With TikTok influencing trends and buying decisions, brands are stepping up their TikTok marketing efforts to drive sales and engagements effectively. If you’re looking for some of the best tips to take your TikTok marketing strategies to another level, look no further. This post serves as a comprehensive guide on the best practices, tips, and tools to power your marketing efforts on the platform. Let’s dive in.
Driving Sales on TikTok: The Impact of Influencers and Affiliate Marketing
TikTok marketing involves a combination of strategies, such as creating content that resonates with the target audience and launching branded hashtag campaigns. Regardless of the strategies used, the ultimate goal of TikTok marketing is to help get your brand in front of the right audience. Depending on the campaign, you may even try to get people to take a certain action, such as creating user-generated content or buying a product.
TikTok for Influencer Marketing
Most TikTok marketing strategies today involve working with influencers in some capacity. Brands often get influential TikTok creators to feature their products in the form of reviews, product placements, guides, and more. Some even get influencers to amplify the reach of their hashtag challenges to drive more participation.
In the case of Glow Recipe, their TikTok influencer marketing campaign involved a partnership with Katie Fang to launch a new PR package. This allowed the brand to target the influencer’s 5.2 million followers specifically.
@katiefangggThis PR box is exclusively available to purchase on glowrecipe.com !!♬ original sound - Katie Fang
TikTok for Affiliate Marketing
With the introduction of TikTok Shop, brands have also started to leverage affiliates in their TikTok marketing campaigns. TikTok lets creators find shoppable products in the TikTok Shop to recommend to their viewers. When people buy those promoted products through the creator’s videos or live streams, the creator gets to earn a commission.
This makes TikTok affiliate marketing an effective way to drive sales through the platform while minimizing your marketing costs. With this approach, you only pay when a sale is made so you’re not wasting your valuable marketing dollars on campaigns that don’t yield results.
Benefits of TikTok Marketing
There’s a reason brands are shifting their focus on TikTok marketing. Here are some of the top benefits of marketing on the platform:
- TikTok users are heavily influenced to purchase through the app. The Path-to-Purchase Report found that 44% of consumers immediately went out to buy something they discovered on TikTok. This makes it a valuable platform for increasing sales.
- Moreover, the platform’s built-in shopping features shorten the buying journey. This means users can quickly move from discovery to purchase, which helps to boost sales.
- TikTok's algorithm focuses on content discovery as it displays relevant content in users’ For You pages. So it offers brands a unique opportunity to reach a wider audience and increase their chances of going viral.
- TikTok has an abundance of influential creators whose voice has an impact on people’s opinions and buying decisions. This provides ample opportunities for brands to be discovered by new target audiences, often with cost-effective results due to the platform's algorithm.
Tips for Building Your TikTok Marketing Strategy
The best way to ensure success on TikTok is to start off with a solid foundation. So let’s start with some of the essentials and make our way toward more advanced tips to build your TikTok marketing strategy.
1. Optimize Your Account
First things first, make sure you have your TikTok Business account set up. This gives you access to a bunch of tools and robust analytics to power your marketing efforts on the platform.
Additionally, it’s important to maintain an optimized profile if you’re using TikTok for Business. Upload a profile photo that accurately represents your brand—ideally, your brand logo. Make sure to include a bio that describes what your brand does using vital keywords so your profile can show up in relevant searches.
For instance, Sprout’s Farmers Market includes a witty bio that includes the keyword “fresh, healthy groceries.” They also have the brand logo as their profile photo and have a verified account, making it easier for people to instantly recognize the profile as authentic.
@sproutsfarmersmarket
TikTok now even lets you turn on auto messages from your Business account. Use them to greet people who start a new chat, suggest questions they might want to ask, or send auto-generated replies.
2. Research and Understand Your Audience
Before you start marketing to your target audience, you need to understand them on a deeper level. Conduct thorough audience research to find out what makes them tick. Understand their needs and pain points as well as their consumption habits. When are they most active, and what types of posts do they engage with?
Using this research, create different buyer personas to create more targeted TikTok marketing campaigns. This will allow you to craft campaigns and content that better resonate with specific audiences.
