TikTok is the hottest new platform in social media with over 800 million active users per month.  And contrary to popular belief, it’s not just teenagers who are jumping on this bandwagon! Celebrities and influencers and a growing number of household brand names are all catching on.

The key thing to understand with TikTok marketing is knowing the type of content which resonates with the audience there. 

Unlike other social media channels, TikTok’s culture is rooted in trendsetting. Dance routines may be the most talked-about, but there are in fact trends for almost everything: animals, lip syncs, beauty hacks, fitness workouts, comedy moments, pranks and challenges. These trends don’t have to be complicated; in fact, it is often the simplest concepts which end up being the most successful, such as cats giving humans a high five!

The algorithm for TikTok is kept secret by the owners, but there are a few things which we have figured out, that are worth noting.

Firstly, exposure is based on video views, not the popularity of your profile. When your video is published, it’s served to a small number of TikTok users in between trending videos on their “For You” page. This explains why, when you’re scrolling through, you’ll often see a video that has very few likes.

If your video starts off getting lots of views and likes in this initial rollout, it’s highly likely that it will be fed out to more and more users – and so the momentum builds. 

Rewatches, shares, comments and likes all appear to feed into the TikTok algorithm. This is why nailing the content with relevance will be key to launching a successful Tik Tok marketing campaign.

TikTok has been hugely influential in the music industry, having a clear impact on the download charts. As such, the channel is particularly popular among musicians and artists, helping up and coming talent to reach new audiences and promote their latest releases.

TikTok is also worth looking at for any brand which is embarking on an influencer marketing strategy and beauty brands in particular have had particular success in this area. In addition to organic content marketing, there are a number of paid advertising options on TikTok for brands to explore, including:

• In-Feed Ads

• Top View

• Brand Takeover

• Branded Hashtag Challenge

At Onstory, we can advise you on what social media strategy would work best for your particular brand, which may be any combination of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube or TikTok – plus some other up and coming channels. There are opportunities on all of these platforms to maximise organic content exposure. Please get in touch to find out more!

Photo by andreas kretschmer