Did you know TiKTok is the fastest growing social media platform of all time? According to the Digital Marketing Institute, it has grown faster than Facebook and twice as fast as Instagram since its inception. Yet only 4% of U.S. social media marketers use the platform.
Why aren’t more marketers jumping in?
There’s a misconception that TikTok is for teenagers. Yes, that’s where the initial rapid growth took place but now, as with previous platforms, its user base is broadening. For example, 54-year old celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey has amassed 23.3 million followers on TikTok.
Check out this distribution of users in the United States as of March 2021.
Source: www.statista.com/statistics/1095186/tiktok-us-users-age/
How can you make TikTok work for your brand?
TikTok is all about short-form mobile video entertainment. If you’re not already on the platform, have a look at TikTok’s top 100 from 2020 to get an idea of what attracts eyeballs and gets shared. Here are four key ways marketers can start building a buzz…
- TikTok ads: As with other major social media platforms, you can run highly targeted ads by creating custom audiences and look-alike audiences to reach people who are similar to your customers. TikTok provides some creative best practices on their Business Help Center. Check out this blogpost from Shutterstock with 5 Examples Of Inspirational TikTok Ads.
- Branded channel: If you post content that clicks with your audience, the sky’s the limit for organic reach. For reference, have a look at the Top 10 Best Brands On TikTok.
- Influencer marketing: TikTok was seemingly built to connect influencers with marketers. In fact, they have developed a Creator Marketplace that makes it easy to match your brand with top talent.
- Branded hashtag challenge: These became huge during the pandemic. For the uninitiated, a hashtag challenge involves inviting users to post a video of themselves performing a certain task under a specific hashtag such as #tumbleweedchallenge.
Although not as popular as Facebook or Instagram, TikTok is still growing and there are fewer ads with which you will be competing. Perhaps that’s why TikTok ads have much higher engagement rates. Just remember, TikTok is a unique platform where success walks hand-in-hand with your ability to create fresh, entertaining and sharable short videos.
