No time to explain, download the TikTok app right away!
Now that you’ve certainly done that, let’s talk about a new trending social platform. TikTok is a social app that’s hot with younger audiences, tapping into the Gen Z market more so than any other current social app on its level. It’s even being hailed as “the defining social media app of Gen Z.” But what does this mean? There’s no way to not sound like Steve Buscemi saying “How do you do, fellow kids” to a group of youths, but TikTok is new, hot, and perfect for marketing use. However, the usual methods need to be tweaked if brands want to see any success.
How is TikTok Different?
At its core, TikTok delivers bite-sized, meme-worthy content that spreads quickly and fades quickly. It’s the marketing equivalent of a firecracker, making a lot of noise for a brief moment and then disappearing entirely. The goal then is to string together a handful of firecrackers to keep the noise going a little longer.
In this analogy, the other firecrackers are the real strength of TikTok: user-generated content. The best feature of TikTok is its suite of video editing tools that grants any user the ability to easily produce content, meaning that if a concept or viral challenge catches on, it can be instantly replicated until the fuse burns out entirely and new content begins exciting users.
Going into TikTok with the usual brand strategies will fail though. It’s poison to appear corporate or polished. The goal is to feel real and authentic, coming to the crowd with something genuine to offer rather than a sales pitch. That means you need to deliver a campaign that gives the audience something to create from, something to challenge them, or above all something that feels FUN.
Who’s Seen Success?
On the forefront of TikTok brand success are Chipotle and Elf Cosmetics, both of which you’ll see topping similar blog posts from other marketers.
Chipotle gives us an easy blueprint to emulate in their #ChipotleLidFlip challenge where they showed a video of a customer in their store performing a lid flip and then challenged other TikTok users to perform the stunt. Advertisers can do sponsored hashtag challenges like #ChipotleLidFlip, collecting similar content as a way of chaining the firecrackers together.
Going one step further, Elf Cosmetics developed the #eyeslipsface challenge (a concept where users put makeup on their face to a music beat) that incorporated music they themselves created, allowing them to more carefully craft a campaign that works for TikTok users. That one campaign generated over 4.4 billion views—the highest on the platform—using a relatively simple concept that resonated with the community.
How to TikTok
Therein lies the goal: activate your community. Success on TikTok means delivering your brand’s message with sincerity rather than sterile messaging.
For example, let’s say you have a mattress company. A typical ad may show stats about your mattress being comfortable, bringing science into the mix to try and sell customers on its benefits. A TikTok campaign would see more success with a short video of someone on a mattress, changing sleep positions in sharp cuts to the beat of a song before the beat rests and the person hits their #RestfulSleepPose.
Another example, turning instead to a toilet paper company. You have someone in a bathroom stall ask if the person next to them can spare an #ExtraRoll of toilet paper. The person receives the roll and then bursts out of the stall wearing the toilet paper in some comedic way, such as like a hat, a dress, a beard, etc.
Both examples give clear core brand messages (in this case, both the mattress and the toilet paper let people express themselves), and both allow for quick content from users wanting to find a new spin on the concept. In either case, the brand connects to the community on a fun level rather than a purely consumer level.
Thankfully, Caffelli is filled with talented people of all ages, eager to try out new TikTok campaigns for your business. If you’d like help developing a TikTok campaign, reach out to us at info@caffelli.com to get started!
