How to Use TikTok Marketing for Your Business

By now, you've heard of TikTok — the booming social media app where users share original video content in fun and creative ways. TikTok started in 2018 and quickly gained popularity, reaching a user base in the high millions by 2021. Now, years later the app still has billions of active users and is an undeniable marketing tool for brands.

How should you go about using TikTok for marketing? Here’s a quick start guide to launch your strategy! 

What is TikTok Marketing?

To understand TikTok marketing, you must first understand the unique platform itself. TikTok is a video-sharing platform where people go for entertainment. The content that performs the best is trendy, funny, and informal. It isn't the platform to show off your polished promotional videos — it's the platform to show off the humanness of your business and the faces and personalities behind the scenes. The possibilities are endless, with options to create short videos (15-seconds) or create videos up to three minutes in length.

Since TikTok marketing has massive potential, the platform developed TikTok for Business to help companies unleash their creativity in ways that increase their audience's brand awareness, engagement, and even help drive conversions.

Benefits of TikTok Marketing

TikTok marketing is unlike marketing on any other social media platform, and because of this, it has unique benefits that companies large and small can appreciate. 

1. TikTok is easy to use, and you can gain followers quickly

Because of its popularity, TikTok is a great social network to grow your audience. With videos going viral daily, it's only a matter of time before your followers increase and more people interact with your content and your brand. As TikTok's user base grows, so does the potential for you to reach new audiences daily. 

2. TikTok is fun and interactive

TikTok is the perfect platform to show the lighter, more playful side of your business. Plus, with new trends continuously popping up, it's easy to create content users are already interested in by duplicating trending content (Ex: hashtag challenges, brand takeovers, etc.). While authenticity is vital, you won't have to come up with new ideas from scratch all the time — a real time saver.

3. TikTok is continuously evolving

TikTok is still a relatively new social media platform, and its business features are even newer. Because of this, TikTok continues to analyze and adjust its offerings for TikTok marketing, meaning the potential to grow your business on the app continues to rise. From sponsoring trending creators to releasing new TikTok advertising options, there are always fresh opportunities coming your way. 

4. TikTok has a highly engaged audience

Shopify found that 67% of users said that TikTok influenced shopping for products, even when they weren’t looking to do so. TikTok’s audience has a level of trust with brands that they engage with on the platform, making the social app more of a shopping experience as time goes on. Getting your product or brand in front of your audience on this platform can help drive your potential customers down the path to conversion.

How to Use TikTok Marketing to Grow Your Business

The sooner you hop on the TikTok bandwagon, the better it will be for your business. After you’ve set up your business account, implement these strategies to use TikTok for marketing. 

Create authentic and original content

To successfully use TikTok marketing, you need TikTok content. Fortunately, the original content you create doesn't require hiring an outside video production team or even using any fancy equipment. Because authentic content performs best, your smartphone and business environment will do. In fact, it's preferred. As TikTok says, create a TikTok, not an ad. 

Repurpose user-generated content (UGC)

If you have a product people use and love, you can capitalize on that by encouraging customers to tag your brand in their TikTok videos. Content that is generated by your fans, customers, and even employees is known as user-generated content. This type of content is genuine and often unique, making it a valuable asset to brands.

Some examples include both Nike and Gymshark. They publish videos of their customers using their products and enjoying them. Although both of those are well-known companies, you can use this strategy on a smaller scale. 

Build relationships with TikTok influencers

Influencers can help take your TikTok marketing strategy to the next level, which is especially beneficial for small brands looking to capitalize on influencers with large, engaged followings. Like other types of social media influencer marketing, TikTok influencers share your brand, product, or service with their audience. Research influencers you feel can accurately and professionally represent your brand and then reach out to their managers. Share your proposition, including your terms and expectations. 

Leverage hashtags to increase reach

Tap into the power of hashtags — and hashtag challenges — to get your videos noticed. Hashtags help with your TikTok SEO when users are searching for content, like the branded videos you’re creating.

You can use TikTok itself to help focus on the right hashtags. Start by compiling your list of tried-and-true hashtags from other platforms, then search for those hashtags on TikTok. TikTok will suggest related hashtags. From there, it’s about striking a balance between generic hashtags with a lot of competition and more specific hashtags that might not be as known. What’s the right mix? That’s up to you to figure out.

One real opportunity for discovery lies in wildly popular hashtag challenges. Brands have the option of both participating in existing challenges and creating their own. If they can succeed with the latter — like Scotts’s #DoTheScottsSlide dance challenge and sweepstakes or Calvin Klein’s #OnlyInMyCalvins “strike a pose” challenge — you’ll be a true master of TikTok marketing.

Launch a paid campaign

Brands can also opt-in for TikTok ads through the TikTok for Business Platform. This is a way to fast-track brand awareness and engagement on TikTok in as little as 24 hours. From in-feed ads to shoppable ads to brand takeovers, the options are endless, and ultimately, the right ad mix will depend on your brand’s budget, marketing goals, and campaign type.

Take Your TikTok Strategy to the Next Level

As with any other marketing channel, TikTok requires that you test your content, adjust your strategy, and reoptimize your paid budget as you continue to run your organic and paid efforts. With the right time and attention, TikTok can quickly become a top-performing channel. Learn more about how to build your holistic TikTok strategy with our resources below!

Looking for a quick and easy way to manage all of your social ads, display ads, and email in one place? Check out the AdRoll automation builder. You can build a seamless cross-channel marketing strategy that consistently delivers the right message to your audience. 

Last updated on May 11th, 2023.