Should I do TikTok marketing to grow my business?

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media, even faster than that of Instagram. As of 2020, there are 800 million active users worldwide.  To give a summary of Tiktok, it is a platform for users to post short and engaging videos. It ranges for dance challenges, sharing of facts, or just any random ideas the user has. 41% of the users are between 16-24 years old and 60% of the users are from Generation Z. Each user is found to spend around 52 minutes on the platform daily. Before deciding whether to do TikTok marketing to grow your business, it is important to understand how TikTok works to make a decision.

TikTok emphasises on content.

Firstly, one distinct feature of TikTok is that the content can get very viral, sometimes unexpectedly. You can have videos with over millions of views and see that the account has fewer followers than expected. This shows how important content is. It doesn’t matter who creates it, whether the creator is an influencer or not. Users look at the content. If it is entertaining, they will share it and eventually it will go viral. Below is an example of a TikTok video 15.9m plays, 3.1m likes but the user has 31.4k followers (which is not few, but fewer than many other viral accounts). Essentially, the power in TikTok lies in your content! 

TikTok has its own algorithm and weighing system.

Secondly, it is important to understand the algorithm on your social media platforms, and TikTok included. Based on the article released by TikTok a few days ago, there are certain ways they recommend content to their users. One of the most important ways for other users to notice your content is through the “For You” page. Each user will have a For You page that is specifically curated for him/her. 

As mentioned in the article, there are a few factors that contribute to TikTok recommending your content. For example, it could be due to the user’s activities on the platform, for example which accounts the user interacts with. It is also due to your location settings. If you have not realised, TikTok is likely to recommend content that is near your location. 

These factors will go through their weighting system. Finishing a video indicates a user’s interest, hence TikTok will take a more significant look at that as compared to, say your location settings. 

After understanding how the algorithm works, it is vital that you create content that attracts your audience so as to get a higher chance to appear on their For You page and eventually increase your brand engagement and awareness. 

TikTok allows brands to advertise.

Lastly, advertisements are also available on TikTok. In fact Tiktok offers a few choices for brands. Some interesting ones are “In Feed videos” which allow your advertisement to appear on a user’s For You page. There is also the “Brand Takeover” advertisement which allows your ads to appear at the screen once the user opens the app. There is also “Hashtag Challenges” which will appear on the Discover page to encourage users to engage with the hashtag. 

These ads are available at different prices and is worth considering if you like to invest in advertising on this platform.

Conclusion

These are some aspects of TikTok that you should find out and learn about before looking for ways to use Tiktok marketing to grow your business. TikTok might not be suitable for all businesses but it is worth a look as it is one of the most popular platforms now. It has given content a new dimension and has added on to the increasing of video content. Hence, it would be wise to consider how TikTok marketing can help your business with all these features.