3. Analyze Your Competitors
Your competitors can tell you a lot about what works on TikTok and what doesn’t. Analyze their TikTok presence and marketing strategies to see what they’re doing. This will help you take inspiration from their success while figuring out which mistakes to avoid.
Are they working with relevant influencers? Are they running hashtag challenges? How are they positioning their products through their videos? Use these insights to inform how to approach your own TikTok marketing efforts.
4. Use Suitable Hashtags
Like many other social media networks, TikTok users rely on hashtags to catalog their videos and search for clips by subject. If users click on the "Discover" magnifying glass at the bottom of the screen, they see a list of videos sorted by trending TikTok hashtags.
Trending TikTok Hashtags
We have previously looked at how you can best use hashtags on TikTok in our Ultimate Guide to TikTok Hashtags. Some of the benefits to a brand using TikTok hashtags are:
- To amplify content reach: When people conduct a TikTok search for a hashtag, videos using that specific hashtag show up in their search results. So adding relevant hashtags to your videos will improve discoverability and help you expand your reach.
- To identify competitors: Similarly, searching for relevant hashtags will help you uncover which videos are ranking at the top for those hashtags. This is a great way to find competitors and analyze the content they’re creating.
- To attract more followers: If people like your video after discovering it in their hashtag search, chances are they’ll follow you for more of those videos. So a strong hashtag strategy will help you grow your following.
Although you should include relevant hashtags on your videos, you should probably avoid the most popular generic hashtags. Your videos are more likely to become swamped in a sea of content. It is better to have your videos stand out in slightly less popular categories. As with all marketing, you want your videos to appear visible to those people most relevant to your campaign, so don’t focus on hashtags just because they are popular.
Also, remember that this isn’t Instagram. Don't be tempted to use 21 hashtags on TikTok. Doing so will take away the effect of your videos.
5. Follow Current TikTok Trends
TikTok is the go-to destination for viral challenges and trending content. Whether it’s around a certain topic, a hashtag challenge, or a current event—these trends typically take TikTok by storm and often extend beyond the platform. Once things go viral on TikTok, you’ll often see the same trends and discussions seeping into platforms like X and Instagram.
So participating in the latest TikTok trends is a great way to keep up with the current landscape and engage your target audience. This is another area where you can leverage hashtags. Most viral TikTok trends have an associated hashtag. Look for hashtags that are popular right now to discover what’s trending at the moment.
Then create videos related to the trend and join in on the conversation. Simply copying existing content won’t help you gain any brownie points from TikTok users. So find a way to add a unique twist to the trend to keep things fresh and engaging as well as on-brand.
Remember that trends move fast. Keep a regular eye on the latest trends taking shape, and be prepared to respond with your own version. For instance, when the Dubai-based Farhat chocolate bar went viral on TikTok, OREO shared a video in which they recreated it using their cookies.
@oreo10/10 OREO Thins hack ?♬ MILLION DOLLAR BABY (VHS) - Tommy Richman
6. Incorporate TikTok Influencers into Your Campaign
As mentioned earlier, influential TikTok creators can maximize the impact of your TikTok marketing efforts. With their ability to draw in an engaged audience using their creativity and topical authority, these creators help lend an authentic voice to your promotion efforts. Find a way to partner with them and instantly expand your reach.
There are plenty of approaches that you can take with your influencer partnerships. Some of the most popular approaches to TikTok influencer marketing are:
- PR boxes and gifting campaigns
- Product/service reviews
- Video tours
- Instructional how-to guides
- Content collaborations
- Product use case/styling videos
- Branded hashtag challenges
- Shoppable content/affiliate videos
- Events
Regardless of the approach you use, what matters the most is the influencers you work with. It’s crucial to leverage influencers who can reach the specific audience you’re targeting. Read more on how to do this in our guide on How to Find TikTok Influencers.
For example, Sana Jardin got niche fragrance enthusiasts to review their perfumes and reach a highly targeted audience. This allowed them to be more specific with their targeting instead of working with major influencers, as they were able to reach people who were passionate about perfumes.
