content marketing

Tips to Boost your Organic Digital Marketing: TikTok

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Two phones on a white bed showing both the TikTok logo and it's profile page. It is marketing the app.

Looking for a new area to branch out in digital marketing? TikTok is currently the Number 1 social media app on the planet. Boasting a whopping 1.4 billion users worldwide, it is currently expected to read 1.8 billion by the end of 2022. Originally launched as a simple short form video app, it gained $4.6 billion in revenue in 2021. That’s a 142% increase year-on-year. With all this growth it’s no wonder that TikTok is currently the place to be for digital marketing.

But how exactly can this app and its massive user base be best utilised organically? Is it guaranteed that your brand will “blow up” on TikTok? There’s no plan for virality unfortunately, but let’s take a look at some tips to get your TikTok marketing strategy up and running.

1. Create your TikTok channel and make some content

Where better to start that getting yourself on the platform itself. Setting up a channel is as easy as with any other social media platform, and you can begin creating content right away. Kit out your profile with a branded profile photo and some biography information. If users click through to your profile, they want to know who you are at a single glance, so make it easy for them.

Content can be created easily, quickly, and with basically no budget – very accessible for start-ups or newer brands. Now all you’ve got to do is make some videos! Start by finding a trending sound, a TikTok “challenge,” or a viral hashtag to get your content out there. Take advantage of the apps in-built editing equipment to make your video look as good as it can be. Don’t forget an engaging caption and some more hashtags will really help to boost that video.

TikTok favours authentic, relatable, organic content, so posting flashy brand videos here won’t do any favours. Set some realistic posting goals to begin with as well. 2-3 videos a week should be great to start with. Keep tabs on what content does well out of those posted in that week and perhaps build on those specific topics. Make sure to create content to truly resonate with your target audience and encourage engagement. Remember, younger people especially want to feel like they’re speaking to a person rather than a brand.

2. Marketing yourself to your audience

Speaking of engagement, zoning in on a target audience for your content can be incredibly beneficial in the long run. While it’s important not to pigeonhole yourself too early on, a key audience will eventually evolve, and you’ll find it much easier to market directly toward them. This is where a bit of prior research could really help – what kind of content are your target audience after? Do they enjoy silly lip synchs? Transition videos? Spending some time on the app and getting to know the persona of your audience can help your content grow much faster.

Pro-Tip: Utilise the video comment function. If a supporter asks a question in your comments, reply with a bespoke video filmed just for them. It’s a very personable approach that may end up creating a loyal follower to your brand but will also show new users how engaged you are with your audience. This is a very useful tool to connect with both warm and cold audiences and encourage people to interact with your comment section more. Just remember than even in video format, adhering to customer service best practices is key!

TikTok is also a great place to be to attract younger audience. This is something that could currently prove to be difficult on other social media platforms. According to its demographics, 25% of its users (the largest percentage) are between 10-19. Whilst insights say this age bracket is the least likely to participate in brand loyalty, it does state that this demographic is likely to be more loyal to any brands they do choose to follow. Definitely something to consider when deciding where to target your content.

While it may seem daunting potentially marketing to such a young age bracket, this is also a demographic that responds the best to TikTok’s primary method of marketing – influencers.

3. Utilising influencer marketing on TikTok

Influencer online states that 91% of 16-24 year olds credited influencer advertisements on social media as their reason for purchasing a product. This is a huge number of conversions on such a core market. If you’re looking to organically grow your brand on TikTok then you NEED to be looking into influencers as soon as possible.

Collaborating with an influencer is essentially collaborating with a TikTok expert. As someone who uses the app daily, or as a full-time profession, they will know the best way to market your brand. Promoting your brand to a large, highly engaged following will see that your marketing is taken care of. This will also help to promote brand advocacy and loyalty to their mass of followers; hearing from someone they trust that this brand is good will ultimately lead them right to you.

TikTok has established its own Creator Marketplace that helps to link up brands and creators. Some smaller creators may do some marketing for free or in exchange of products but expect to have some budget ready for this stage. Influencing is its own career now! Again, make sure to do some research beforehand and see which influencers best suit the tone and goals of your brand – having a fashion influencer promoting tech isn’t exactly going to work out well. It’s all about what fits the best.

