Why TikTok Should Be Included In Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Why TikTok is Essential for Your Marketing Strategy

TikTok’s unique, trend-driven algorithm is a proven way to reach your target audience and generate leads.

Engaging younger demographics

TikTok is the perfect marketing channel for engaging younger audiences. The age of most TikTok users is between 18 to 34 years old. If you have a Gen Z and millennial target audience, TikTok should be part of your marketing efforts.

TikTok’s short-form approach to video content is a proven winner. Younger people crave authentic and creative content, which is a staple of successful TikTok marketing efforts. The rule is to create content to entertain, not exactly to hard sell.

Figuring out the right TikTok content strategy is not a picnic, though. Businesses are working with content marketing agency services to produce trending TikTok marketing campaigns. Just make sure that you work with content agencies that have previous experience in your niche.

High organic reach and virality potential

The TikTok algorithm is unique from other social media platforms. On the home page, you’ll see video content from creators you haven’t discovered before. This gives more opportunities for TikTok creators to produce viral, organic content.

It’s for this reason that many online shops turn to TikTok to expand their organic reach. Of course, you can also tap into paid social services for quicker and more accurate results. A good balance of organic content and paid posts drives sustainable growth to your TikTok online shop or business account.

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Tips for Building a TikTok Marketing Strategy

We hand-picked eight common denominators of the most successful TikTok marketing strategies in recent memory.

1. Understand Your Audience

By 2025, TikTok’s population will have over a billion users. That’s a massive audience base to tap into, especially if you know their interests.

Understanding the TikTok audience is the priority for any TikTok business account.

Now, comes the dilemma: how can you determine your target audience’s interests? We recommend that you follow these strategies:

• Aim for authenticity. Perfect production and editing are not what makes quality content in TikTok. The secret sauce is in the authenticity of your content strategy. Prioritize real-life scenarios and unfiltered moments.
• Carve a particular niche. TikTok’s algorithm provides avenues for even the most specific topics. Target these unique niches and create content to inform and entertain your target audience.
• Utilize audience analytics tools. Leverage TikTok’s built-in analytics tool TikTok Insights to further understand your community. You can also use third-party TikTok analytics tools like Google Trends or Sprout Social.

You can also monitor your competitors, particularly how they engage their target audience. This will give you valuable insights into boosting your TikTok strategy.

2. Leverage Trends and Challenges

Discovering market trends comes naturally when studying your audience. You’ll uncover trending hashtags and challenges. Probably, you can even start one yourself.

TikTok trends and viral posts are at the heart of successful TikTok business accounts.

Here are strategies to help you create a TikTok challenge or leverage a current trend:

• Monitor the TikTok Discover tab. This is the most straightforward way of tracking trending TikTok videos, hashtags, and challenges.
• Use social listening tools. Tools like Hootsuite and Brandwatch analyze social media posts to uncover people’s sentiments and opinions. These platforms help you monitor what your audience is mostly talking about.
• Try Google Trends. This tool is not a dedicated TikTok analytics platform, but it can analyze diverse audiences. You can curate trending topics from Google Trends and create videos around those events.

You can also generate relevant hashtags to reach more TikTok users. Platforms like Hootsuite and Ahrefs offer free TikTok hashtag generators. Pick around 3-5 hashtags to use, but don’t overspam the algorithms.

3. Post TikTok Videos Consistently

Do you want a loyal audience who consistently interacts with your TikTok business account? You have to do the work, with an emphasis on consistency.

TikTok marketing accounts post multiple times daily, per HubSpot’s 2024 State of Social Media Report.  You could follow that trend, or just publish multiple videos 3-5 times weekly. Consistency will get you in the good graces of TikTok’s unique algorithm.

These couple of tips could help you in creating videos consistently:

• Follow a content calendar. This helps you plan ahead, ensuring that you always have content to offer to TikTok users. Loomly and Buffer are excellent tools for scheduling your TikTok video content.
• Edit videos through easy-to-use tools. CapCut and InShot are easy video editing software that you can use on the go.

You can also use the Video Scheduler, which is a built-in tool on the TikTok app. Your TikTok account is allowed to schedule a post up to 10 days in advance.

Still, the best time to post a TikTok reel is by riding a current market trend. Strike while the iron is hot, as they say. Always monitor trends in your market and observe conversations among your audience base.

4. Create Short, Engaging Content

Keeping the creativity juices flowing is key to boosting your TikTok presence. When you use TikTok for marketing, you’re constantly churning out short-form video content. That requires a high level of creativity, as you’re auditioning your brand in less than a minute.

