Can You Integrate TikTok in Your Current Digital Marketing Strategy?
Don’t sleep on TikTok! The latest app to capture the public’s undivided interest is proving to be a versatile platform. Not only is it a source of entertainment, but it is also an affordable and accessible tool for digital marketing.
Like any mainstream app or website that shows potential for marketing, TikTok first attracted marketers’ attention with its impressive user growth. It overtook Instagram as the most downloaded app of 2018 (663 million vs. 444 million). While its first users were Gen Z’ers, it soon became clear that people of all ages have become fond of its features.
What Is TikTok?
For the unfamiliar, TikTok was formerly Musical.ly, the app that made personalized karaoke videos a hit among teens. ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, later bought Musical.ly and integrated it into their app. Today, TikTok has become the world’s fastest-growing app with over 1.5 billion downloads near the end of 2019. The appeal to marketers is now undeniable.
Many users still upload fun, karaoke videos of their favorite songs, but now we also have a mix of short dance videos, six-second party-tricks, and goofballing with funky music on the background. Challenges, some fun and hilarious, some dangerous (and dumb), are also popular on the app.
How do you use TikTok?
- Download the app.
- Create an account and channel.
- Choose your video effects and music.
- Record your video.
It’s that easy. Users don’t even need to set up massive, expensive productions to make viral-worthy videos. It’s therefore possible for brands from non-mainstream industries to use the app for digital marketing; all they need is lots of humor and creativity.
Are You and TikTok a Match?
Tiktok users have proven that with clever, out-of-the-box ideas, anyone can draw audiences on TikTok. So it’s not a question of whether an industry can fit in with pop culture. Rather, it’s about how creative and authentic a company can get with its marketing.
TikTok Works: How Famous Brands Used TikTok for Marketing
Chipotle is an excellent example of how brands can use TikTok for online marketing. As a restaurant chain, it could have gone the usual route of producing delectable videos of its menu. Its marketing team diverged from convention, however, and instead issued the #GuacDance and Flip the Lid challenges on TikTok. The risk paid off: the restaurant chain served over 802,000 guacamole sides the day they published the #GuacDance challenge, and Chipotle is now one of the most successful brands to have benefited from the viral marketing power of TikTok.
Other brands that found success on the platform include the NBA (the organization uploads funny and inspirational videos featuring various basketball players), The Washington Post (the publication sheds its “professional and serious” image a little bit and publishes funny and relatable behind-the-scenes videos of its staff), Guess (the first high-fashion company to run a successful product awareness campaign on the app), and the San Diego Zoo (animals are the stars of its channel, sometimes dancing to pop songs, other times just being their usual adorable selves).
Personable and Relatable
Viral brands and influencers on TikTok have different styles, but they have one thing in common: they banked on relatable humor. TikTok gives companies and organizations an opportunity to reveal their human side and show the relatable aspects of their brand. Humor connects them with their audiences, and that 6, 15, or 60-second connection is where trust and loyalty can come from.
Explore TikTok’s features, and find out what makes your target audiences tick. You can come up with creative video ideas from there; and if you think you need more help, Waypoint Creative can give you a hand. We are a Digital Marketing and Creative Agency that serve entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profit organizations. We offer complete SEO services, market research, and long-term strategy and plan development.
Give us a shout out today and let’s talk about integrating TikTok in your digital marketing plan.