TikTok boasts 150 million U.S. customers as of March 2023, and by 2025, worldwide customers are projected to exceed 955 million. The typical U.S. grownup will spend 58.4 minutes on TikTok in 2024, in keeping with Insider Intelligence.
In brief, there’s an viewers ready to seek out you — and it’s a hefty one. All it’s a must to do is know learn how to get and maintain their consideration in 6 seconds or much less.
The excellent news is, there’s room for everybody so long as you perceive what customers are in search of once they open the app and get inventive about how your model can present it.
The opposite excellent news: Dancing isn’t required (however it’s allowed).
I’ve been reporting on social media platforms and constructing model social accounts for greater than a decade, and through the years I’ve assembled a chat for faculty programs and conferences that gives insights into why folks use TikTok, how manufacturers and people can present up and why they need to be there within the first place. Beneath are among the classes I’ve realized and shared alongside the way in which.
Why folks use TikTok
Your goal as a model is to develop fascinating, entertaining, visually charming, humorous, well timed, community-focused content material that makes them really feel linked and shakes them from the anxiousness and monotony of their each day lives in brief, swipeable, shareable video kind. (However you don’t need to do all of these issues directly.)
TikTok’s 2023 What’s Subsequent Pattern Report is an annual treasure trove of ideas for manufacturers testing the waters or aiming to amp up their recreation. TikTok additionally desires creators and model accounts to succeed as a result of all that content material will get extra customers onto the platform and fascinating with it—and types usually tend to spend there. The report says that individuals come to the platform and have interaction with its content material for 3 causes:
- Actionable leisure: “4 out of 5 TikTok customers stated the platform may be very or extraordinarily entertaining. … For manufacturers, the best messages on TikTok are uplifting, humorous and personalised, or entertaining their audiences.”
- Making house for pleasure: “Amongst TikTok customers who took an motion off-platform on account of TikTok, 90% stated the platform makes them completely happy and by no means will get boring. … messaging on TikTok — and past — ought to align with the neighborhood’s need for levity, and empower them to make extra room for pleasure of their lives.”
- Neighborhood-built beliefs: “Sharing hyper-niche pursuits helps folks bond with one another. From there, they broaden one another’s horizons. … TikTok is 1.8x extra more likely to introduce folks to new matters they didn’t know they preferred in comparison with conventional social platforms.”
What to do (and never do) with that info
A model’s greatest likelihood to realize virality, and even constant efficiency, is to watch how model corresponding to Oreo, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Turner Basic Films, The Washington Publish and Gymshark play the sport. You’ll be aware that all of them do the next:
- Embrace your area of interest. Determine your core worth proposition and what your subcommunity involves the app for — and marry the 2. TikTok is “a group of tiny golf equipment the place folks can discover new concepts on learn how to discover their passions and reside their lives,” in keeping with the What’s Subsequent Report. Begin conversations related to the viewers that shares passions and values together with your model.
- Pare down your message in order that your video is as brief as attainable. Trending sounds and memes might help with that.
- Be looking out for surprising alternatives — and react to them promptly and appropriately. In case your model is related to a viral second, be able to sew, duet, reply and riff.
- Reply, reply, reply. Reply to different manufacturers and viral movies from creators to get extra eyes in your content material. The platform rewards frequent engagement with communities, and customers (normally) like it. Nonetheless, ensure that your model belongs within the dialog earlier than continuing.
- Participation in tendencies should be considerate, genuine and well timed. The content material should align together with your present viewers and never seem pressured. Belief is earned over time and should be revered.
- Ship worth. Don’t promote issues; inform folks issues they need to know or entertain them with relatable content material. The content material ought to present worth in and of itself, with out an expectation of a purchase order.
- Be inclusive and type. TikTok doesn’t tolerate haters, and in the event you’re unkind or specific bias or stereotypes, your model might go viral for causes you don’t like. Inclusion additionally means ensuring your closed and open captioning recreation is on level.
- Nail the hook. Customers will determine throughout the first 3-5 seconds whether or not to remain or swipe away. Seize consideration as quickly as attainable within the video. Consider your opening actions, on-screen textual content or spoken sentence as a headline — or put eye-catching textual content on display to maintain folks watching.
- Be inventive. Play with trending filters, sounds and enhancing strategies. BUT, don’t fear an excessive amount of about high quality. Selfie explainer movies might be simply as highly effective as absolutely produced brief movies, if not moreso.
- Leverage humor. A humorous video has a superb likelihood of reaching many individuals.
- Experiment with themes, matters and types. Check out many several types of content material till you strike viral gold, then lean into what works.
- Construct significant creator connections. Creators are prepared and keen to collaborate, and it doesn’t take a creator with 1 million followers (and even 100,000) to assist a model join with a related viewers.
- Reply to information and present occasions that impression your model. TikTok movies get most of their views within the first 24-48 hours and are unlikely to be served to folks after per week or so has handed, so well timed content material generally is a good approach to get views.
- Don’t be afraid to take dangers. Be daring! Strive issues that make you (and your boss) uncomfy. Tread fastidiously when making the authorized workforce uncomfy, nonetheless.
And eventually: Overlook every part I’ve instructed you and break all of those guidelines. There are none. Go make TikToks, and have enjoyable with it.
Don’t miss PR Day by day’s 2023 Social Media Methods Digital Convention to study extra techniques for cracking the code of essentially the most influential platforms in the present day.
Jess Zafarris is a content material director, editor, journalist, speaker, social media engagement strategist and creator. Her 13 years of expertise in media have included such roles because the Director of Content material at Ragan Communications, Viewers Engagement Director at Adweek, and Content material Technique Director and Digital Content material Director for Author’s Digest and Script Magazine. Observe her on Twitter/Threads/IG and Tiktok @jesszafaris and join together with her on LinkedIn.
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