@deniscents the prettiest and dreamiest sandalwood scent EVER!! sandwood temple by @Sana Jardin ? #perfume #perfumeph #fragrance #fragranceph #fyp #sanajardin #sandalwoodtemple #perfumetok ♬ Summer Walker - Anonymous Beats
7. Comment Regularly and Encourage Comments on Your Posts
Like most social networks, TikTok supports frequent user engagement. Comments are an excellent way to achieve this. Ideally, you will build up conversations with your potential customers.
Encourage your audience to leave comments in your videos to boost engagement in your videos. Similarly, make sure to engage with other accounts and regularly comment on their videos.
Engaging with other accounts will help you build a relationship with other brands. It will also help you gain visibility in front of relevant users, especially if you manage to secure the top spot. See how Bubble Skincare’s comment is prominently visible in the following Chipotle TikTok post.
And the best way to get the top comment spot is to get more likes than other comments on the post. TikTok ranks comments by the number of likes they receive, so make sure you think through your comments, making them meaningful. Avoid making bland "nice video" type comments.
Instead, take the time to look at other people's videos and make thoughtful comments on them. Plus points if you manage to make it witty and creative. Or add a dash of humor if it matches your brand personality.
8. Post Often and at the Right Time
If you’re going to make it on TikTok, you need to post consistently. While posting videos often doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, it does improve the chances of being favored by the TikTok algorithm.
At the same time, quality should still be the main focus. You don’t want to just publish a bunch of videos that don’t appeal to your audience, or you’ll end up with a bad reputation. And cue the negative comments, unfollows, and trolling. So make it a priority to create high-quality content that adds value for your audience and offers fresh takes on trending topics.
Even if you don’t have the resources to create multiple videos a day, you can still improve visibility by posting at the right time. If you time your videos strategically, you’ll be able to catch your audience when they’re highly active. So there’s a good chance you can get them to engage with your videos, which will further boost your content visibility.
Experiment with the best times to post on TikTok and see what’s working for you. Studies show that optimal post timings in the USA are as follows:
- Monday: 12 PM, 4 PM
- Tuesday: 4 AM, 8 AM, 10 AM, 3 PM
- Wednesday: 1 PM, 2 PM
- Thursday: 5 AM, 3 PM, 6 PM
- Friday: 1 AM, 11 AM, 7 PM, 9 PM
- Saturday: 5 PM
- Sunday: 1 AM, 2 AM, 1 PM, 2 PM, 10 PM
But don’t just blindly post at these times. Test different timings and check your own TikTok analytics to see the most engaging times for your brand.
9. Use TikTok’s Editing Features
The wealth of editing features is what makes TikTok the success that it is today. Users can seamlessly record and create highly engaging videos using a range of built-in editing features. Make the most of them to turn your videos into something that’s share-worthy.
- Filters and effects – TikTok offers a variety of filters and effects that you can apply to your footage. These let you adjust lighting, alter backgrounds, apply makeup, alter your facial features, turn yourself into a cartoon, and more.
- Sounds – One of TikTok’s most notable features is the ability to add music and audio to your videos. Whether this involves adding a trending song or a catchy sound effect, TikTok Sounds helps make your videos more engaging.
- Transitions – Smooth transitions make a world of difference between a well-edited video and a poorly made one. TikTok offers plenty of transitions that you can leverage to purposefully switch between clips.
- Templates – While transitions are time-consuming to perfect, you can save time by using existing templates. TikTok video templates allow you to easily put together engaging videos within predefined formats.
- Stickers – Stickers are a great way to add fun graphics and eye-catching visuals to your videos. They can make your TikTok videos pop and enhance their visual appeal.
- Overlay text – Overlay text is text that appears over the video and is popularly used to add context to TikTok videos. They’re a great way to instantly grab user attention and improve accessibility, making your videos convenient to view even for those who have hearing disabilities or are watching with sound-off.
- Auto-generated captions – Similarly, auto-generated captions use text-to-speech to visually display dialog. This not only makes your videos accessible to users with hearing impairment but also improves comprehension.
- Voiceovers – Alternatively, you can even add voiceovers to speak over your video content. This will allow you to narrate your video footage and enhance comprehension and accessibility.
The following video from Living Proof Inc. announcing their product’s arrival at Sephora is an excellent example of TikTok editing done right. They make use of short clips rapidly transitioning between each other, along with a text overlay at the end announcing the information. They also include a trending Billie Eilish song matching the tempo of the fast-paced transition.
