candy artisan Sticky Lollies jumped onto the trending hashtags #satisfying (40 billion views) and #oddlysatisfying (11 billion views) with videos showing how their candy is made – it really is oddly satisfying! The team are now posting regular videos to an audience of 2 million followers.
Trending songs on TikTok aren’t always the latest track by a popular artist. It could be a song that’s been around for years but is trending because it’s been used as part of a duet or challenge that’s going viral. Use a trending song in your video to appear in more #ForYou feeds or get discovered in Sounds. When a user scrolls through and taps on a trending sound, every video that’s been created using that sound will show up – including yours!
In our blog Why your brand should be on TikTok, we talked about how e.l.f. cosmetics commissioned iLL Wayno to create an original track for a TikTok Challenge. That hashtag now has 6 billion views!
Photographer and TikTok user @everylastsecond used this song and hashtag in a video about a Glue Store and Champion collaboration and has 604K views and 175K likes on the video with only 2K followers.
In true TikTok style, someone even did a remix of the song and spread the word further.
Collaborate with relevant influencers
You’ll find TikTok’s top creators on Creator Marketplace, so you can search and partner with TikTok influencers whose audience, location and creative style suit your next campaign. You’ll be able to see audience demographics, campaign views and engagement rates on this platform.
There are new trends on TikTok every day, and it’s TikTok’s top creators who are the best at staying in the loop with what’s happening on the platform. With 74 million followers, 16-year-old dancer Charli D’Amelio is one to watch out for!
Apparel brand Aerie teamed up with Charli, who was decked out in an Aerie sweatshirt and leggings, to launch the #AerieRealPositivity challenge. In the two weeks after the challenge went live, Aerie gained 17,400 followers and 6,600 videos were posted with the challenge hashtag with more than 1.3 billion views.
Create ads that feel authentic
With 800 million active users and an advertising platform that’s just emerging, you have the potential to reach a broad audience with less competition, and create advertising that feels more real. Don’t recycle ad ideas or polished videos you’ve used on other platforms – TikTok’s mantra is ‘Don’t make ads, make TikToks’.
TikTok is offering $300 and $2000 USD ad credits for new brands and small businesses advertising on the platform. Get in touch with us to learn more about advertising on the platform and applying these credits to your account.
Brand Takeover
You’ve got their full attention with this ad type! This full-screen video ad auto-plays as soon as a user opens TikTok, so your target audience will see your ad (a three-second branded image or up to 5 seconds of video) before they even get to their #ForYou feed. This is the ultimate ad for mass brand awareness and reach, especially because only one advertiser can take over a category each day. You can drive people to a landing page or to learn more about your hashtag challenge.
TopView
In a similar way, you can also take over a user’s screen with TopView, but it doesn’t bombard the user as soon as they open the screen. Videos in their #ForYou feed autoplay when they open the app and then three seconds in your ad (up to 60 seconds with sound) will pop up. It’s important here to create an ad that can transition from what a user may already be watching – a cat video or a dance duet – so that they aren’t put off by the ad.
In-Feed
This is the ad type you’re probably already familiar with, because the ad shows up while a user is tapping through and watching videos in a similar way to Instagram Stories. The difference is that people can like, comment, share, or even shoot a video with the same music, which takes ad interaction to a whole new level. They can also tap away from the ad, so you will need to grab their attention within the very first second. You can use a call to action, but it doesn’t have to be ‘shop now’. Direct users to a landing page, or like Adobe, encourage users to download an app.
Branded Effects
Shareable stickers, filters and special effects are another chance for you to get creative and engage users in a fresh way. Branded effects can spread awareness globally in a way that crosses language divides. Create 2D, 3D and Augmented Reality face filters and animated effects that people can use in their own video creations – and spread the word about your brand, product or hashtag challenge while they’re at it!
Hashtag challenge
Invite users to create content around a campaign theme with a popular song or original sound and a hashtag. Anyone can put out a challenge on TikTok, but a branded hashtag challenge has its own official landing page on the app and you can promote the challenge further with a banner for 3–6 days at the top of the Discovery page.
What an opportunity to engage with your fans and attract new followers in a way that goes beyond likes and clicks! You can go even further with Hashtag Challenge Plus where users can shop for products related to the branded hashtag challenge without leaving the app.
Guess launched the #InMyDenim challenge, calling for users to show off how they style their denim – ‘Transform your outfit from a mess to best-dressed! All you need is denim!’
Guess posted videos with Bebe Rexh’s song ‘I’m a Mess’, launched a Brand Takeover ad, and partnered with four influencers. By the end of the 6-day campaign #InMyDenim had 5,550 user generated videos, more than 10 million video views and attracted 12,000 additional followers.
Conclusion
There are so many creative ways to get noticed on TikTok and trends on the platform change every day. If learning a whole new platform and re-thinking the way you create content feels a little overwhelming, take a lesson from the Australian Reptile Park. They post videos of doing everyday things around the reptile park – well, for them. It’s not every day you see a tortoise chomping on a sweet potato!
With 4 million views, it shows that it’s not always the quirky or hilarious videos that are wildly popular. On TikTok, all people want is for brands to be themselves.
