Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have dominated the social media space for a long time. Today, TikTok has opened a new social media era. Its unique built-in recording and user-friendly editing features allow creators to curate engaging and entertaining content. However, TikTok is not just for consumers or creators anymore. Brands and businesses have consistently increased their investments in TikTok. TikTok is the dominant channel where brands and businesses execute social media marketing campaigns. As for TikTok marketing, partnering up with TikTok influencers is a marketing strategy that significantly benefits brands.
TikTok has over 1 billion users from 150 different countries. In Thailand, daily TikTok users average around 35 million. Based on the increasing popularity of TikTok in Thailand, many Thai brands and businesses of all sizes and industries have jumped on this trend. They incorporate TikTok into their social media strategy, creating content to promote their brands, products, or services. But there are significant barriers that prevent big brands from succeeding on TikTok. That barrier is TikTok’s algorithm which favors underdog stories. The algorithm is designed to amplify content from unknown creators, helping them gain a following and build their presence.
This algorithm makes it difficult for large and established brands to stand out on the platform. The algorithm hinders renowned brands’ offerings. So this article offers several strategies for renowned brands to succeed on TikTok by partnering with TikTok influencers. We also highlight the opportunities and challenges that TikTok presents for brands looking to leverage deep marketing power and generate impressive results on TikTok.
Key Challenges of TikTok Marketing for Brands
With the rise of TikTok, it’s no surprise that many brands and businesses of all sizes and industries are here for the ride. But here are some challenges that they may face while conducting TikTok marketing. Before starting your marketing campaigns on this platform, it is vital to understand its key challenges and be more prepared to succeed.
The Algorithm Favors Underdog Stories
As mentioned above, TikTok has a unique algorithm that favors underdog stories designed to amplify content from newbies and unknown creators with a small following and low engagement. The platform helps them gain a large following, high viewership, and brand presence. TikTok’s algorithm takes small and unknown creators in front of a broad spectrum of fans and audiences.
However, this algorithm makes it more challenging for well-known brands to stand out on the platform. While the algorithm supports small creators on TikTok, it impedes large brands from gaining visibility and traction. This makes it hard for famous brands to reach their target market, achieve engagement, and gain a large audience base.
Content Creation Requires Significant Time and Effort
TikTok’s community notably values authenticity and relatability. TikTok users expect and prefer to see raw and truthful content. When brands aim to create TikTok content, authenticity should be at the forefront of every idea. To gain a large audience base and higher visibility, brands should deliver entertaining, genuine, and valuable content.
Brands and businesses should invest significant time, resources, and effort into TikTok content. It might be a complex and costly process, requiring high creativity and finesse. Nevertheless, to increase brand visibility and traction, it is crucial to stay authentic and relevant. Curating authentic content to express the brand’s values is paramount.
Adapting to a New Format
One of the reasons why TikTok has risen at such a rapid pace is because of how it leverages short-form video. These short-form videos have transformed how people consume online video content. Its popularity lies in the snackable duration and digestible information of each video. These videos span a few seconds. Therefore, they boast a higher retention rate.
However, this new video format requires brands to rethink their content strategy. TikTok videos average around 10 seconds to 1 minute. These short-form videos are ironically more complex to create than long-form ones. Creating TikTok videos for brands is not just about shooting and publishing. It involves storytelling and showcasing brands’ authentic selves through a visual medium. Creating high-quality, engaging videos that play on for a few seconds is no easy feat. Hence, it is a laborious process that many brands on TikTok struggle with.
Key TikTok Marketing Opportunities for Brands with TikTok Influencers
TikTok has some limitations and challenges for brands. Those downsides might make brands and businesses hesitate to start their TikTok marketing campaigns. Nevertheless, it is a platform that brands cannot afford to ignore. TikTok has proven to be a powerful instrument in any brand’s marketing belt. Irrespective of the brand’s size or line of business, TikTok marketing brings enormous benefits.
Access to a Young and Active User Base by Collaborating with TikTok Influencers
TikTok is especially popular among younger generations. Gen Z and Millennials dominate the platform’s user base. These audiences are engaged more in TikTok compared to other social media platforms. For brands and businesses who look to engage with these demographics, TikTok is the best platform. TikTok allows marketers to reach one of the most important consumer segments in today’s market. Thus, marketers can easily tap into their target audiences and increase awareness of their brands or products.
Brands and businesses can collaborate with TikTok influencers to reach a broad target audience. Working with popular TikTok influencers to create content that resonates with their target audience and helps promote their brands, products, or services. Not only does this allow them to widen their reach, but to establish their brand credibility among those collaborators’ unique followers.
