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Tiktok Marketing: WHAT IS TIKTOK Marketing? IS TIKTOK MARKETING WORTH IT?

 The social media platform TikTok has been up and running since the beginning of 2019 and was able to register its first one billion users.


Tiktok Marketing: WHAT IS TIKTOK Marketing? IS TIKTOK MARKETING WORTH IT?
Tiktok Marketing: WHAT IS TIKTOK Marketing? IS TIKTOK MARKETING WORTH IT?


Initially smiled at, after a short time the hype of the platform could no longer be downplayed. Despite the young age of TikTok, there are creators (as we will call the producing TikTok users below) with considerable follower numbers.


The top 3 creators (as of September 2021) are Charlie D'Amelio (123.6 million followers), Khabane Lame (108.7 million followers), and Addison Rae (83.6 million followers). These numbers prove that impressive growth is possible on TikTok in a very short time.

For comparison: Instagram has existed since 2010 and one of the most successful accounts (Cristiano Ronaldo) has 337 million followers (as of September 2021).


Introduction: What is TikTok Marketing and How It Can Help Your Business


WHAT IS TIKTOK?

 

For anyone who has skillfully ignored the tick-tock of the social media clock, here's a  brief introduction  to the new app sensation called TikTok:


TikTok is a video portal where users can watch 15- to 60-second videos, and since the summer of 2021 also been 3-minute videos. The content is usually somewhere between entertaining, embarrassing and funny.

What originally started as musical .l y was reborn as TikTok in 2018 by Chinese company ByteDance.

In China itself, the app is known under the name  Douyin and is one of the most popular social networks there.


But in the rest of the world, too, the quiet tick-tock turned into a loud bang when it came to downloading numbers: the app recorded more than 660 million downloads in 2018 and 735 million in 2019. In the last quarter of 2019, the bang hit TikTok with more than 200 million downloads and in  2021 the numbers showed 656 million downloads. That makes 2.6 billion downloads in total.


These numbers make TikTok one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world. It even beat the giants of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat.


Since the end of 2019, TikTok has continuously outshone even the toughest competition like Facebook & Co.:


The success of TikTok is based, among other things, on the fact that the initial users belonged to the group of 16 to 24-year-olds who were particularly keen on social media. Today it serves a  much larger age and thus user group. At 60%, the majority of users are still female – not much has changed here (see chart).


HOW DOES TIKTOK WORK?


TikTok can be used both actively and passively. What does that mean exactly? Those who actively use the platform upload their videos. With passive use, only videos are viewed by other users without producing content themselves. You don't need your account for the latter, but you do for the former.


Want to expand your marketing to TikTok with custom content? Then you need your account. We'll show you how you can open your TikTok account without much effort.


TIKTOK APP DOWNLOAD – TIKTOK LOGIN


You can download the app from the App Store or Google Play. Alternatively, TikTok can be used via the browser. You can register with an existing social media account  (Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, Apple) or with a completely new username and password. We will give you a brief overview of the name of your TikTok account in the next chapter.


TIKTOK NAMES


Let's continue with the ideal TikTok name for your future marketing on TikTok. If you were an individual, you would most likely just choose your first name, a short form of it, or some imaginative combination.


But since you're presenting yourself as a business that wants to appear reputable and get as many conversions as possible, you should choose a "reasonable" name. Basically, you can use any name that is not already taken.


It would be smart in terms of your social media strategy if you have the same name on your social networks. This increases recognition and someone who finds you on one network might add you to another. This is also very important for TikTok marketing.


FEATURES OF TIKTOK


TikTok is a video platform. Traffic is therefore generated via self-designed videos –  i.e. active participation in TikTok events. In terms of TikTok marketing, the platform is of course better researched than it was in the early days, but it's still quite underestimated compared to its rapid growth. The opportunity to tie in now and use the success of TikTok for yourself is all the more attractive.


So rather react today than tomorrow and add TikTok marketing to your repertoire. In the following, we will go into more detail about the functions of TikTok.


TIKTOK PROFILE

Tiktok Marketing: WHAT IS TIKTOK Marketing? IS TIKTOK MARKETING WORTH IT?
Tiktok Marketing: WHAT IS TIKTOK Marketing? IS TIKTOK MARKETING WORTH IT?


As soon as you are logged in, the video fun starts right away: You are thrown into the middle of the shark tank and from now on you can experience the hype up close. Before you develop a TikTok tick, however, we'll show you how you can make your profile a little more attractive.


  • Select the icon that looks like a human in the lower-right corner.
  • Once you are on your profile, you can select a suitable profile picture or video.
  • You can also add additional information and your username to the bio. Also, pay attention to the tone of voice you want to use to address your followers and target audience.
  • Especially great for marketing purposes: You can link your other social media channels in the bio.


TIKTOK VIDEOS


Now we come to the real core of the TikTok business - the videos. Similar to other social networks, TikTok marketing depends on constant activity. The more (high-quality) content you post, the higher your reach will be - and the larger your follower numbers will be.


If this number doesn't convince you of the need to launch a TikTok marketing strategy and actively publish content, then probably nothing else will. The big advantage of TikTok is that users do not have to create an account if they only want to watch videos from other users. This of course lowers the inhibition threshold to use the app. But there are  some other advantages  of TikTok marketing:


  • Influencers and companies benefit equally from this.
  • Creating reach on TikTok is currently quite easy.
  • With challenges running under individual hashtags, you can encourage users to actively participate and thus promote interest in your company.


