TikTok’s 1 billion (and quickly growing) users per month achievement have won the social app the coveted title of being among the top social marketing channels for local businesses. So don’t be in a hurry to dismiss TikTok as just an entertainment option for Gen Zs. It’s a lot more than that and if you haven’t discovered its marketing potency for your local business marketing yet, then this would be a good time to get started.
As a brand you need authentic social connections if you want to make some solid marketing gains right? Well, TikTok can make that happen for your local business.
Ok let’s backtrack a bit here – as you probably already know, TikTok’s content is mostly focused on trends and challenges and so it is heavy on the entertainment tone. However, the one thing you cannot deny TikTok is its propensity to drive creativity – even if some of the content comes across as silly and whimsical, it still is “authentic.” You don’t have to necessarily subscribe to the “TikTok brand of humor or entertainment” of course. But what if your local business can position itself as an easy-to-connect brand that offers users “authentic” and real content and conversations?
Isn’t that worth exploring?
So if you are ready to grab your share of TikTok success, then here are 8 marketing strategies worth exploring in 2022.
Is There Such a Thing as TikTok Marketing?
Just like any other social channel, TikTok marketing offers brands extensive opportunities to market their business among target customers. So you can use the platform to promote your local brand by using TikTok advertising, or by creating viral organic content and using strategies such as influencer marketing.
5 Ways TikTok Can Help Your Local Business;
- Help drive your local brand awareness.
- Help you collect customer feedback.
- Help advertise your local business among target audiences.
- Help in selling your business services and products and offer customer service.
- Expand your pool of engaged social communities.
Create Your Own TikTok Business Account – It’s Easy!
- Visit your profile page.
- Go to the Settings and Privacy tab (top right corner.)
- Click on the Manage Account section.
- Select Switch to Business Account under Account control.
- Select the category that best fits your business account description describes your account.
- Next, build your profile by adding a business website and email.
8 TikTok Strategies to Drive your Local Marketing
TikTok can do great things to drive your local business brand popularity among target audiences. However, you need to keep one thing in mind before you get started – the majority of TikTok natives are 35 and younger. And this is one demographic that shuns direct “in-your-face” marketing. So approach on TikTok needs to be crafted to align with this one fact.
Now that you know about the most important consideration for achieving TikTok success, let’s get started.
1. Get Creative With How You Tell Your Brand Story
Social is all about authentic storytelling. It’s what connects social users with brands. There is always some background story to TikTok videos – a theme or dare or trend which drives successful TikTok video ideas.
Give some thought to ideas/stories that can drive your TikTok local business videos – and remember, you have the time frame of only a few seconds to capture audience attention.
So make sure your video is snappy, short, and packs a punch.
2. Don’t make Marketing Look Obvious
This again ties in with the above point – if your TikTok videos are marketing-centric, then it probably is going to come across as just another marketing video. And who wants to watch that – certainly not Gen Zs!
So yes, you’ll need to get creative. Challenges and trends drive TikTok videos. See how best you can leverage this when creating your TikTok local business video. Don’t approach your video with the sole aim of advertising – you need to capture their attention and organically get them interested in your brand. You win when you have convinced your audience to watch your video.
3. Leverage TikTok’s Endless Pool of “Social Influencers”
One of the best things about TikTok is that anyone can become an overnight TikTok sensation or influencer. All you need is one snappy video – and a TikTok creator can go from zero to millions of views in a few hours! And there are so many such influencers on TikTok.
This means you have an endless pool of TikTok influencers to leverage when targeting your audience. So for example, if you want to reach out to local audiences in a particular geography, then look for a local TikTok sensation with a substantial following in that area.
To help brands quickly find ideal influencers, TikTok has created an analytics tool called “TikTok Creator Marketplace.” Use the tool to find TikTok users and gain access to important information such as the influencers’ views, engagement, demographic, and reach, among other information.
4. Use a TikTok Hashtag Challenge
Hashtag challenges are a rave on TikTok. And they can throw up some fantastic ideas for a video. Hashtag challenges get some of the highest responses because they encourage a reaction from users – which in turn helps build brand interaction and engagement.
So how does a hashtag challenge work? In simple words, a hashtag challenge encourages the viewer to create and post content that aligns with the content under a specific hashtag. Now the hashtag could be anything from a song or dance or an exercise challenge that encourages your followers to get involved and creates a chain-reaction or viral reaction to spreading the word about your brand.
The trick, however, is to choose a hashtag challenge that aligns with your brand for the best ROI.
5. Maintain Consistency With Your Uploads
Just like any other social or digital tool, you need to ensure you maintain uploading consistency. Don’t be discouraged by your initial video responses, they might not garner the desired audience attention. Keep at it and use this period to experiment – try different things and see what works and what does not.
When you identify the type of content that ticks, you can then do more of that and optimize what you upload. Remember, once you have a following, you will need to be careful about what you upload.
6. Capitalize on User-Generated Content
If there is one thing that social crowds love, including your Gen Zs, it is to be involved in content creation. And this is one of the biggest advantages of using TikTok.
Connect with your TikTok audiences on a deeper level by encouraging them to be involved with your brand by sharing videos of their personal experiences with your brand. Whether they bought a product or used your service, ask them to create a video sharing this experience. This is a fantastic brand conversion trick on TikTok!
7. Repurposing TikTok Content
Another big advantage that TikTok videos offer brands is that the videos offer fantastic repurposing opportunities over multiple social channels. Just add a TikTok video to your email, publish it over your local business website, or even send it directly to your Instagram Stories. The videos on TikTok are short and so easily customizable. So as long as your videos carry the same message, it could supercharge your content pipeline.
8. TikTok Works with Any Budget!
Budgets and advertising spending are a top priority for most brands. Including big brands. The only difference is that big brands have more navigation space with their budgets. But what about small and medium-sized local businesses?
Social advertising on big platforms such as Facebook can be a budget breaker for many brands. But there’s good news with TikTok.
TikTok for business can be customized to suit any budget size. You can use In-feed ads, these are similar to an Instagram Story, or you can go ahead and create shoppable in-feed videos. Add CTA buttons and links to the videos and you can direct users to your landing page to make a purchase.
Just like Instagram Shopping posts, you can go ahead and include a URL to your video which will then direct the user to your store.
To Wrap Up
Local businesses and brands that want to build on their social connections should look at TikTok in addition to other social platforms. Brand exposure does not simply mean expanding your customer base – but it also means ensuring your brand is seen as active. And one of the best ways of doing this is with TikTok’s short videos that can drive up social engagement and build organic reach for your brand quickly.
