Facebook, Twitter, Instagram— all social media channels and all effective marketing tools. If you’ve been using any of these platforms to market your small business, you’re doing a great job embracing the new age of digital marketing. But now, just when you thought you had a handle on social media marketing, TikTok has gone ahead and thrown its name in the ring. The video platform that grew in popularity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic is now about more than just voiceovers and dance trends. TikTok has now positioned itself as an impactful marketing tool.
Check out our blog, “Understanding Shifting Social Media Trends in the age of COVID-19,” to learn more about how social media moved to the forefront of marketing strategies in 2020.
What is TikTok?
The most important thing to know about TikTok is that it’s currently the fastest-growing social media platform. TikTok allows its users to create short-form videos that can last between 15 seconds and one minute. Popular categories for TikTok video categories include dance, comedy, art, and education.
Here are some important TikTok statistics from Oberlo to keep in mind as you’re thinking of incorporating it into your social marketing strategy:
- TikTok has 689 million users worldwide.
- It took Instagram six years from its launch to gain the same amount of monthly active users that TikTok has achieved in under three years.
- TikTok is the most-downloaded app in the Apple Store, with more than 33 million downloads.
- 62% of TikTok users are between the ages of 10 to 29.
- 90% of all TikTok users access the app on a daily basis.
- Hootsuite shares more TikTok statistics directly related to business marketing:
- TikTok ranks 6th among apps for consumer spending worldwide.
- TikTok ad prices range from $50 to $150,000.
How to Use TikTok in Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
TikTok statistics can be overwhelming to digest, but it’s clear that the platform’s popularity and success is not slowing down any time soon. As a small business, it may be out of your price range to advertise on TikTok, but this certainly doesn’t mean that you should avoid using the platform altogether. TikTok is a great tool to consider using as a way to increase brand awareness.
If your small business is interested in paid advertising, TikTok For Business exists to help guide your creative strategy in a direction that will work for your brand and your budget.
If you’re not quite ready to spend money on TikTok, there are still many ways you can use the app to positively impact your brand. We share five recommendations to get started:
Put together a dedicated TikTok team.
Taking on a completely new social media marketing strategy can be overwhelming, especially when it’s all video-based content, like TikTok. If your small business is serious about adding TikTok marketing to its overall marketing strategy, put in 100% effort. Find existing team members who are interested and willing to explore executing a new campaign. Or, hire new employees who already have experience using TikTok. Whoever takes on the role of ‘TikTok Marketer’ should have basic video editing skills and a clear understanding of what’s successful on the platform.
Focus on authenticity and creativity, not just advertising.
TikTok has a less serious tone than other social media platforms. It’s entirely visual and oftentimes interactive. Don’t create TikTok videos to sell a product or service. Create TikTok videos to communicate the creative position your brand holds in your respective industry and your willingness to reach younger audiences.
Understand your audience.
Ask yourself and your team if your brand makes sense to market on an app that is geared primarily toward a generation under the age of 30. Go on TikTok and see if your competitors or similar brands are creating content. If they’re not, it may be a good time for your business to become the trailblazer in your industry; it may also mean that your product or service isn’t relevant to TikTok audiences. Do your due diligence and really dig into how your presence will be received.
Partner with influencers.
If you don’t have the capacity to build an entire team around TikTok marketing, why not try hiring an experienced influencer to help guide your strategy? It will take a lot of the guesswork out of how to get started and the influencer might already have an established following that would be willing to follow your small business, too!
TikTok with a purpose.
Don’t use TikTok just for the sake of using TikTok. It certainly has proven itself to be one of the most effective social media marketing trends, but not all trends are suitable for your business. Meet with your marketing team and put a strategy in place before you try it out. You might be pleasantly surprised with the results or find that your time and money could be better spent utilizing other digital marketing channels.
Should I use TikTok for my Small Business?
After reviewing relevant TikTok statistics and our specific recommendations for implementing the platform into your social media marketing strategy, do you feel confident that this tool can assist your overall marketing efforts?
Remember to assess your time, budget, and team’s capacity for developing a TikTok strategy and being able to take it on enthusiastically. Become an active user yourself to see what content is presented to you and what works. Assess whether your audience is on TikTok and investigate their posting behavior. Finally, determine whether or not your product or service can be marketed in a creative way through video. At the end of the day, there’s no harm in trying TikTok, as long as you’re aware of the work that goes into it and the potential for industry competition.
If you have questions about how to get started with TikTok or your social media strategy in general, our social media management team can help. Check out our services and get in touch with our agency today!
