Whether it’s a morning must do or an evening wind down, TikTok has woven itself into the daily routines of over 8.5 million Australians. This platform demonstrates its formidable influence with data showing its ad types surpass traditional media by 23-40% in detail memory retention. For marketers, this insight is a clarion call: with audiences captivated by TikTok, tapping into its vast potential is an opportunity worth investigating as part of a brand's marketing and communication strategies.
With viral videos, transient trends and the ever flowing stream of influencer apology videos, as a brand, dipping your TikTok toe can feel risky. This article aims to demystify the process, outlining key considerations for crafting an effective strategy to maximise impact while minimising risk.
Paid vs. Organic Content
A balanced approach, incorporating both TikTok advertising and organic content, often yields the best long-term results. Organic content is key for driving awareness, fostering relationships, and boosting credibility. Paid strategies, meanwhile, focus on expanding reach, targeting ideal customers, and sparking conversations about your brand. However, focusing solely on paid ads can also be a strategic choice, depending on the campaign's goals.
Tiktok's selection of paid content ranges from takeovers to hashtag challenges.
Understanding the Platform and Content Types
Your strategy for TikTok advertising does not necessarily need to be built around the types of organic content that you may commonly encounter on your for you page (FYP). Whilst organic content can be a valuable part of your strategy, there are a range of ad types available that when supported by a solid strategy, have the propensity to capitalise on the breadth of opportunity TikTok have on offer for brands.
Defining Your Budgets
Achieving significant reach organically can be challenging and time consuming. A well-planned strategy helps define the intent and bring clarity to the approach, streamlining content creation and production for content managers and creative agency partners.
Paid advertising as the name alludes, comes with a cost both for ad spend and production. However, with the customer and engagement data TikTok offers, a strong business case can be made to align a brand's objectives to budgets that best capitalise on the opportunities TikTok affords advertisers.
Mitigating Risks
A well-rounded TikTok strategy must consider brand safety measures and a defined approach to content moderation. Decisions on any adaptations to a brand's tone of voice and creative tone, responses and access to comment sections and shareability are all key considerations that should be defined in order to mitigate risk and allow for ease of management for the defined moderator.
Creativity and Format
Success on TikTok hinges on leveraging the platform's strengths—full-screen cinematic views with sound playing a vital role. Brands should aim to create content that stands out, yet doesn’t necessarily have to be complex. Consider the following:
- Be clear in your messaging and consider direct engagement, such as speaking to the camera.
- Recognize the importance of quick engagement; introduce your product or brand early.
- Produce content specifically for TikTok, utilising its full-screen format.
- Include captions to accommodate various user preferences.
- Use strong calls to action (CTAs).
- Continuously test and refine creative based on audience feedback.
If you’re feeling ready to chat about dipping your TikTok toe, reach out and we can discuss how your brand can make a splash.
Rebecca came to HIVE with a Bachelor of Business in Marketing and a brain overflowing with ideas. With marketing experience in construction, education and the real estate arena, a passion for health and a habit for travelling far and wide, Rebecca’s finger is constantly on the pulse and is our go-to lady for the latest digital trends. When she’s not cooking up a storm, Bec is throwing uppercuts at the boxing club or keeping her golden lab Barnaby from chewing all her possessions.