@livingproofinc Your new summer styler, coming to @sephora’s app tomorrow. ?☀️ #livingproofinc #sephora ♬ billie eilish CHIHIRO gravagerz remix - grava
10. Make Interesting Videos with Clear Descriptions
TikTok's videos can be up to a minute long. You don’t have long to get your message across. And whatever you do, don't merely upload blatant ads – even official TikTok ads should provide value to your audience.
You want your videos to be visually appealing, without looking like they’ve been made by a professional advertising agency (even if you have worked with an agency to help your creativity).
Although there may be times that you will use your descriptions as teasers, in most cases, you will want to include a clear description of what your video has to offer its audience. If possible, word it in such a way that people feel the urge to comment.
Writing a good description is also essential for SEO purposes. In essence, you want TikTok to know what your video is about when it indexes your clip and hopefully suggests it to your preferred audience. Remember to include your most important keywords in your descriptions, but they have to make sense and not just be a random collection of words.
However, you have only so much screen space. For best practice, prepare short snappy descriptions.
You could consider repurposing videos you have made for YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook, but remember to make them fit within TikTok’s one-minute time limitation. Ensure that your video is suitable for the demographic you're trying to target on TikTok.
For instance, Kay Jewelers shared the following video giving a glimpse of how a certain piece of jewelry is made. The caption is short and catchy explaining how the piece is unique and straight from the heart. It also adds context by telling viewers that they can create their own custom jewelry with them.
@kayjewelersUnique and straight from the heart. Create your own custom jewelry at KAY. ?♬ original sound - Kay Jewelers
11. Use TikTok Ads
TikTok now has a formal advertising system making it easy to advertise on the platform. They offer various types of ads:
In-feed native ads
In-feed native ads are the closest to a traditional ad on TikTok. You can add website links and Order Now buttons on the ad. They are skippable ads, and you can use them in multiple ways.
Hashtag challenge ads
With hashtag challenge ads a user is served a banner ad that takes the user to a page of instructions and rules of the featured challenge. You can use it to target specific consumers.
Brand takeover ads
Brand takeover ads use a mix of images, GIFs, and video clips that link to a landing page or hashtag challenge.
However, TikTok has expanded its advertising options, offering more diverse and interactive ad formats to cater to various marketing needs. The new types of ads include:
Spark Ads
Spark Ads allow brands to amplify organic content from their TikTok account or other users' accounts. This format offers a more authentic feel, blending seamlessly with user-generated content and potentially leading to higher engagement rates.
TikTok Image Ads
These are static ads that appear in the user's For You feed. They consist of a brand logo, an image, and a customizable call-to-action, such as visiting a website or downloading an app.
Playable Ads
Playable Ads provide an interactive 'try before you buy' experience. Users can engage with these mini-game-like ads before being prompted to take further action, like app downloads, making them highly engaging.
Shopping Ads
Designed to integrate online shopping experiences directly into TikTok, Shopping Ads showcase products and lead users to ecommerce platforms for purchase, enhancing in-app shopping experiences.
Carousel Ads
Available in TikTok's News Feed apps, Carousel Ads allow brands to display a series of images, each with its own caption and call-to-action. This format is ideal for telling a more comprehensive story and engaging the audience in-depth.
Pangle Ads
Pangle is TikTok's advertising platform for audiences outside of TikTok, mainly in other apps. These ads reach a broader audience with various formats, including video and interactive ads, extending the brand's reach beyond the TikTok app.
These new ad types on TikTok provide brands with innovative ways to engage with their audience, offering a range of options from interactive and playful experiences to direct shopping integrations.
12. Set a Hashtag Challenge
Hashtag challenges are highly popular on TikTok. They are an excellent way for businesses to increase engagement and brand awareness. You set up a challenge for users who share videos of themselves attempting your challenge.
A good hashtag challenge succeeds in encouraging talking about your product offline and on other social sites. Even big-name companies, like McDonald's, have become involved – in their #bigmactiktok challenge, fans had to select a preferred Big Mac chant genre and then dance and record a Big Mac chant video.
