To understand exactly what we are talking about when we mention TikTok for Business, it is necessary to start at the beginning.
In 2014, Musical.ly was born, an app that quickly became a huge success, especially among young people.
This app was created for the purpose of sharing music. And users had the ability to share short videos of themselves on their channels, where they lip-synced to music (lip-sync).
And all users could step into the shoes of Beyoncé and/or Pavarotti, for a few minutes of their lives.
Needless to say, success has gradually amplified, making the app appealing even to the “less young.”
But in 2018, Chinese company Bytedance decided to acquire the popular app and merge it with a new one.
The result of this merger? TikTok.
TikTok, just like Musical.ly, is a social platform set up for sharing videos, where users can indulge in performing choreography and famous singers.
Not only that.
In fact, since the merger, TikTok’s active users have grown nearly 800 percent, creating a need to enjoy different content for all ages.
So the doors were opened to comedy skits, challenging movies, tutorials, etc., making the world of TikTok more and more inclusive.
Obviously, such considerable user activity could not have escaped the notice of digital marketing professionals, who immediately realized the potential of leveraging TikTok to do marketing.
Similarly, the creators of the App themselves also perceived the high advertising potential of their creation. Thus they recently started TikTok for Business.
What is TikTok For Business?
TikTok Business Account is the innovative all-in-one tool, an advertising account for professionals who want to develop their own Tik Tok Business.
But with an extra gear. Because with TikTok For Business, the implementation of the marketing strategy is accompanied by the social network itself.
In fact, even without devising a completely new strategy from scratch, the platform helps us through the entire process of creating ads, setting budgets, reaching target audiences and analyzing ad campaign data.
Quite a bit of time (and neurons) gained: simply create your own business manager tik tok.
The goal of TikTok for Business, stated by the creators of the social network themselves, is to help companies unleash their creative side by teaching them how to use the app through their e-learning service, and guiding them through the creation of advertisements, through the Ads Manager platform.
5 Examples of advertising on TikTok
The only marketing format that companies can use on TikTok, are video advertisements.
Now let’s see what you can accomplish through the Tik Tok business center.
The TikTok For Business Ads Manager platform, can help in creating these types of ads. In addition, we have a choice of 5 different formats:
1. TopView Ads
TopView ads on TikTok for Business, are videos that are displayed once a day, immediately after a user opens their app for the first time.
An example of TopView, is the ad made by the company M&M, with a Halloween theme.
TopView ads can last up to 60 seconds. And considering that a TikTok video has a maximum duration of 15, the TopView ad has a much longer duration.
For this reason, this ad is perfect for Companies that want to advertise products or services that require a longer attention span. Like movie trailers for example.
2. In-Feed Ads
In-Feed ads are videos that are displayed on a user’s Main Page, otherwise known as the “Page For You” (Page For You).
In short, a kind of Home Page, where every user lands when accessing the TikTok App.
The For You page, shows some videos that TikTok’s algorithm thinks might be interesting to the user, based on their activity on the app.
In these terms, we can say that TikTok for Business embraces the philosophy ofInbound Marketing. And in a way, it is akin to HubSpot as well.
But back to us.
In-Feed ads are recognizable, as they occupy the fourth position in each user’s feed.
Just to be clear, the In-Feed ad is very similar to the type of ad that appears in the Instagram feed.
Below we can see an In-Feed announcement from Oppo Mobile.
In-Feed ads are particularly useful for increasing conversions because they can be accompanied by a Call To Action (CTA).
In this image we see the CTA of Fitness Coach, inviting us to download the app so that we can train from the comfort of home.
3. Branded Hashtag Challenge
A Branded Hashtag, is nothing more than a Brand in the form of a Hashtag.
These are advertisements that companies use to inspire TikTok users, the so-called TikTokers, to create content around a specific hashtag. Obviously related to their own Company.
The use of the hashtag, is exclusive. As a result, TikTok for Business offers companies the opportunity to have their own reference hashtag, without running the risk of being “robbed” by competitors.
This is an additional feature of TikTok that differentiates it from other social networks. In fact, as far as other social channels are concerned, no hashtag officially has an owner.
Of course, in order to use a hashtag exclusively, there is a price, and a rather high one at that. In fact, it is estimated to cost an average of about $150,000, for six days.
For example, suppose we are a sportswear company that has just launched a new T-shirt, called “Goal Shirt.”
We could create a Branded Hashtag, for example #InMyGoalShirt, in which we encourage other TikTok users, who have purchased our product, to post a video of themselves doing physical activity in our shirt.
Jennifer Lopez also used a Branded Hashtag to advertise her song, Pa Ti.
The hashtag is called #PaTiChallenge, and the singer posted a video of herself dancing, in which she encourages TikTok users to take part in the challenge by replicating the choreography.
The hashtag #PaTiChallenge, in this case, has garnered 2.4 billion views.
Hashtag Challenges can be presented on the Discover page of TikTok , where users can find new Challenges, and browse trending hashtags.
The Discover page is similar to Instagram’s Explore page.
4. Brand Takeovers
Brand Takeovers are an ad format that can include TopView, In-Feed and Branded Hashtags all at the same time.
They can also be videos, gifs, or static images. In this case TikTok offers only one activity per day, and the initial cost is about $50,000 per day.
