TikTok: How to do marketing on this social network

You have probably heard about TikTok, a rapidly expanding social network, being especially used in Asian countries, such as Japan, China, and Korea, among others. Launched in 2016, its focus is on acting as an app for iOS and Android. In the past, the app was called Musical.ly, and even in China, the network is known as Douyin.

Taking advantage of the rise of this new platform, several businesses are already looking for how to do marketing on this social network. To help you, we’ve brought the top tips you need to know to get started right away and power it to boost sales. Let’s go!

Meet the TikTok Audience

First, it’s important to recognize that TikTok’s focus is on short, Vines-like videos. Most of them have a more comical nature, however, several influencers already work on the social network to promote various products, such as makeup kits, etc.

According to demographics collected in 2019 about the platform, TikTok is now available in 154 countries and has over 500 million active users. By comparison, that’s already half of Instagram’s user base, which has 1 billion unique monthly hits.

Also, it’s important to recognize that TikTok’s audience tends to be younger. On the platform, about 66% of users are under the age of 30, most of which are teenagers or people in the age group of college students. Even so, hashtags like #MomLife, #WorkingMom, or #MomOfThree have their impact on the social network, indicating that the audience is not exclusively young.

Understand the available feeds

TikTok has two types of feeds, the first being Following, which displays new posts from users you follow on the social network, while the second is the feed For You. This feed presents recommendations from the social network according to your interactions and the characteristics of your user profile.

Therefore, to do marketing on TikTok, it is necessary to work with content targeted to your target audience, gain followers, and make your videos appear in the For You feed in an organic way.

User preferences are built based on the people they follow, interaction with each type of content, and also taking into account which hashtags are used and information contained in the video captions. Therefore, making good use of hashtags in publications is important to increase your chances of success on the social network.

Available videos format and live streaming

Those looking to market on TikTok will likely want to stick to the most popular video format on the social network: vertical videos, typically 15 seconds or less, but no more than 60 seconds. Therefore, there is little time to transmit your message, which means that people looking to do marketing have to be very creative.

Also, all videos on TikTok automatically loop and this is a feature that can be used to give a feeling of “infinite play”, depending on your strategy.

In addition, it is important to mention that starting at 1000 followers, you also gain access to the possibility of doing live broadcasts – a feature already available on Facebook and Instagram, for example. When you start a live on the social network, all your followers are notified through the feed and with an alert displayed at the top of the screen. These users can also share your live for their own followers to discover.

Now an important note: when your live ends, the video is deleted forever – not available for users to watch later. Additionally, people can buy virtual gifts during the broadcast, which serves as a form of monetization similar to live streaming on YouTube.

These gifts are available in a wide range of values, from $0.50 to over $50 USD, and can be converted to real money, where TikTok separates its own fee.

How to have a verified account on TikTok

To have your account verified on TikTok, as with other social networks such as Twitter, the blue seal of Instagram, and Facebook, it will be necessary to do a good job. First, it is important to mention that this process takes place after verification by the platform itself, that is, there is not necessarily a way to request such verification.

There are essentially three criteria for this:

1. The user is extremely popular on TikTok, and produces several impactful videos on the social network;
2. The user is already someone famous, as is the case of actors, musicians, and other public figures, quickly identified by the platform;
3. The user was chosen by the TikTok team for being someone who needs verification (to avoid plagiarism or fake profiles), or for being someone who is immensely dedicated to producing content and publishing it on the platform.

So essentially you need to do a great job on the platform and wait until you get recognized and earn your verified profile brand.

Ways to do marketing on TikTok

There are essentially two main ways of marketing on TikTok, the first being through the production of your own content and the second through influencers. As we mentioned, there are already several influencers available on the social network and, with that, you can pay them to promote your products to an already built follower base.

To do this, you will need to find influencers who have a compatible audience, which can vary greatly depending on your niche market. In fact, doing this is also a good way to bring followers to your own profile.

In the other option, you can build your own profile to gain your own followers and start creating videos for your base. But be aware, considering TikTok’s demographics, content made purposefully for sale may not be the best choice, so try to add value and showcase your products or services in action rather than simply advertising them through videos.

Ads tool on TikTok

At the time of writing this content, TikTok is still just in the experimental phase with its ad tool. That’s why we didn’t mention this alternative among the methods of doing marketing on the social network, as is already possible on Facebook and to make money on Instagram.

However, knowing that the social network is already exploring these approaches, it is to be hoped that it will not be long before an ad platform becomes available on TikTok. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t make money on social media. Check out our complete guide on how to make money on TikTok and you will see tons of opportunities to grow your business.

To follow everything about the development of the ads platform on TikTok, visit the official page through this link.

So, ready to do marketing on TikTok?

Take advantage of this information, create your social network account by accessing the page and start investing today. Use the rise of TikTok as a power-up to have a popular profile, create content or invest in influencers, and good luck promoting your products!