Some brands even get lucky and have influencers advocating for them before they’ve even reached out. While this is some great free marketing, don’t bank on it. Do your research, reach out to relevant users, and engage their audience – you can’t plan for virality!

Conclusion

In essence, if your brand isn’t on TikTok right now, then get it on there ASAP. This fast-growing app is seeing more growth in its first year than Instagram did in its first seven. It’s important that all marketers know how to jump-on and utilise this new tech whilst it’s still on the up. This is also the perfect place to perfect organic content and original, creative ideas. Go wild, have fun – there’s no telling how much good can come of it!

Looking for more help with social media? Check out the relevant articles below:

A Guide To Effective Content Creation

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Digital-Marketing-Content-Creation-Flatlay

Content creation: an arguably vague sector within the digital marketing spectrum, but needless to say an oh-so-important one. Not only does it allow you to innovate with your brand, but also to grow with your audience. When you dive deep into the depths of what content creation can entail in your apprenticeship, you’ll find a vastness of creativity, ideas and excitement. And with an ever-growing range of outlets for your creations and the development of more ways to reach your audience, it is clear to see why content creation can be seen as one of the most exciting areas of digital marketing.

But with such remarkable opportunity for experimentation, and so much availability for new and exciting ideas, not only can creating content for your brand feel somewhat overwhelming, but it also means there’s huge potential to miss the mark when it comes to resonating with your audience. So, I’ve rounded up my top tips to ensure that the content you create in your digital marketing apprenticeship remains fresh and your results remain strong.

Know Your Audience

It’s the oldest trick in the book – and it’s easy to see why. When you begin to think about the type of content you want to create for your brand, the audience you’re targeting should be at the top of your list for considerations. Not only does this mean understanding what themes of content they’ll find relatable, but also where they’re going to be found.

For example, considering which channels they’re more likely to interact with (and more specifically which channels they interact with whilst in a conversion mindset) Also, it’s important to consider which types of content they’re more likely to engage with. For instance, do they prefer feed posts or do they show more engagement in stories? Creating customer personas are a great way to begin to understand this. And when you begin gaining data on content that performs well, you’ll be able to refine your understanding on what is considered engaging for your audience.

Use Your Voice

It’s certainly not an easy job, but it’s a worthwhile one. Creating a voice for your brand and company which goes beyond getting the client or customer to convert is one of the most effective ways to make sure content delivers results. By creating a tone of voice for your brand which is used across owned media, your audience begin to engage with your brand on a personal level. Rather than just being a company which provides a needed service, you’re now an organisation which tells a story and is relatable to the human instinct of your customer or client.

An effective way of doing this can either be by showing the behind-the-scenes workings of your business, creating content which inspires customer feedback and communication, or simply by using humour to engage with your audience.

Consistency Is Key

Once you’ve established a clear tone of voice and understand your audience, consistency within your content is a great way to keep your brand on your audience’s radar. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to recycle the same best-performing video over-and-over on every channel, or that you have to plaster your logo onto every piece of content you create, it simply means maintaining the brand’s online reputation.

This can be anything from writing copy which matches the brands tone of voice, subtly using brand colours or fonts within graphic design work, or even having a consistent schedule to post content. Consistency creates yet another layer of familiarity of your brand for your audience and is an effective method to keep customer interest retained.

Digital-Marketing-Content-Strategy-Planning

Plan, Prepare, Execute

PPE – no, not that kind… All jokes aside, having a content creation process which includes thorough planning will ensure that content is not only created, but executed to a level which shows off the full potential of your brand. By having a clear understanding of hero-trends, micro-trends and keywords that you want to target, you’ll ensure your content remains relevant and insightful for your audience.

Keyword research tools, Google Trends and even having a clear understanding of your audience’s current interests, are great methods to ensure you’re on the ball with planning and preparing relevant and engaging content.

And To Wrap It Up

From having a clear and solid understanding of your audience and how to reach them, to creating consistent content which aligns with your brand, effective content creation is one of the best ways to not only reach your target audience, but to also keep them retained. And whilst these tips only make up the foundations when it comes to creating effective and engaging content, they’ll allow you to experiment with content and grow your company, whilst staying true to your brand and audience.

For more content creation tips, take a look here, or for more information on Digital Marketing, check out our blogs.