Guess , the well-known fashion company, ran a Brand Takeover on TikTok to advertise its new jeans.
In six days, their TikTok account gained over 12 thousand new followers, and generated a total engagement rate of 14.3 percent.
Their brand Takeover included Top View, Branded Hashtag and In-Feed ads.
5. Branded Effects
Branded Effects ads use 2D, 3D or Augmented Reality (AR), to add product images in TikTok videos.
Brands typically create stickers of their products, GIFs or filters, which TikTokers can use while creating their videos. These applications, increase engagement and Brand Awareness of the Company.
Puma, the well-known clothing company, used Branded Effects to advertise its new soccer shoes.
The customized 3D sticker for Puma, offered users the chance to play with a soccer ball, in virtual reality.
And the pairing of the 3D sticker with a contested hashtag generated more than 100,000 videos of user-generated content in a very short time.
Why should you use TikTok For Business in your marketing strategy?
Business TikTok center falls into place.
Just at the time when it is clear that the new social network has a strong attractive power for companies that want to advertise their business on TikTok.
Take the American coffee company Dunkin’ as an example. Also known as Dunkin’ Donuts.
To advertise its products on TikTok, Dunkin’ decided to collaborate with a popular influencer, Charli D’amelio, who often makes videos of herself sipping Dunkin’ coffee.
At only 16 years old, Charli has over 97 million followers on TikTok.
Although his platform focuses primarily on dance videos, he announced his partnership with Dunkin’ in a TikTok video, which has been viewed about 60 million times. In less than two months.
Well, Dunkin’ reported seeing a 45 percent increase in sales the day after the influencer’s announcement.
Of course, the decision to use Busines Tik Tok in your marketing strategy depends on your business goals.
To make your decision easier, below is a list of Pros and Cons, in using TikTok in your marketing strategy.
Using TikTok for Business in your strategy: the Pros
Let’s see together what the benefits are for companies that decide to use TikTok for Business in their strategy.
TikTok Ads Manager will help you expose your content to a new audience.
The “Similar Audience Segments” feature of the new platform, helps you select similar target audiences to those you are already considering.
TikTok Business has over 600 million active users, and is available in 155 different countries. While our Brand is less well known than our competitors, this could lead to greater awareness, by a large segment of the public.
However, let us keep some data in mind.
In fact, 32.5 percent of TikTok users are between the ages of 10 and 19. While 29.5% between the ages of 20 and 29.
If your Buyer Personas match this type of user, your business will only take off.
TikTok thrives on informal, “behind-the-scenes” content.
Authenticity, is of paramount importance to Generation Z.
If we produce rather formal, perhaps more sales-oriented content for our Brand, using the platform can help us better express our creativity by delivering valuable, customer-oriented content.
In essence, a state-of-the-art content marketing strategy .
44.81% of the world’s population owns a smartphone
Given and considering that the number of users from mobile is continuously increasing, it is strategic to consider implementing a mobile-based marketing strategy.
Currently, we are surrounded by all kinds of smartphone models, equipped with any kind of technology.
Right out of our pocket could come the tool that can increase our business-so why not use it?
In fact, we can use TikTok for Business to create advertisements, right from the palm of our hand. And thus manage part of our strategy with one click.
TikTok has higher engagement rates than Instagram and Twitter.
Although TikTok is the “youngest” social network, in 2019 the average engagement rate, was even higher than both Instagram and Twitter.
With this data in hand, it is easy to perceive the enormous potential of TikTok as a marketing and advertising tool.
In fact, any Brand, whether large or small, is guaranteed to get a large percentage of the audience involved.
Using TikTok for Business in your strategy: the Cons
Now let’s analyze what are the hot buttons of Tik Tok for business. Obviously in this way you will have a complete overview to help you understand whether a marketing strategy based on TikTok might be right for you.
TikTok users are not representative
Because the majority of TikTok users are very young, our target audience on this social network corresponds to a certain age group. Which may not perfectly match our target Buyer Persona.
Marketing activity for our Company therefore, may require a different audience. And vice versa, TikTok users may not be interested in your product or service, or may not have a need for it.
TikTok requires “easy” content
The type of content requested by TikTok, may not be in line with our mission.
Often the real challenge, is just adapting our “more serious” content, to the fun and light content required by TikTok users.
As we have repeatedly said, focus is critical to the growth of our business. And we certainly cannot deprive ourselves of it in an effort to try to use a new channel of communication.
TikTok For Business reports cannot be integrated with other platforms
Every Company knows how crucial data is, especially in understanding the performance and effectiveness of its marketing strategy. Whether it is equipped with Marketing Campaigns, or Social Media.
Unfortunately, at the moment, it does not appear that TikTok wants to integrate with commercially available CRMs.
So collecting the data that we need, and that we care about, will require a few more steps, compared to Facebook and Instagram.
In fact, although the “Ad Management” section of TikTok for Business is a great help, that data (for now) will not be able to be accompanied by Marketing Automation.
Implement your strategy on TikTok
As we have seen, incorporating the new TikTok global platform service into our social media marketing strategy can be a valuable tool for growing our business.
In fact, although the app requires niche content, and for a fairly defined target audience, our Companies have the opportunity to diversify their strategy by creating lead generation through these new tools.
Now all you have to do is create a TikTok account.
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