If you’re on the fence about creating a social media marketing strategy for your TikTok profile, don’t be. We’re here to persuade you, to convince you that doing so would only benefit your brand, business, or influencer status.
Why are we so confident? Because the power of a positive TikTok presence can jet-set you into a new world of popularity. With the right strategies, you can easily create captivating user-generated content and drive a plethora of engagement with your TikTok account and other social media platforms.
How do you get started? By reading through our carefully thought-out TikTok marketing strategy outlined below. With help from sites like Influensly, we were able to gather and provide very useful information to all our readers with the intention of improving their current tactics.
We hope this intel proves useful to you and that you can use it to expand your reach across every target audience you’re currently working with.
What is TikTok Marketing?
To effectively understand the direction of your TikTok marketing strategy, you must first comprehend the process’s definition.
Simply put, it’s using content to promote your brand, products, or services. To do this, you need to film a short-form video, make the necessary edits, and post it on your TikTok business account. Make sure the recordings spark interest in your audience so that you reap the engagement benefits.
As a side note, you can also take advantage of the beneficial aspects of influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, traditional in-app advertising, and participation in creating viral organic content. A well-thought-out TikTok marketing strategy has a healthy mix of all of these.
What is TikTok Influencer Marketing?
We didn’t want to leave you “in the dust” on the two specific forms of marketing we mentioned in our last paragraph, so we decided it was best to give you a little guidance before proceeding.
The difference between regular and influencer marketing can be seen; in the influencer subdivision, you need a partnering business or creator to promote your brand. A connection is made, a business arrangement is signed, and payment is exchanged between the parties.
A good example is a pots and pans business requesting a foodie influencer to use their brand while cooking a delicious dinner meal. Seeing the pot/pan in action brings buyers to the business, and the foodie influencer gets paid a cut of the profit.
What is TikTok Affiliate Marketing?
In influencer marketing, you can call the shots and redirect your efforts if needed. The same does not apply to affiliate marketing. This form of advertisement is much more serious and official.
Have you ever scrolled across TikTok videos on the For You Page that says in the caption something like “Use the code Karissa20 to access 20% off of this blazer”? That’s a key example, showcasing the brand advertising a sale through a specific partnered user. That’s affiliate marketing in a nutshell, and can be beneficial to certain businesses across the board.
How does it work, though? You choose from one of three options, listed as follows:
- The Shop Plan is straightforward; you must set a flat commission rate for all your products.
- The Open Plan: More complex; requires you, the business, to set a different commission rate on different products.
- The Targeted Plan: Completely custom; you must invite specific creators to promote particular products.
If you’d like more information on affiliate marketing, please visit this link to get started.
How to Get Started with Marketing on the TikTok App
We’re almost at the point where we dish out practical tips to get your TikTok marketing strategy underway. But first, we need to make sure you can retail merchandise items for purchase. After all, if you have a TikTok business account, your marketing efforts will go very far.
To gain access to your free business account, follow these simple directions:
- Log in to your account and head over to your profile.
- Tap the menu button (the three horizontal lines in the corner of your screen).
- Hit Settings and Privacy.
- Select Account.
- Tap Switch to Business Account.
Doesn’t that sound super easy? Now you get to partake in TikTok ads, add the email button to your page, access the creative hub AND commercial music library, auto-reply to DMs, and so much more.
Practical Tips for TikTok Users to Create the Most Efficient Marketing Strategy
The moment you’ve all been waiting for… Tips and tricks that’ll bring your TikTok strategy to the next level! While reading and analyzing, remember that you can customize your plan to your needs.
You don’t necessarily need to pick up on all of our suggestions. But it would be wise to consider at least and play trial and error until all the pieces to the puzzle fall into place.
#1 Ask & Answer: What is Your Purpose?
You can’t start producing TikTok videos without deciphering your “why.” A well-established brand only signs up for a business account with purpose; that would be silly.
So before you go LIVE, think about what you want to post. Do you want to showcase authenticity? Do you want to be inspiring?
Do you want to share educational information? Do you want to make people laugh? Narrow in on a niche and develop content that builds your basis. If you need to look at other TikTok influencers to get a good gist of your preference, so be it.
#2 Define Your Target Audience
Narrowing in on your purpose means something if you have an intended group of TikTok users who’ll follow you and your page. We want to outline our next step, gearing it toward the ideal customer.
You’ll want to think about age, habits, and interests here. Do you want to appease young, middle, or older crowds? Are you leaning toward hobbies like gardening, cooking, styling, working out, or reading?