Don’t worry, though. There are digital tools you can use to create short, witty content. Here are examples:

• The secret is in your storytelling. Invest in creative one-liners and storytelling. You can always bring in creative writers to help you out.
• Use trendy soundtracks. Get updated with pop culture, particularly trending songs and audio effects. Visit websites like Tokboard or Trendpop to discover top TikTok songs for a particular week or month.
• Highlight your thumbnails. Use attractive thumbnails on your TikTok page and videos. This way, you grab your audience’s attention before they even click play on your reel.

The key here is to know the current ins and outs of pop culture. The thing is, it changes almost every week or every month. Observe social media trends and follow what your audience is always talking about.

5. Use Hashtags Strategically

Hashtags are meant to make your posts more discoverable, increasing your chances of going viral. Essentially, you’re riding the wave of a trending topic to boost your TikTok marketing strategy.

There are ways to use hashtags more strategically, though. You just can’t put popular hashtags on your content. Here’s what we suggest:

• Mix it up with niche-specific hashtags. You’ll face heavy competition when you focus too much on broad, popular hashtags. Try mixing it up with hashtags that are specific or unique to your niche.
• Use branded hashtags for added authenticity. Make your brand stand out with your own hashtag. Consistently use this branded hashtag on all your posts. This way, people will recognize your company or brand right away.

We recommend using less than 5 hashtags on a single post, including your branded hashtag. Spamming hashtags will just confuse the algorithms of a social media platform like TikTok.

6. Collaborate with Influencers

TikTok influencer marketing is here to stay. A successful influencer marketing strategy can drastically improve your reach.

Still, you have to be careful in working with the right TikTok influencers. Follower count is not the only basis for influencer marketing. Nano influencers even have higher engagement rates than influencers with more than a million followers.

We recommend these practices when running a TikTok influencer marketing campaign:

• Work with influencers who have a wide audience in your niche. This helps you reach people with a genuine interest in your brand.
• Set clear guidelines. Orient your influencers about your brand guidelines and messaging. This way, you mitigate risks of offensive content and reputational damage.
• Find influencers on influencer platforms like Upfluence and HypeAuditor. These platforms help you assess the right people for your influencer marketing campaign.

You must also track the engagement and interactions you get from influencer marketing. Identify and improve weak spots to maximize your investment. Don’t hesitate in providing feedback to your influencers, as this could strengthen your professional partnership.

7. Engage with TikTok Users

TikTok marketing isn’t just about your video clips and reels. Directly interacting with your audience is still the best way to build a community.

Reach to people’s comments on your posts. Forget about TikTok marketing tools (for a while). Direct engagements on TikTok comments can earn you a loyal following.

Here are several easy tips on how to interact on social media channels like TikTok:

• Respond to comments in real time. Have your customer engagement team quickly reply to comments to make the interaction more natural.
• Leverage user-generated content. Use the TikTok Duet feature to share content related or similar to your posts. This feature allows you to add another user’s video to the side of your own video.

Engage with people like you do on your personal TikTok account. It’s one of the secrets of an effective TikTok marketing campaign.

8. Experiment with TikTok Ads

TikTok offers users the opportunity to promote their brand and get immediate results. This is made possible through TikTok advertising, which you can access through the TikTok Ads Manager.

The TikTok Ads Manager is a hub for creating and managing your ad campaigns. You can integrate ads through different formats, including the following:

• In-feed ads that appear as regular TikTok reels on the home page
• Brand takeover ads that take up the entire screen of the app
• TopView ads that appear as the first video that users will see
• You can always benchmark your ads by comparing their performance to your competitors. An analytics tool like SpyFu shows how your competitors strategize their TikTok advertisements. You can analyze their strategies to optimize your own ads.

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Content Creation Best Practices for TikTok

TikTok thrives on content creation strategies that keep users engaged and wanting more.

Focus on short-form, engaging content

You can upload videos of up to 60 minutes on TikTok. But on average, TikTok videos only last 42.7 seconds.

This focus on short-form content is what makes TikTok a unique social media marketing channel. You don’t have much time to make an impression on your audience. But if you do, then you increase your chances of becoming viral.

Here are several proven practices in producing short-form but engaging TikTok content:

• Use strong visuals and text on your thumbnails. Make sure you have a readable text on your thumbnails. You can also upload custom thumbnail images for your video clips.
• Tell a story. Start with a hook, follow up with a conflict, and end with a bang. Your 15-20-second content should tell a micro-story that piques the interest of your audience.
• Always choose TikTok’s vertical video format. TikTok features a mostly vertical format for all videos.

Most importantly, know everything there is to know about your audience. Produce videos around currently trending topics and needs.

Leverage trending sounds and hashtags

Personal and business accounts create a TikTok marketing strategy based on trends. You can join trending challenges or leverage pop culture references.

