Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple years, then surely you have heard of the app Tik Tok. It’s the app that has people from practically every age group doing short dance and singing videos. In this article, we are going to do a deep-dive into Tik Tok and analyze why this app has been considered one of the best marketing strategies for brands all over the world.
Launched in 2018, Tik Tok was created in China as a video-sharing app, mainly targeted towards the so-called Z generation. At first, the app seemed to be a little strange since we haven’t seen anything like this before; however, it quickly made the headlines around the world. Today, it’s one of the most successful apps, especially popular among teens. What’s more, its fame seems to be growing by the minute since many celebrities are using it to share their dance moves and fun times. A few years ago, the app bought out Musical.ly, which practically helped migrate users to the new, very well structured, and combined Tik Tok social media.
But apart from teens and celebs, can companies grow on the platform and attract potential customers there? Keep reading to find out!
Do you know that Tik Tok has already generated billions of installs? Well, it sure is a huge milestone for Tik Tok’s marketing team, although they’re just at the very beginning of becoming the next massive social media, used by everyone.
The success of the platform is so huge that it absolutely outshined Google Play and other apps. Only in March 2019, TikTok made over 1.1 billion downloads, and each month it makes about 500 million installs. With such exposure, businesses should definitely consider experimenting with its features and functionalities. Youngers mainly use it, however, it’s specifically popular among celebrities as well, promoting their or somebody else’s brand. So, can you make money there? Of course, you can! There’s always room for experiments and tests, especially when there’s a new tool, social media, app, etc. Wondering how to get started? Here are a few ways to do it properly.
People love playing games, especially with hashtags. Need some proof? If you know Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show, then you must know how huge this thing is.
For the rest of you, though, who have no idea what this is all about, here’s how it goes. Let’s say that the hashtag word is #myworstdate, and then people start sharing stories with this hashtag. With TikTok, though, hashtags challenges are usually accompanied by videos, which is the core of the platform. And, as we all know, videos are one of the easiest, cheapest, and most entertaining way to reach more people.
What’s more, teens are more prone to taking part in such games and fun activities, so the viral effect is almost guaranteed.
Such challenges and games are actually what made Tik Tok such a fun, exciting, and desired place for people. It came out of nowhere, making everybody scratch their heads in confusion, but now it’s the most viral app in recent history. The hashtag challenges work for both celebrities, being in the role of influencers, and also for new or famous brands. These challenges could be done in different ways. Some may require to have a particular inherent talent, while others may be just for fun. Whatever the purpose, the main focus should be making people want to engage with your brand and participate in your games! Celebs have already found the way to do it. Need an example? Why not check out Jennifer Lopez’s challenge video?
A year ago, the famous soccer club B. Munich signed up for the new social media channel with the primary goal of reaching more young followers. At first, it seemed a bit odd for a soccer club to be on this type of platform; however, they had something in mind when releasing clips of their team.
Generally, the app is all about spreading viral, short clips of people doing funny or quirky things; but the soccer club decided to film a video of their players dancing on the field. Since the club signed up for the platform, it has reached over 80 000 new fans, and it only took them about a few posts per week to get over 4 million views in total!
The app may still be a baby, but there’s always some opportunity for growth if you have eyes for it! One of the most significant benefits of Tik Tok is that it’s still a new one, so there’s really not many advertisers there; and it’s certainly not as crowded as Facebook, Instagram, or even Snapchat. Also, your top competitors are probably not there yet, so now is the perfect time to get more exposure and fans.
By the way, if you want to venture into ads as well, do it now while it’s still cheaper. Although, if you ask us, start with organic posts first to test the waters and build from there. Generally, the app offers endless opportunities to be more creative, so gather your marketing team and think of a way to reach more fans with entertaining content.
Note that, according to statistics, 53% of Tik Tok users share video content. Maybe this is why Taylor Swift got the attention so quickly.
Although the use of ads on this platform is still pretty much new, you can try it and see how it works for you. At least you will get the attention of the users, and the ads are still relatively cheap. Similarly to other social media channels, you should pay attention to key metrics, such as impressions, clicks, reach, etc. These takeover ads can be used for your brand’s landing page as Tik Tok offers a special package for categories. In other words, you can take over a specific category per day, which sounds very good. These takeover ads could be images, GIFs, or videos. Your choice!
Another form of ads is the so-called branded ads. One of the first brands that were brave enough to use them was Guess. The brand came up with the #InMyDenim challenge, and everyone who opened the app was instantly directed to it, eventually getting over 36 million views.
It’s a form of sponsored hashtag challenges that are like banner ads on the discover page. When clicked, it directs users to a challenge page with instructions for the challenge itself, with some original content that addresses the hashtag. This luxury will inevitably cost you some cash, but it’s 100% worth testing!
In-feed native video ads are an effective way to catch people’s attention while scrolling through the feed. The format is still being tested, as it shows sponsored videos in the main feed alongside a “learn more” button. When clicked, the button encourages you to tap to get more info. According to Tik Tok’s creators, this button could be customized to fit your needs, but it’s still being tested, so there could be some limitations. The native video ads are about the same length as the regular TikTok clips (between 9-15 sec), as the test ad runs for only 5 seconds.
