To date, TikTok has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times and boasts a user base of over 500 million globally. In 2019, it was the second most-downloaded social app.
It is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world paving the future for an alternative version of online sharing: short-form mobile video. For brands specifically, TikTok represents a window of opportunity; the ability to showcase a different side of a brand while increasing visibility to an entirely new audience.
Here, we’re distilling down how to navigate the app’s Creator Marketplace and sharing important insights from a report on the tips and benchmarks you should pocket to improve your strategies.
Read on to learn:
- Why brands are using TikTok as a source for their influencer marketing campaigns
- How to use updates to the Creator Marketplace to track the success of your efforts and impact over time
- What are the practices, tips and benchmarks that should be top of mind as you craft your campaigns
Expanding the Creator Marketplace
More creators and brands are flocking to the ByteDance-owned app as the hub of their influencer campaigns and turning towards the invite-only Creator Marketplace, as a valuable and important tool for locating relevant users for partnerships based on focus topics, location and reach. To boost its use, the platform is introducing additional analytics options for brands to avail.
Through the update, brands will be privy to real-time data including views, engagements, engagement rate, and audience breakdown (by top markets, gender, age-range, and device). What this means is a more granular and seamless way to track the success of their campaigns and impact over time. They’ll be able to address important questions such as is this type of content driving brand awareness and gauge whether it is relevant to the audience they’re sharing it with compared to their target market.
With consistent campaign reporting at their fingertips, brands can efficiently analyze their tactics, tweak their strategies, uncover trends and best practices, and manage performance benchmarks more successfully, all critical to long-term success especially in the unchartered waters of a new platform.
In the vein of strategies and benchmarks, TikTok partnered with Conviva, a leading intelligence platform geared towards optimized streaming media, to publish an ultimate TikTok strategies and benchmark guide.
Here’s a run-down of the most important insights:
Staying relevant: music, hashtags and trends
@nbaontntShaq wasn’t expecting this! Wait for it… 😱😂 ##funny ##fyp ##tiktokchallenge♬ original sound – nbaontnt
On TikTok, users can search for videos based on a soundtrack, so choose these sparingly and use them strategically. By the same token, when adding hashtags avoid resorting only to the most commonly used words and phrases such as #ForYouPage (also #ForYou and #fyp). This will only defeat the purpose of putting your brand above the noise. Instead, aim to use niche hashtags.
You also don’t want to be heavy-handed and drop an exhaustive list of hashtags to your post. The main reason for this is that it will up your post’s real estate unnecessarily. Think quality over quantity. Select only the hashtags that will resonate with your video the most and contribute to its reception.
Trends are a dominant force on TikTok, but as is the case with the rest of the information we see on social media and the Internet, these come and go at the drop of a hat. If you’re remaking a popular video, find a way to put your brand’s unique twist on it to make it yours.
Benny the Bull, mascot of the Chicago Bulls, uploaded a slow down tutorial of how to do a popular viral dance called #TheReplay instead of simply recreating the dance. NBAonTNT recreated a popular TikTok challenge with its hosts, which ultimately ended with an egg exploding on Shaq’s head. The Washington Capitals elected their mascot to decorate an office in an effort to join the conversation in a holiday-themed viral trend.
Posting regimen: frequency, etiquette and more
The “Effects” tab is a great way to get inspiration spruce up your posts. The most popular effect is the ‘Green Screen’ effect where you can place people in front of any background of your choosing or post screenshots or pictures in the middle of a TikTok without the need for a third-party editing app.
According to the report, the quantity of uploads has a direct impact on the speed of account growth. The NBA’s account is a good example. It is currently the most followed account in sports and has posted 2700+ videos. That said, you should still aim for quality when it comes to your commenting behavior and how you draft descriptions.
An effective video caption will describe what the viewer is about to see and encourage them to reply. When you are replying, be mindful that comments are ranked in the order of likes received. Posting on a highly-lied comment will be a good way to secure attention, but in some instances can discourage others from engaging or interacting.
Key benchmark highlights
The report examined more than 300 brand accounts from January to February of 2020 to determine the leading accounts across various sports and media industries. Results pointed to several key themes including:
- When analyzing the 20 fastest-growing accounts, volume was a substantial differentiator. The fastest-growing accounts posted on average 3 videos per day during this month.
- Publishers in the TV and sports media space are seeing the biggest gains for their commitment to posting consistent, quality videos. Nickelodeon and AFVoffiical, for example, each posted over 1,280 videos as of February 2020.
- There is a direct correlation between total followers and average views per video. Gaining followers is an essential ingredient to success.
As traditional advertising methods continue to become obstinate in accessing harder-to-reach demographics, brands need to push the envelope and get creative when it comes to the content they create. TikTok offers a unique, light-hearted environment to achieve this where companies can tap into the culture and lifestyle of their fans.
Join 100,000+ fellow marketers who advance their skills and knowledge by subscribing to our weekly newsletter.