Short-form Videos with TikTok Influencers: Flexibility and Creativity
TikTok’s short-video format requires brands to restructure their content strategy. It entails costs, time, and effort. However, it allows for a wide range of creative expression – providing brands with opportunities to experiment with new content formats, storytelling techniques, and engagement strategies. Short-form videos coupled with flexibility and creativity help brands expand and reach more target audiences than ever before. By providing short content of entertainment or information, brands can deliver a new way for audiences to engage with them. Capturing audiences’ attention is the main priority for brands to promote their products or services on Tiktok. Consequently, these short-form videos can effectively help.
The use of TikTok influencers can help maximize the benefit of short-form videos. Snackable and digestible content is TikTok users’ favorite type of content. Collaborating with influencers can double the advantage. Influencers can make branded short-form video content more authentic and relatable to earn target audiences’ trust and build long-term loyalty with only a few seconds of content. Therefore, influencer-generated short-form videos can drive more engagement and immediate reactions.
Create Different Types of Content with TikTok Influencers
TikTok marketing is a world of its own. It offers various ways for brands and businesses to engage with their target audiences. TikTok presents a wide range of content types, such as TikTok challenge videos, lip-syncing videos, tutorials, videos based on trending music or hashtags, and more. Brands and businesses can experiment with different content types to find the ones that resonate best with their target audiences. Brands can identify what types of content can deliver the most views and engagement. Furthermore, brands can tailor their marketing strategy based on the most impactful content type and establish stronger connections with their target audience.
Collaborating with TikTok influencers enables brands to create any content type. As for influencer content, brands can get the opportunity to weave their styles with influencers’ uniqueness. Partnering with TikTok influencers who match brand values results in impactful and successful content. Additionally, influencers have a deep understanding of their audience. Therefore, any brand shown in a piece of content is more likely to be perceived as reliable and authentic.
Leverage Paid Advertising
While organic reach can be difficult for big brands on Tiktok, paid advertising can help increase visibility and drive engagement. TikTok offers a range of advertising options, including in-feed ads, branded effects, and sponsored hashtags. Paid advertising on TikTok is a powerful marketing tool for brands and businesses. It allows brands to showcase their products and services creatively and engagingly, which can instantly attract their target audiences’ attention.
TikTok provides comprehensive advertising performance. It enables brands and businesses to reach wider audiences and track, measure, and evaluate them properly. TikTok advertising also offers extensive targeting and retargeting tools to engage new and existing audiences. It empowers brands to capitalize on their existing audience through custom and lookalike audiences. Furthermore, TikTok paid to advertise helps brands to access valuable insights and analytics that can inform future campaigns and improve overall results.
TikTok Success Stories
Several global brands have succeeded on TikTok by creating content that resonates with the platform audiences. Here are a few examples:
Zara
Zara has often conducted marketing campaigns using AR technology. Its TikTok marketing is no exception. Zara has created videos showcasing in-vogue seasonal collections, which bridge the gap between reality and fantasy. Those videos make for unique viewing and impressive visual experiences for audiences. Consequently, their content has amassed massive views and reactions. Zara has one of the most celebrated TikTok content to date.
BMW
Using TikTok’s unique features, BMW has established a connection with its customer base. BMW has provided content to audiences with demonstrations of how it created its iconic marketing campaigns. Their TikTok marketing approach enormously captured the audience’s attention compared to traditional marketing. BMW’s energetic and refreshing content effectively fascinated TikTok’s younger audience base. BMW also collaborated with numerous renowned influencers and creators, enabling a broader reach across fanbases.
Prada
Prada, a leading luxury brand, also jumped on this TikTok trend, their content gaining millions of views and likes. Their TikTok marketing strategy focuses on video quality over quantity. Prada has produced great artistic visuals using a combination of textures, bright colors, and evocative sounds. Prada’s content effectively showcased its values and style. Their luxurious, high-quality content met the preferences and tastes of TikTok’s dominant audiences.
Collaborate with TikTok Influencers at Influencer House
To conduct a successful TikTok influencer marketing campaign – your influencer choice must align with your brand’s values and goals. Influencer House has the expertise to help your brand to create effective TikTok marketing campaigns. Influencer House is the only Meta-partnered influencer marketing platform in Thailand. We can help your brand develop efficient marketing campaigns, reaching the right target audience by providing suitable strategies. For more information, please visit our website or contact us through our email at inquiries@influencerhouse.co.th