Using trending sounds and hashtags will boost your TikTok business account. We recommend these tools to help you start TikTok marketing trends:

• Get unique ideas from the TikTok Creative Center. The Creative Center offers AI-powered creative tools and insights to streamline your content. You can analyze top-performing ads and uncover the marketing strategies of popular creators.
• Use hashtag research tools like RiteTag and All-Hashtag. You can upload text prompts or images to generate relevant hashtags. These hashtags are updated in real time.
• Find popular audio tracks on tools like TokChart or TokBoard. You can incorporate trending tracks into your video to make it more engaging.

Also, you must be careful in using copyrighted music. Make sure that you’re legally using tracks.

Incorporate user-generated content (UGC)

Who doesn’t want their content featured on a popular TikTok business account?

It should be your brand’s mission to include audiences in your TikTok campaign. UGC is an excellent way of executing that strategy. Take a look at these tactics to help you leverage UGC:

• Run hashtag challenges using your branded hashtag. Encourage audience participation by offering rewards to the best UGC.
• Repost the best and most relevant user-generated content. This motivates your audience to always participate in your UGC contests.

You can even partner with influencers to create collaborated or sponsored content. This could come in the form of product reviews and lifestyle content.

However, don’t oversell your brand, as this could affect your content’s authenticity. Always choose the unfiltered route in creating content on TikTok.

Using TikTok Ads to Boost Your Strategy

A good balance between ads and organic posts is key for sustainable growth. This marketing principle is also applicable to your TikTok campaigns.

By 2027, TikTok’s ad revenue is projected to surpass $54 billion. More brands see TikTok as a profitable marketing platform, and rightfully so.

There are different types of ads on TikTok, including the following:

• Premium TopView ads
• In-feed ads with clickable CTAs
• Branded hashtag challenges
• Product collection ads
• Ads with Augmented Reality (AR) effects and filters
• Live shopping ads

Putting up advertisements is not a cheap investment, though. That’s why you should maximize your opportunities. Here are tips for your ads to perform well on TikTok:

• Use strong CTAs alongside your ads. We recommend conversion-oriented CTAs like encouraging purchases or account sign-ups.
• Leverage audience targeting options. Don’t show ads to random groups of people. Get more engagements by targeting your buyer persona’s demographics, interests, and behavior.
• Experiment with A/B testing. Test different variations of your ads. See which headlines, CTAs, and images work best with your audience. You can also experiment with posting ads during different times of the day.

Most importantly, you must track your ad campaign’s performance. Monitor key metrics like click-through rate, form sign-ups, and purchase conversions.

Collaborating with TikTok Influencers

There’s an influencer on every social media channel. TikTok is no exception, especially with its unique short-form content. Collaborating with influencers could be the perfect boost that your TikTok profile needs.

But how do you make influencer marketing work for your brand?

Without the proper screening process, influencers might do more harm than good. Here are tips that help guarantee an excellent influencer-brand partnership:

• Check their target audience. Their audience should be at least similar or relevant to yours. This way, you reach people with high intent to engage or purchase your products.
• Ask for the influencer’s previous performance metrics. Analyze the authenticity of their engagement and interactions. A high follower count doesn’t always translate to audience engagement.

Also, we recommend giving your influencers some creative freedom. Of course, you must observe how they comply with your brand guidelines. But it’s important to let them do their thing, without micro-managing their work.

Measuring Success on TikTok

Trends and customer interests change almost every week or month. How can you sustain your TikTok performance in a quickly-evolving digital space?

The answer lies in data-driven, analytics-backed performance monitoring processes.

We handpicked proven strategies to effectively measure the success of your TikTok campaign:

• Focus on key metrics. You should prioritize key TikTok metrics, including views, shares, and engagement rates.
• Always optimize your advertisements. Increase your ROI by tweaking your ads when necessary. You can also work with paid media experts to guarantee your TikTok advertising success.
• Stick to what’s working. TikTok experimenting is recommended, but only if nothing’s working. Stick to content types, headlines, and CTAs that work best with your audience.

Be alert and immediately adjust your TikTok strategies when prompted. Working with eCommerce paid media agencies could also help. They can streamline your entire TikTok marketing playbook, especially your advertising strategies.

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Conclusion

From the looks of it, TikTok is taking over as one of the best content platforms globally. It makes for a revenue-generating marketing platform, especially if you reel in a sizable audience.

Creativity, consistency, and relevance — these are the three essential components of your TikTok strategy. Understand your audience’s interests and consistently churn out content around those topics. Then, you can monitor your campaign’s performance and improve on those weaker areas.

You don’t have to do it alone, though.

You could collaborate with social media experts like Fortis Media to better resonate with your TikTok audience. They offer marketing and content expertise for every facet of your TikTok campaign. This way, you can future-proof your strategies and maximize the resources you put in.