The ads are full-screen and are similar to Instagram Stories ads, but can be skipped by users. The format also supports call-to-actions for app downloads and site visits. As for analysis, marketers can measure the effectiveness of an ad by total video views, video engagement, click-through rate, average video duration, etc. But to find out whether it’s the best format for your brand, there’s no other way but to run a few tests.
Which TikTok strategy would you implement first?
Well, if you ask us, you should test the waters by experimenting with all of them. If you can’t find a way to get started, you can always check what other brands are doing. Generally, Tik Tok makes a fantastic way to promote your business and expand your marketing activity.
It’s a relatively new social media platform, and that’s the beauty of it – it’s not as crowded as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc. So, get your team together, sign up for the app, and think of ideas for fun videos, challenges, and content in general.
Last but not least, make sure to keep an eye out for the trends out there. Be active, check other people’s profiles; see what celebs are doing and how they communicate with their following there. But most importantly, make your brand visible for others on TikTok. It may be a completely different experience for your brand, but it can also bring you many benefits. Whatever strategy you come up with, remember this: be active on Tik Tok, engage with people, and don’t be too shy to explore new things on the platform.
Andriu is a full-stack digital marketer who is originally from Venezuela. For the past 5 years, he has freelanced on everything from PPC to copywriting to SEO. Now he writes his insights, guides, and tutorials on Internet Marketing Bro.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple years, then surely you have heard of the app Tik Tok. It’s the app that has people from practically every age group doing short dance and singing videos. In this article, we are going to do a deep-dive into Tik Tok and analyze why this app has been considered one of the best marketing strategies for brands all over the world.
5 campaigns you wish you thought of
The strategic and creative possibilities offered by mobile devices are the future of advertising and marketing. People spend more and more time on their smartphones and less time watching TV. As a logical consequence, promoting a brand means to rethink the allocation of advertising budgets between old and new channels of communication, even if things seem to be moving at a slow pace: while 37% of the total time dedicated to media was spent watching TV and 24% on mobile, advertising spending on TV remains at 41% compared to 8% on smartphones and tablets (source: KPCB). (more…)
With Google and other search engines increasingly trying to ‘humanize’ their algorithms so that their preference of websites reflects that of their physical users, there has never been a more important time than now for website owners to make sure that the content they use is fully up-to-scratch.
It is no secret to anybody that Google is a bit of a bookworm, with its head of webspam Matt Cutts frequently using his Webmaster Central vlog to point out that, while intelligent use of images, infographics, videos, and audio files helps a website’s ranking, the search engine is still hungriest of all for text.
Content should be viewed as the bricks and mortar of your site. If you view your website in the same way as your house, of course you want it to look pretty and stand out on your street, but there’s no point doing that if it’s made of sponge bricks and uses porridge as mortar. Nobody would want to visit such a house more than once, and it would fail in its purpose. Aesthetic features on your site should be there to accentuate its solid foundation of content – not in place of it.
I wonder what algorithm update Google used to determine the users intent for this search result? Oh wait, they have not searched yet, I wonder if this provides a great user experience?
It’s easy to publish a blog post, a tweet or a status update. Sometimes too easy. As a business owner (and bloggers are business owners, too) you have a responsibility to publish facts. Readers don’t come for fiction, or to be taken on a breezy diversion of gossip and rumors. They come to your blog and follow your social media profiles to learn something from you.
You can seriously damage your brand by doling out misinformation as if it’s accurate, so take your time to get it right. Be certain you’re publishing facts.
To Kill Your Credibility Fast:
1. Jump on a Non-Scoop Scoop
Ever heard of a Twitter death hoax? This all-too-common viral “scoop” works for a number of social psychological reasons, none of them useful in getting to the truth. A quick Google search reveals insight about them from highly reputable sources, including the TheNewYorkTimes.
Facebook scams work the same way. I spent no time at all cross-referencing independent sources about apps that claim to let you see who viewed your profile. I debunked them in no time here, here, and thisone even references Facebook’s own Terms of Use.
Did you hear about the false CNN and Fox News reports that the Supreme Court struck down the individual health insurance mandate? It was such bad reporting about such a big event that the mistake got almost as much attention as the real news! However, you aren’t a news organization. No one will talk about you for making a mistake. They just won’t pay attention to you anymore.
2. Reiterate Common “Knowledge” that isn’t True
Whatever your area of expertise, you probably hear about all sorts of myths that masquerade as facts. Living in the world of internet marketing, I witness countless assumptions about the Google algorithm being spun into “knowledge” all the time. This spring, as the Penguin update rolled out, SEO bloggers made up stories about what the Over Optimization Penalty means.
I don’t think they were trying to deliver false information, but they did. All they needed to do was read Google’sownblogpost on the subject. Often, the actual truth is less interesting than the general consensus about what’s true.
