Where to begin with TikTok

18 November 2021

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of years, you should be aware of the ever-popular platform TikTok. It may have suffered some controversy over the years but it’s still going strong with no signs of slowing down. The question we’re here to answer is, is TikTok right for business? 

TikTok has been responsible for landing huge contracts, boosting small businesses to success and allowing other businesses to reach entirely new audiences. To discover whether TikTok could work for you, it’s first best to learn about its users. 

Myth: TikTok is for kids

50% of TikTok’s audience is under the age of 34 with 32.5% aged between 10 and 19, however, we can then establish that the other 50% of their audience is over the age of 34, so it’s safe to say that TikTok is not just for kids. So regardless of your target audiences’ age, you can still reach them on TikTok.

Getting to grips with a new platform

A brand new platform to figure out sounds daunting, but the benefit of TikTok is that it doesn’t often reward highly polished content. TikToks are usually always filmed on a mobile phone and present as authentic and relatable. In layman's terms, they’re super easy to film with no pressure on fancy transitions or exotic content.

Businesses all over the world have started to use TikTok as a way to interact with their audience. Even budget airline, Ryan Air, have started using the platform. Ultimately, using the right strategy, most businesses can gain something by using TikTok.

Strategies for success

When it comes to deciding your strategy, there are three types to choose from. However, you do not have to stick with one type of strategy. You can use all three strategies together to showcase a range of content and interact with your audience in multiple ways.

1. User-generated content and partnerships

If technical skills aren’t your strong point or if you don’t have the resources to create your own content, this is the best option for you. User-generated content requires getting influencers on board and asking them to create the content for you. 

If you’re a bigger business, you’re more likely to do well with this strategy as you already have an established audience. Using UGC can allow you to plan and execute videos on a larger scale, use influencers to drive traffic and engagement and ultimately gives your brand a face to relate to.

2. Organic Content

 As you may have noticed from the reuse of popular sounds, TikTok is heavily trend based. This is where organic content is great. Trends are usually created very quickly and this is where you must jump on the bandwagon and execute an intelligent piece of content that joins the trend but also stands out from the crowd. Still, it’s not easy to be super creative and reactive. 

Posting for an outdated trend could lose sentiment within your audience and it may seem like you’re too late to join the party. 

3. Archived Footage

If your brand has a lot of old footage or content, TikTok may be the perfect place to repurpose it. This strategy is where sports brands, in particular, do best. You may have scrolled past many football clips which aim to wow an audience and get them interacting in the comments. 

Manchester United are a great example of how archived footage can produce great results on Tik Tok. They received the fastest growing following of any football club on the platform, reaching over 1 million followers in a short amount of time. Always remember to resize your footage so that it’s optimised for mobile. Resizing allows you to repurpose your old footage whilst eliminating the need to shoot more.

With over 90% of TikTok users visiting the app more than once per day, you can be reassured that your audience is using this platform. Try each of these strategies and see which one works best for you and your business. And remember, it took 200 days for creators to make TikTok, so don’t panic if your first piece of content doesn’t do as well as you would’ve liked. 

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