With an incredible 1 billion users per month, TikTok offers businesses an incredible opportunity for engagement.
So what is TikTok? The ever increasingly popular social media platform has been designed for sharing, watching and creating short videos. Its popularity has grown steadily over the last few years and it experienced a surge in users during the pandemic.
If you already have a Twitter, a Facebook and an Instagram channel to keep track of you might be wondering if adding a further workload to your list is really worth the effort.
Here are five reasons why we think that using TikTok for your business is worth it:
1. It gives you access to a new audience
TikTok is growing in popularity and for a substantial number of users it is their only – or at least most regularly used – social media channel. By ignoring TikTok you are ignoring a huge pool of potential customers. Can you afford to do that?
TikTok isn’t going away and even if we can’t convince you to get involved now, consider creating an account to claim your company’s username before someone else snatches it up.
2. It helps you to build trust with your customers
The magic of TikTok lies in its authenticity. Gen Z users are drawn to the relatable and honest content of TikTok (according to media research gurus Kantar). Unlike the filtered insta-perfect feeds of rival social media platforms, TikTok values realistic, fun and easily replicable content. This provides you with a great way to convey your authentic self to your customers.
3. Video is now an essential marketing medium
According to a recent survey 93% of marketers say that video is an essential part of their marketing strategy. And perhaps more importantly, 85% of users would like to see businesses produce more video content.
TikTok is a great tool for creating video content. It requires very little in the way of technical abilities or film making knowledge, just a little imagination and a lot of enthusiasm!
4. It’s a great way to get user generated content
User-generated content is a gift to marketers, after all it is someone doing your work for you!
A great way to get TikTok users creating content for you is to launch a hashtag challenge. This is where a brand asks users to create videos of themselves performing certain tasks and then tagging them using a specific hashtag.
This month, among many others, #movember2021 is trending. Users create short videos of themselves based around the popular men’s health movement. This hashtag has currently been viewed over 28 million times.
Trends like Movemeber are well established already but one of the best things about TikTok is that anyone can become popular. If you create a good hashtag, make it unique and replicable and promote it enough, anyone has the potential to go viral.
5. Don’t dismiss TikTok because of its young audience
TikTok’s popularity is greatest among under the 30s, but that doesn’t mean it should be ignored. TikTok is a relative newbie in the social media landscape and most new social media platforms are adopted by a younger audience. But that doesn’t mean they will stay that way. If your target audience is not on TikTok yet that doesn’t mean that they won’t migrate over. And you should be there to meet them when they do.
It is also a great way to build rapport with the next generation of your customers. In 2019 BMW launched a popular hashtag challenge #the1challenge, which received over 9 million views. Whilst many of the younger content creators may not have been in the market for a brand new BMW when they made the video, they may in a couple of years.
Think your social media accounts need an overhaul or wondering how to build TikTok into your current social media strategy? Then we would love to help! Get in touch with our friendly team to find out more!
