How to develop a TikTok marketing strategy

The Digital Marketing Podcast with Mandar Marathe

If you are a digital marketer and you are not leveraging TikTok to market your products and services, you are already too late. TikTok is the latest kid on the block - an app that is growing at a rapid pace.

• TikTok has been downloaded over 1bn times
• It has 500 million monthly active users
• It’s seen a 275% YoY growth in monthly new users
• Users spend more than 50 minutes/day on the app
• 41% of users are aged 16–24

What Is TikTok? TikTok was originally called Musical.ly which was a karaoke app used by teens. The Chinese company ByteDance bought Musical.ly and integrated it into its own TikTok app, creating a new app as we have it now. TikTok allows users to create 15-second videos, which can be combined to make longer videos. You can use filters, effects, music, editing tools and more all within the app. The app is no longer a karaoke app, but it’s an app for self-expression and showcasing your creativity. Are brands using TikTok? I'll give you two examples of big brands that have used TikTok 1. GUESS launched its #InMyDenim campaign on TikTok, which encouraged users to show-off their GUESS denim jeans in creative manners. They partnered with influencers to popularize their hash tag and got more than 40 million views for user-generated videos on the app. 2. Google also launched a sponsored hashtag campaign — #HeyGoogleHelp to promote the Google Assistant App. They requested users to submit videos of them using Google Assistant in creative ways. This campaign has garnered more than 150 Million video views for the hashtag. How to develop your TikTok marketing strategy? 1. Launch a challenge: TikTok community likes challenges. As a brand you can throw out a challenge to the community and seek participation. Make sure that the challenge is not too difficult to execute. For e.g. Jimmy Fallon of the Tonight Show launched the #tumbleweedchallenge where he challenged people to roll on the floor in a public place. Although this being somewhat embarrassing or difficult for most people, it received more than 8000 entries. 2. Engage with Influencers: Like Instagram or LinkedIn, TikTok also has its share of influencers. You should identify relevant influencers on TikTok and reach out to them to promote your campaigns. If they participate in your challenge, then you can get their followers to participate too. 3. Get followers to tag friends: You need to request followers of your brand to tag friends / family to reach out to a larger audience. For e.g. #IceBucketChallenge went viral on Social Media, because it was started by influencers (Boston Red Sox team)and then there was an element of tagging your friends / followers involved.