See below for examples of creative, cool challenging ideas that have brought massive traffic to each company.


The idea behind TikTok - to inspire as many people as possible with short, entertaining videos - is promising. With an appealing idea and relatively little effort, you can win over the community in a very short time. Analyze your target audience for your TikTok marketing strategy and post the content that resonates best.


TIKTOK IMAGES

On the video platform, even the pictures are somehow videos. You can insert photos, but they will be displayed in a slide show - which in the end turns them back into moving images. These can also be processed with filters.


TIKTOK FANS/FOLLOWERS

To create as much reach as possible, you naturally need content. In the best-case scenario, with this, you will soon have built up a nice circle of followers who are eagerly awaiting your posts. 


So once you have followers, all you have to do is provide entertainment with quality content. With daily use by 90% of users, your content will not go unseen for long. This is because TikTok users spend almost an hour a day on the app on average (see chart below). That may not sound like much, but it's enough for watching your diligently designed videos - and even more so for successful TikTok marketing.


TIKTOK PROS AND CONS: IS TIKTOK MARKETING WORTH IT?


Tiktok Marketing: WHAT IS TIKTOK Marketing? IS TIKTOK MARKETING WORTH IT?
Tiktok Marketing: WHAT IS TIKTOK Marketing? IS TIKTOK MARKETING WORTH IT?


Every social network has its advantages and disadvantages. The decisive factor is whether you can use the respective platform sensibly for your company and thus reach your desired target group. TikTok started mostly young but is now successfully targeting users across a wide age group (including the young). Not only for this reason, but the platform also offers some potential for TikTok marketing, as you have seen in the explanations above.


But is marketing on TikTok right for your business? In the following, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of the former  musical.ly  as a marketing channel.


BENEFITS OF TIKTOK MARKETING


1. Initially, TikTok was rightly seen as a very young platform.  Although it already had more than 800 million active users in 2019, these were mostly private individuals. The reputation of being a young platform persists despite the rocket launch and the now older target groups. Nevertheless, many have already recognized the potential of TikTok marketing and jumped on the bandwagon in good time. If TikTok has the right audiences for your business, it might be time to do the same.


2. If you want to draw more people's attention to your company, you've come to the right place on TikTok: Although GenZ is the most present group on TikTok and puts the average age of the users at 19, the age group is increasing every month. So you can also use TikTok specifically for older target groups: Instagram and Facebook, which were initially also considered to be “young” networks, can tell you a thing or two about it.


3. Although TikTok as an advertising platform is more of a B2C tool, the app is ideal for B2B with a good marketing strategy. The paths here are still somewhat hidden, but with a little instinct, TikTok-made business relationships will soon no longer be a dream of the future.


4. With the self-service ad manager, which was introduced on July 08, 2020, you can place targeted advertising similar to Facebook and Google. In this way, you determine exactly who can see your content and when.


5. TikTok is easy to use: With just a few clicks and little effort, new content can be produced at lightning speed. Hashtags and challenges will soon be your daily bread. Tip: Anyone who takes the trouble to make the videos more elaborate will tend to be a lot more successful because the TikTok community appreciates creativity in TikTok marketing.


6. Certain advertising formats such as the branded hashtag challenges only exist in this form on TikTok. The uniqueness of the numerous ad options on the platform gives companies a whole new spectrum of perspectives in online marketing. Appealing content on TikTok is thus easily designed with filters, duet functions, background music, and the like. In contrast to Instagram, this makes TikTok a true visionary in the social media sector.


DISADVANTAGES OF TIKTOK MARKETING


1. TikTok is currently still confused with a platform that is intended exclusively for a young target audience, especially Gen Z (born between 1997 to 2012). This is strongly represented, but the fact that users over 25 can also be easily reached on TikTok and that TikTok offers many advantages here is still simply ignored by many companies.


2. TikTok is one of the platforms where fast and constant delivery is required. If you want to be successful there, it's best to register yesterday and produce content as soon as possible  - and then stick with it. Social media rewards you when you post in real-time, and regularly, and engage with your followers. If you don't, you'll be written off faster than you can say tick-tock.


3. Another major disadvantage of TikTok is the extremely short half-life of the content. While Facebook and Instagram are already fast-moving and content doesn't stay in the memory for long, it's even more difficult with TikTok: The short videos are a snapshot that doesn't attract attention longer than they last. Lean content that gets to the point in the given 15 to 60 seconds (since 2020 also 3 minutes) is in demand. However, this is difficult to achieve for many companies.


4. While TikTok is no longer untried, it can quickly become an own goal for marketing that doesn't understand TikTok - because  TikTok demands real commitment: A typical promotional video just cut down to the required seconds, will not be applauded and scorned by TikTok users.


CONCLUSION: IS IT WORTH GETTING INTO TIKTOK MARKETING?


TikTok marketing has tremendous potential and can provide a serious boost in social media traffic for those who can spot it.


The young target audience makes it particularly interesting for companies that want to establish themselves a little as a customer base in Gen Z. But TikTok also offers advantages for addressing people who were born before Gen Z: Older and older groups can be reached via TikTok  – that’s what makes the platform so promising.


In short: If you want to make a name for yourself as a company and strategically produce content regularly, you may soon be able to look forward to a certain supremacy on TikTok. In the best-case scenario, this will have a positive impact on the company’s overall digital presence.

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