How to succeed on TikTok

With 1.5 billion downloads and 600 million monthly active users, TikTok has become a platform that advertisers and marketers should keep an eye on. But which brands should really be present on TikTok, and how do you manage to navigate in this minefield of algorithms?

Initially, you must find out if it’s relevant for your brand to be on TikTok. Take a look at the list below. If your brand agrees with the majority of the points, there is no doubt that you should be on TikTok today, preferably yesterday!

You have or want to have a target group consisting of Generation Z

This will change as times passes, as it always does with new social media platforms. But at the moment Generation Z dominates TikTok, as it amounts to more than 60% of the total number of users. If your brand wants to reach out to this creative, trend-setting and lip-syncing generation, TikTok is the right channel for you.

Social media plays an important role in your marketing strategy

In our opinion, this should apply to all brands, but some to a greater extent than others. If you are already active on social media and it provides value for money, it may be worth considering TikTok as a part of the next step.

Video content is a central part of your strategy on social media

Again, something we think should be the case for every brand. By 2021, 82% of all online content is predicted to consist of video content, so if you haven't adapted to this already, it's about time!

Your most important social media KPIs are reach and engagement

TikTok's measurement tools are still at an early stage of development, but as of today two of the most important KPIs can be measured - reach and engagement. In addition, you can use discount codes and affiliate links to measure sales, but for TikTok's young audience this should not be done too frequently.

But how do you succeed? How do you go viral on TikTok? The truth is that no one knows! Videos that probably have taken hours to create can flop with a few likes. At the same time, a girl drinking kombucha for the first time can generate 12.1 million views and go viral with a hundreds of memes. This is also the enchantment with TikTok - that anyone can break through thanks to TikTok's algorithm, that highlights all sorts of videos, regardless of the number of followers or likes.

However, there are some things that the most viral videos have in common, so here are our best tips for a successful presence on TikTok:

Keep up to date

Use the app frequently to keep up with the latest trends. Is there any extra viral challenge on right now, or is there any other trend that is relevant for your brand? To distinguish trends and what Generation Z likes, is essential for those who want to succeed on TikTok.

Be agile and act immediately

This goes hand in hand with the previous tip. On TikTok things happen overnight! Something that is trending today may be "old news" tomorrow. Therefore, it is important to catch up on new trends and behaviors and act on them early. It is better to publish something relevant and up-to-date, rather than to wait for well-produced content.

Creative and crazy, rather than prestigious and serious

Adapting the content to the platform is always something to strive for, but it tends to be extra important when it comes to TikTok. Creative and lighthearted content with low resolution will probably perform better than serious and stiff content with high resolution. This should be seen as an advantage, since you quickly and easily can produce content without to much planning and big productions.

Fly under the radar

Nobody on TikTok really wants to see sponsored content, not even on the most popular creators' profiles. As young users have grown up with advertising and are exposed to hundreds of ads a day, they are almost immune to advertising. Therefore, it pays to be subtle, rather than selling when promoting your brand. Inspiration can be obtained from Crocs, who encouraged users to put shaving foam in their shoes, and at the right beat put their foot in the shoe so that the shaving foam is pushed out of the holes. Bizarre but brilliant!