TikTok Marketing Strategy or a Honeypot?

TikTok started as a platform to showcase short videos or silly videos, but today, the platform has caught on as one of the newest and fast growing social media platforms and its program’s popularity has revealed substantial growth.

If your business is targeting a younger audience like Generation Z, then a TikTok marketing strategy can help you reach the perfect crowd.  

In the first quarter of 2020, the TikTok app (iOS and Android) was downloaded twice as many times as YouTube or Instagram globally and there are already over 1 billion active monthly users.

The majority are in China but the next biggest market is USA.

The App is available in over 150 countries, and has over 1 billion users.

According to Oberlo, TikTok has 800 million monthly users worldwide, the US being the hottest country in which it is been downloaded over 175 million times alone.

With a vast number of Gen-Zers and Millennials between the age 13 and 30.

This audience appreciates seeing real people they can relate to. With competing brand hashtag challenges eager go viral with a young crowd.

So, if your brand’s target audience includes this demographic, you should start marketing on TikTok. 

In fact, many brands are taking advantage of the increasing popularity of the platform, and are considering the ways it is shaping relevant conversations and culture, to increase their brand awareness.

In this blog post we will look at some ways you can use TikTok to market to Gen Z. However, before we go further let’s explore tiktok app.

What is tiktok app?

tiktok app is a Chinese-owned user generated videos sharing platform where users can shoot, edit, and share short videos jazzed up with animation, music, filters, special effects, and more.

Just like other social media platforms, users can also like and comment on posts and tiktok marketing videos.

TikTok users are typically people who are about 24 years old and younger. However, it's not limited to young people alone. Even celebrities are active short video app users.

TikTok has memes and challenges that make it very interesting and engaging. It’s safe to say that TikTok is a powerful social media inbound marketing tool.

Effective TikTok Business Advertising

The TikTok ads dashboard offers new advertising opportunities to brands.

Below are some of the ways to execute effective TikTok marketing.

Source: Single Grain

In-Feed Ads

In-feed video ads perfectly blend with TikTok’s feed of short videos. They run on three action models, which include cost per click (CPC), cost per impression (CPM), and cost per six-second view (CPV).

You can target your audience on tik tok app download based on gender, age, and geo-location.

There's also an option to blacklist or whitelist profiles to create a custom audience for your ads.

Brand Takeover Ads

tik tok app download free offers a single brand to take over a category each day.

You can purchase brand takeover ads for different brand categories like fashion, food, fitness, etc.

Think kind of ad shows up when a user opens the app, and so gets immediate attention.

TikTok Hashtag Challenge Ads

This type of ad takes the TikTok challenge culture and puts it into an ad format.

Tiktok dynamic ads hashtag challenge ads promote brand hashtag challenges to encourage users to submit content to participate in the challenge.

The Hashtag Challenge Plus

The tiktok hashtag challenge ads new shoppable ads- the hashtag challenge plus refers to when a brand sponsors hashtags and creates a dedicated experience for users to find video content and products within the platform.

This type of ad adds a shoppable component to the hashtag challenge ad, making it more versatile.

TikTok Influencer Marketing Ads

Your marketing strategy should include tiktok influencer marketing hub.

It allows brands to work/partner with video creators with a large number of fans to create and share sponsored content with their audience.

Such content discloses the sponsorship, and it is capable of recording outstanding engagement.

Examples of TikTok Influencers

TikTok influencers are basically people with the right content, a huge number of followers who appreciate their content, and the right marketing tactics.

How to find tiktok influencers and the number of fans they have.

• @LORENGRAY with 33.8M fans
• @BABYARIEL with 29.8M fans
• @KRISTENHANCHER with 23M fans
• @ZACHKING with 21.9M fans
• @JACOBSARTORIUS with 21M fans
• @GILMHERCROES with 19.7M fans
• @DOBRETWINS with 17.5M fans
• @JOJOSIWA with 17.3M fans
• @JAYDENCROES with 16.8M fans
• @LIZZZA with 14.1M fans

TikTok Data Collection

However, note that the United States is looking at banning Chinese social media apps including TikTok as it is accused of being a threat to national security and online privacy because of their ties with China.

If this happens, Australia and India might follow suit, as well as other countries.

The fear surrounding the TikTok app is as a result of its rules around the collection of user data.

Tiktok data collection china users grant a number of permissions when they install the app such as the use of microphone, camera, and access to contact list.

Nonetheless, it may collect location data also, plus information from other applications on the device.

A proposed class-action lawsuit filed last year against TikTok in California claimed that the company collected users’ data, including their emails, social network contacts, phone numbers, location, and IP addresses.

It also stated that TikTok concealed biometric data, and even when the app is closed, it continued to harvest it.

This means that user data could be transferred to servers by default without the user’s knowledge.

Some people fear that the app could serve as a surveillance tool by Beijing.

However, TikTok categorically denies such claims and tries to assure its users that it could not be forced to release data to the Chinese government under Chinese law.

Tiktok company marketing strategy

While the exciting features on TikTok make it a fun place to be, it runs the risk of being banned in the U.S. and other countries due to recent controversy.

Before spending a fortune building an audience on TikToK, consider the risks.

With that being said, it also offers new opportunities to marketers to reach millennials and generation Z while achieving more brand awareness.

If your business targets a younger audience, TikTok is the place for you.

You can take advantage of different types of TikTok marketing strategy to achieve your marketing goals.