The best way to implement this helpful strategy is to develop a detailed report on a target customer—an imaginary person you want to please!
Write down everything you want this guy/gal to be in a notebook, then aim to intrigue that kind of community. Remember, the more precise you are with your followers, the better your chance of creating the perfect content to keep them around long-term.
#3 Have a Healthy Balance Between Content Types
Promotional media can take your TikTok game to the next level, but authentic content should not be overlooked. Both are extremely important for consistently entertaining and informing your audience members about your business and the products associated with it.
We highly recommend sticking with a balanced profile, a healthy medium between paid and organic content.
How do you do this? Keep paid campaigns active so that way your purpose can reach a broader range at a faster rate. At the same time, create and record original videos. This will keep followers engaged in the long term through genuine connections.
#4 Stay on Top of TikTok Analytics to Track Performance
One of the best perks of switching from a personal account to a business account is accessing the analytics tab. While you’re growing your platform, this area of the app is essential to achieving TikTok influencer status, which means it’s needed in your marketing strategy.
Why is it so important? It’ll help you pinpoint your most popular TikTok video and provide video view metrics, growth rates, and average watch times. Monitoring tools like this are invaluable, will aid in peak performance, and will increase your brand’s positive reputation if you choose to make decisions based on the results you see on the charts.
#5 Don’t Be Afraid to Go LIVE
Are you trying to make a name for yourself on TikTok through a genuine, direct connection? We’d encourage you to do so because it’s a sure way to market your brand efficiently with minimal hiccups. What do we mean by that? Let us tell you.
The LIVE feature allows you to sit down, screen-to-screen, with your audience members. Even though technology separates the two sides, you can still talk to your followers as if they’re sitting before you.
Creators who take advantage of this perk often jot down a few talking points beforehand—a sure way to get any common questions out of the way initially. Then, you can dedicate the rest of the time to your LIVE comment section. You are answering questions and discussing the future of your company.
Doing a live is very personal and aids in building a community around you and your purpose. The more one-on-one time you give, the more dedication you’ll get back.
#6 Don’t Forget About Trends
If you ask anyone what TikTok is, you’ll likely get a response with the term *trendy* in the description. That would be right on point, seeing as the platform prides itself on what’s *new* and *hip.*
If we’re being sincere, you’ll rarely see an old video circulating on the For You page. Most recordings only stay on the main screen for a few days; that’s how the internal algorithm works.
This means that your marketing strategy should 100% include staying up-to-date with the trends—hashtags, challenges, audio, etc. Otherwise, you may not be as successful as you wish.
How do you do this? For starters, you have to be on the app quite often. We suggest following brands within your niche to see what they’re doing.
Familiarize yourself with all the features TikTok has to offer. Combine the current trending content you’re seeing with the knowledge you’ve acquired from researching the app’s backend, and you’ll know how to navigate and use trends quickly.
#7 Utilize Short-Form Video Engagement
TikTok was designed to encourage quick swiping, meaning you can scroll from video to video with endless entertainment. Because of this, it’s important to note that users can get bored if they don’t see something intriguing in your post within the first few seconds.
That means you need to keep your content front-loaded. If it’s a quick blurb, spark an immediate interest in the first two sentences. If it’s a long-form video, summarize what’s to come in the beginning seconds.
#8 Edit Accordingly for a More Appealing Look
Editing may not be the #1 strategy to implement, but showcasing the perfect shot with the right enhancement features is essential to appease followers.
What do we mean by this? Feel free to use the built-in editing components TikTok offers. You can take engaging content to the next level with the right combination. The most popular include:
- Filters
- Trimming
- Text overlays
- Captions
- Stickers
- Visual effects
- Special effects
- Voiceovers
- Audio
- Slow motion
- Transitions
There are many tools to mix and match; you’ll always be energized!
Conclusion
You’ve read this article about strategically setting up your marketing plan for success. You were notified of the basic definition of TikTok advertising, and you were told that organic content can grant you commitment from a steady, long-term audience.
At the end, suggestions were provided for you to consider. Things like singling out your social media platform’s purpose, figuring out your target audience, and creating a healthy content balance for followers to see, amongst others.
What will happen if you take these suggestions and turn them into a reality? Positive changes. You’ll quickly see your brand or business excel, reaching closer to your goals and the future you desire.
So, what’re you waiting for? If you still need to start, let’s get going! Go to your TikTok profile and implement the changes you see fit today.
