TikTok has become the go-to social media app for the millennial generation. Moreover, failing to establish a profile on this platform is a missed opportunity for businesses whose target demographic includes young people. Sponsored content, such as advertisements, is now being shown in users’ feeds on TikTok after the platform finally allowed for paid advertising. TikTok campaigns may be successful, but only if you take the time to learn the site beforehand.
What We See Is What We Get
Weigh the dissimilarities between Facebook and LinkedIn in terms of brand advertising. A company or product may undoubtedly function in both. Yet the kinds of posts that appear on the social media platform for the business sector are very different from the kind that appear on the largest personal social network in the world.
Customized advertisements are needed on TikTok as well. The principle of this social media platform is that its users would share short, entertaining films shot on their mobile devices. This is not your grandma’s Facebook; the videos here are typically offbeat and full of non sequiturs, making it a veritable goldmine for the wit of today’s youth. The media is the message; hence, your material must be tailored to the specific medium.
Marketing on the News Feed
TikTok, like every other social media network out there, allows marketers to put in-feed adverts to promote their products. But if you want your company to stand out on TikTok, you can forget about professionally lit product images and staged influencer postures.
According to an interview with AdAge by Evan Horowitz, CEO of the firm Movers & Shakers, users of the video sharing app TikTok are more interested in something genuine, unpolished, and even weird. Horowitz remarked that whereas Instagram is all about “your ideal best life,” TikTok is all about “being raw, honest, and recording in your bedroom.”
Hashtag Challenges and Their Influence
TikTok’s engine runs on the hashtag challenge. The “Flip the Switch” challenge now sweeping the internet is a great current example. You begin with a mirror and two individuals standing in front of it. A stone-faced individual is talking on the phone as a smiling one dances nearby. In the music video for Drake’s “Nonstop,” the lights go out and the two characters exchange positions and outfits whenever the line “turn the switch” is spoken. Daddy puts on his daughter’s clothing in one Flip the Switch film, while Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez appear in another.
Hashtag challenges are hilarious since they can be done again and again and are usually rather bizarre. Social cognitive theory, which believes that people are driven to mimic the actions of others, can help to explain this urge for people to want to participate. Although many firms have joined the hashtag challenge, others are leveraging TikTok’s advertising platform to promote their own competition.
Branded Hashtag Challenges Backed by Sponsors
In the end, the primary goal of a hashtag challenge is to increase brand recognition rather than click-through rates, cost-per-click, or online sales. If you promote a challenge that is relevant to your business, you may get (1) exposure via user-generated content and (2) free publicity from media sources writing about it.
Guess, an apparel business, accomplished this successfully in 2018 by creating the #InMyDenim challenge, aimed at Gen Z shoppers in time for the back-to-school shopping season. Guess teamed with a number of influencers to showcase their denim fashion and also paid to have their brand appear on the TikTok homepage in order to promote their challenge.
Making a Paid-For Viewfinder
Soda company Mtn Dew aired a parody commercial of Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” at the 2020 Super Bowl. With the slogan “as good as the original,” the commercial recasts famous moments with new performers to promote Mtn Dew Zero.
The firm was one of the first consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers to create a branded “effect” for TikTok, converting the user recording into a twin to match the television commercial and inspiring users to tag their videos with #BetterThanTheOG.
Don’t Throw Away Your User-Generated Content on TikTok!
Don’t allow user-generated content (UGC) from a branded hashtag challenge or sponsored lens campaign go to waste after investing time and money into it. The TINT platform is useful in this regard. Recently, TINT stated that it will allow companies to integrate TikTok videos on their websites and digital displays.
TINT Content Finder is a Chrome addon that allows you to easily find and embed a certain TikTok video. With user-generated content being featured on sites like TikTok, brands can now reap the benefits of their efforts on the platform. If you’re searching for a fresh approach to reaching today’s youth, check watch our TINT demo to learn about our TikTok integration.