Just heading to bed and noticed that out of the blue, many exact match domains have slipped in search. I noticed a number of exact match domains names have slipped somewhere from 5-40 positions in search. It was really long over due that Google fixed this issue. Exact match had gotten so far out of hand that domain names like www.health-insurance-quotes.us were ranking well.
Glad to see Google has discovered a way to tweak this, although I am not a fan of some of the recent changes Google has made, they really did need to make some serious changes.
Google has been releasing changes to it’s algorithm rapid fire, I think they updated it about 3-4 times in the past 60 days. I think they may take a breather soon, and possibly even turn back some of their changes. I think they have moved with a VERY heavy hand on some of their link updates, and have really scared everyone online.
Everyone now is worried about “over optimization” I have had nearly every client of ours contacting us about this, so needless to say it is on everyone’s mind (including mine).
Google announced the launch of Google Shopping in four new countries this week: Australia, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. Google Shopping is a comparison shopping engine delivering product results already in US and many other countries. Google includes products delivered to them via data feed.
Product results in US are shown directly on page one of standard search, with images, pricing, and customer ratings. This high visibility can be a large traffic force for any ecommerce business. But thus far the shopping results in the new countries are not displaying in the main results. The user must click the Shopping tab on the left to use the retail search engine, but we expect in due time Google will integrate products into page one as they have elsewhere.
This is basically free traffic and advertising, so any business shipping to these countries needs to take some action. If you already provide your data feed to Google, you just need to create a new feed and choose that country from the drop down. If you are not set up with Google Shopping yet in any country, visit the Merchant Center to open an account and set up your product feed.
With our strong presence in the Australian market, we are most excited to see this launch! We have been prepping our clients for this and ready to get them included immediately.
Also note that this makes it more important to use the hreview microformat for your customer reviews as we discussed last week.
Baidu, a “local Chinese Google”, who leads the search engine market with over 75% share (Google only has 19 percent), is also one of the biggest and popular websites in the world. Alexa currently ranks it as the 6th popular in the world, just above Wikipedia and below Live. As do most big players in the SE industry, Baidu offers various services – such as video and image storage, website building platform, online encyclopedia, discussion forums, and more.
However, in today’s dynamic world, standing still and cherishing your achievements will very quickly lead to dethronement, at the very least. That’s why Baidu is looking to expand even further, especially when the number two Chinese website, Tencent, is also gaining ground, entering Alexa’s “world’s top 10” this month, after surpassing Twitter.
Tencent is largest internet company in China, and, with Facebook being unavailable to users, it is trying to utilize the social networking niche to compete with Baidu. The “satellite” services that are being offered by Tencent are very similar to the stated above Baidu products, making the clash between the two a “hot” battle for dominance. Baidu’s response, according to Robin Li, the CEO of the company, lies within expanding its own network of users and making it more “social”. In addition of fighting Tencent, this should also serve as additional income channel for the Chinese market leader.
While several companies established a Fairsearch.org group in order to try and prevent the Google-ITA deal, claiming that it is a yet another step of monopoly (by Google that is) of the airline ticket market, Bing has decided not to complain, but to fight. In addition to purchasing a predictive engine for flight costs, the Farecast, about a year ago, they now team up with one of the popular travel search engines, the KAYAK. It seems that the deal is beneficial for both sides – after all, KAYAK is probably also worried about Google acquiring ITA, despite their talks about “welcoming Google as a competitor”.
It their announcement, Bing flatters KAYAK, calling its new partner “a leading innovator in travel search”, and talks about “more comprehensive travel search experience”. The deal should benefit those people who want to plan and book via Bing. Although this looks like trying to stop people from leaving Bing, the move is actually a counter-step to Google entering the travel search. Of course, although “Google is not wining every niche it enters” as said KAYAK CTO and co-founder Paul English, it can affect the market heavily.
So, there is nothing left but to wish good luck to both Bing and KAYAK in their struggle.
Recent consumer study conducted by comScore and GroupM revealed that although 64% of the users are likely to follow a brand on Facebook and/or Twitter, search engine is still the most popular initial step for the majority of purchases made online. The study shows that nearly 60 percent of future buys originate within the search engine websites, with social media coming in the third place with 18% behind company websites (24%). And of those 18%, nearly half will eventually turn to search at some stage of their research. Similarly, only 40 percent of those that use search as their initial step will use social media throughout the purchase.
Moreover, almost no users (less than 1%) use Social Media and do not use search, while the search beats the “search+social media” combination 50 to 49 percent. Only 45 percent, though, use search throughout their research with 26 percent stating that they only use search in the beginning of the process.
The study also shows that customer reviews are something customers are looking for – making the recently reported idea of “SearchReviews.com” pretty viable. 30% of the responders said reviews are the most important thing to them. Social networks were selected by 17% of the users, and video sharing finished third with 14%.
Notably, the study only researched COMPLETED buys. So, maybe social media is simply good at preventing future purchases? After all, reading a page of negative opinions about a product can drive you away from it, and sometimes the whole idea of purchasing a certain accessory can become obsolete…
