who hasn't recorded or watched a video on TikTok? This social network is becoming one of the most used nowadays, mainly by young people, and is even surpassing in numbers other more traditional networks. But what is its origin, how does it work, how can it help you increase sales and boost your business? Today we'll tell you about it.
where did TikTok come from and how does it work?
TikTok was first launched in September 2016 in China under the name Douyin, which means "shake the music", a perfect name as this social network is based on sharing short music clips. It also took only 200 days to be developed.
Behind the app was none other than Chinese tech company Bytedance, whose most popular product is the AI-based news aggregator Toutiao, which has around 120 million users in China. Bytedance is also the company that bought Musical.ly for $1 billion in November 2017.
In terms of how it works, TikTok allows you to create, edit and upload 1-minute musical selfie videos, and you can apply various effects and add a musical background to them. It also has some AI functions, and includes eye-catching special effects, filters, and augmented reality features. Similarly, almost all of the content on TikTok is entertainment, but there are also channels and information resources, such as the section dedicated to COVID-19, which compiles all the links to the institutional pages of various countries so that users can find out about the coronavirus in their language: from measures to avoid contagion, to what the symptoms are and what to do if you suspect you have the virus.
8 steps to increase your sales with TikTok
- analyse whether your business' buyer persona uses the TikTok app. In this phase of analysis you should consider the age of your buyer, their interests or tastes, their habits..
- optimise your company's profile on TikTok. Once you have registered your company's account on TikTok, it's time to optimise the entire profile. As with any other social network, you need to add a profile image in accordance with your company's communication line, design an attractive biography with a hashtag specific to your brand, include the link to your company's website and also to your other social networks such as Instagram.
- create a content marketing strategy on TikTok for your business. You should make a content plan in which you establish what type of videos you will upload and what tactics you will implement to engage your audience with those videos. Focus on fun content, depending on the message you want to send as a business .
- use hashtags in your company's content strategy on TikTok. Hashtags allow you to discover and create communities around a common theme, idea, challenge, etc.
- use advertising through TikTok Ads for businesses. To create an advertising campaign, you have the following 5 ad formats that can be configured through TikTok Ads:
- In-feed (biddable ads or native ads)
- Brand takeover
- Hashtag challenge
- Branded lenses
- measure the engagement of your company's content on TikTok. It is essential to measure the engagement of the content published on TikTok, as by knowing the engagement rates you can make decisions that will allow you to improve the content to connect even more with your audience.
- Apply informality: To create authentic and informal content you don't need many tools. Doing so is a simple task because the platform offers many facilities to create content. Keep in mind that to entertain your audience you will need a bit of imagination and creativity.
- Create alliances with influencers. Alliances with influencers can be an ingenious strategy to sponsor your product. The only thing you have to evaluate is if the audience that follows the selected influencer is similar to your target audience. This way, it will be easier to get new customers.
3 examples of how TikTok can be used by businesses
- guess, the fashion giant has its own hashtag on TikTok: #LoveGUESS, but when it started to make inroads on this social network, it did it through the front door with the hashtag challenge #InMyDenim.
- Inter Milan: On its TikTok account, @Inter shares glorious team moments during matches, backstage activities and challenges, inviting followers to share their football skills.
- Haidilao: This Chinese restaurant started offering DIY recipes on its menu, so that customers could prepare their own food and record the process on TikTok. The result of this campaign was a significant increase in orders for DIY menus.
In conclusion, we recommend that you keep an eye on this social network, as Tiktok is growing and its audiences will gradually start to diversify.
