What’s all this hubbub about clocks? It’s TikTok— and for businesses, it’s TikTok marketing!

Using TikTok for your business can get you in front of more people than you’d expect. 

While TikTok may be a newer player in the social media game—debuting outside of China in 2017—it has quickly become one of the largest social media platforms across the globe. 

Not convinced on TikTok’s hold on the world? Check out these TikTok marketing statistics: 

• Three billion people have downloaded TikTok globally
• One billion people use TikTok every month 
• TikTok has an average user engagement session of 10.85 minutes, while Pinterest, the second best for engagement, has an average session time of 5.06 minutes.
• 90% of TikTok users log in to TikTok every day
• The number of U.S. adults on TikTok increased 5.5 times in nearly 18 months
• Over 65% of TikTok users say TikTok helps them make purchase decisions

Basically, a lot of people view multiple TikToks every day, and some even make purchases from what they see. With a TikTok marketing strategy, you can be the business that TikTok users purchase from. 

Before you get into the thick of it, let’s cover the basics of using TikTok. 

What is TikTok marketing?

TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to upload and interact with videos up to three minutes long. TikTok marketing involves utilizing TikTok and its features to reach your audience. 

You can reach TikTok users through both paid and organic (unpaid) content. More on that later.

The best part of marketing on TikTok is that you don’t need any video experience to get started. You only need an idea and a smartphone to become a TikToker. 

How TikTok works

If you don’t have a TikTok business account, you can create one by going to your account settings, selecting “Manage account,” and choosing “Switch to Business Account.” 

While you can upload videos created outside of the app, TikTok has a built-in editor with user-friendly features to help you produce an attention-grabbing video. 

In its editor, you can add text, audio, and more. 

Organic TikTok marketing

The TikTok interface has several ways for users to watch videos, and one very important part of this is the “For You” page. 

The “For You” page is where TikTok recommends videos to users. You may also see ads while scrolling here. 

According to TikTok, content is recommended based on factors like:

• How users interact with videos
• Details about the videos
• The device and settings someone uses

So, for example, if you frequently like and comment on videos of cats, you’ll probably see more videos of cats on your “For You” page. 

A video’s popularity doesn’t guarantee it a spot on everyone’s “For You” page, which gives small creators a chance to grow. 

Great ways to get your videos in front of more users are: 

• Using trending or business-related hashtags
• Using trending audio (like songs or dialogue)
• Adding captions to your videos

Paid TikTok marketing

If you like organic marketing on TikTok, you may want to consider investing in ads on the app, too. You can do this through the TikTok Ads Manager platform.

In Ads Manager, you can create your ads and view vital campaign metrics to make sure you’re hitting your business goals.

TikTok offers businesses several ad formats, including: 

• TopView ads, which appear when someone first opens the TikTok app
• In-Feed ads, which show up on a user’s “For You” page
• Branded Hashtag Challenge, which encourages users to share videos using a branded hashtag
• Branded Effects, which allows TikTokers to use your branded stickers, filters, and other effects in their videos

You can pay for TikTok ads how you would on another social media platform—with a bidding system. You can use four different types of bidding on TikTok:

• Cost per thousand impressions (CPM): You pay to get your ad in front of 1000 people.
• Optimized cost per thousand impressions (oCPM): You pay to get your ad in front of 1000 people who are likely to take an action.
• Cost per thousand views (CPV): You pay to get 1000 people to watch your video for two seconds, six seconds, or its entire length.
• Cost per click (CPC): You pay for every click on your ads.

Once you’re logged into TikTok Ads Manager, you can choose a goal for your ad, set your audience targeting, finalize your budget, and design your ad. You can either use your own video assets or create something new when preparing to launch your ads. 

How do you get the best return on investment (ROI) from your TikTok marketing strategy? We have four tips. 

4 tips for creating a TikTok marketing strategy

Want to start promoting your business through TikTok? Here are four strategies to get started:

1. Set goals for your TikTok account

We always recommend knowing what you want to achieve before you spend time creating content. If you don’t set goals, you’ll be left saying, “Oh no! Our TikTok! It’s broken!”

Your goals serve as the roadmap that guides your strategy. If you want to sell more products, you’ll want to feature your products in your videos. Same goes for your services. 

If your goal is to build brand awareness (and your following), you’ll want to create shareable content that appeals to a large audience and interact with people who interact with you. That includes taking part in viral trends, telling stories with your videos, and responding to comments. 

Choosing a goal for your ads is even easier, because TikTok has pre-set goals for you: 

• Awareness, which is aimed at reaching a large audience
• Consideration, which includes growing website traffic, getting app installs, increasing video views, and generating leads
• Conversions, which focuses on driving action on your website and boosting sales

Once you know your goals, you’re prepared to move forward with your killer TikTok strategy. 

2. Pay attention to viral trends

Spend an hour or two scrolling through TikTok, and you’ll notice common sounds or similar formats appearing in a lot of different videos. No cap. (Translation: We’re not kidding.) 

As we mentioned earlier, hopping on a viral trend is a great way to reach more people.

A quick way to figure out what hashtags and audio clips are trending is to use the Discover feature.

Don’t be afraid to look at other brands for inspiration, too! Many major companies create TikToks—and small businesses do, too.

3. Engage with other TikTok creators

Partnering with other brands and creators is a great way to reach new customers. You not only engage with your audience, but can also gain new followers and fans from whoever you partner with. 

Gritty, the chaotic mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers, frequently posts TikToks that get fans talking. In one TikTok, you see Gritty taking part in a viral audio trend with TikTok influencer Dixie D’Amelio.

While you may not have a famous orange monster running your TikTok, you can still reach out to people in your industry and create collaborative videos for your TikTok marketing strategy. 

For example, if you paint homes and a paint manufacturer you like has a TikTok, reach out with an opportunity to collaborate. You can give paid influencer marketing a try, which involves paying a popular social media user to promote your brand. 

Engagement doesn’t need to stop at collabs, though. 

Respond to comments on your TikToks. Reply to messages from interested users. Go out of your way to comment on other videos. 

After hilariously redesigning the logos of several brands, TikTok creator @emilyzugay received plenty of comments from other companies looking to hop on the trend. 

Don’t miss your shot at interacting with the next trending creator. 

4. Review your TikTok marketing results

You can’t have a good TikTok marketing strategy without measuring your performance. 

Keep track of how well both your ads and organic videos perform. 

Is there anything that worked that you’d like to repeat? Is there anything you tried that didn’t get great results? 

Keep in mind that if a video did well using a certain trend, you might not be as successful trying that trend again. TikTok changes rapidly, so you have to keep a finger on the pulse to know what your audience is watching and listening to. 

Get help with your TikTok marketing by partnering with WebFX

Our last bit of advice is to not be scared of experimenting. TikTok has plenty of features to explore, and you won’t know what works for you until you try new things. 

Now grab your phone, because you’re ready to become a TikToker. 

But if you’re afraid you can’t keep up with the changing trends on TikTok, you could also hire a team of digital advertising professionals to stay on top of trends for you. Contact our team today to find out how we can help you with your TikTok marketing!