You can drive more participation in your challenge by amplifying your reach through hashtag challenge ads or through influencer partnerships. This will ensure that more people are aware of the challenge, helping you attract more participants. For more tips, check out our detailed guide on running a TikTok hashtag challenge.
When Chipotle launched their #GuacDance challenge, they activated creators like Brent Rivera to amplify their reach. His video garnered 8.5 million views and more than 856k likes.
@brentrivera When guacamole is free @chipotle when you order online/in-app on July 31st? #GuacDance #ad ♬ The Guacamole Song - Dr. Jean
13. Blend in Branded Content
As with all social marketing programs, you need to balance the type of content you share on TikTok. Most of your videos need to entertain or inform your audience. If you build an audience this process, you should then be able to blend in a few more promotional videos.
The typical TikTok user ignores ads, so you need first to build your credibility before you release blatantly promotional material. Many firms find the best way around this disdain for advertising is to upload videos showing people using your product.
For example, you could provide a series of tips on how to gain value from your product, or perhaps you could explain how to use some of its more obscure features (and demonstrate what benefits they would offer the viewer).
Le Creuset regularly shares videos with recipes that can be made using their cookware. They give practical tips that home cooks and cooking enthusiasts will find useful when experimenting with the brand’s products.
@lecreuset Summer dinner inspiration: Our delicious, easy One-Pot Braised Pork Shoulder Tacos with Charred Pineapple Salsa. ? Ingredients: 5 lb pork shoulder, cut into 1-2" pieces Salt 2 Tbsp neutral oil 3 cups diced pineapple 1 large onion, chopped & divided 5 cloves garlic, sliced & divided 1 bottle light beer, such as lager or pilsner 1 7oz can chipotle peppers in adobo, divided 4 limes, divided 2 plum tomatoes, seeded & chopped Fresh ground black pepper 1 avocado, pitted & mashed 2 Tbsp Greek yogurt Corn or flour tortillas Fresh cilantro, chopped Instructions: On our website! #lecreuset #lecreusettiktok #foodtok #dinnerrecipe #porktacos #tacosrecipe #onepotrecipe ♬ original sound - Le Creuset
14. Remix Content with Duets and Stitch
TikTok has a wealth of viral content. What’s great about the platform is that you can seamlessly ride on the coattails of those videos with features such as Duet and Stitch. These features let you create unique content based off of a video from another creator.
While Duet lets you create a new video alongside an existing one, Stitch lets you record a new video after a snippet of the original. Both of these features are great for leveraging the virality of a popular video without simply copying what someone else is doing or reposting their content. Instead, you’ll be adding something to the original to create something fresh and relevant.
You can create reaction videos, add commentary, share your response, add to the conversation, create a unique twist to a trend, and many more. For instance, Grow Recipe created a Duet in response to comedy creator Andi Aston (@andipdx)’s video about the brand’s Watermelon Glow Ultra-Fine Mist.
In the original video, the creator remarks how cool the product must be to make you glow in the dark and continues to see if it really works. The brand reacted with a Duet video showing comedic facial expressions using the “Green Screen Eyes and Mouth” against a background of the product bottle.
@glowrecipe #duet with @andipdx moral of the story: keep your mist away from your significant other ? #GlowRecipe ♬ original sound - Andi Aston
15. Optimize Your Posts for Search Value and SEO
You can’t predict whether the TikTok algorithm will display your video to users in their For You and Explore pages. But you can definitely improve its chances of showing up in relevant searches by optimizing it with relevant keywords. Optimizing your posts to improve their visibility in search will help you attract a targeted audience of users who are searching for relevant content.
The best part is that optimizing for TikTok SEO will also improve your search value even outside of the platform. If someone searches for a keyword on Google and adds “TikTok” at the end, some of the top search results will be top TikTok videos that incorporate the keyword. See the following search results for “cruelty-free makeup” and notice how most of the videos have the keyword “cruelty free” in the descriptions.
16. Share and Repurpose UGC
Running out of creative ideas to add to your TikTok feed? Look no further than user-generated content (UGC) to spice things up.
Whether it involves styling tips or authentic reviews—your customers have an endless stream of ideas to help you keep your feed fresh and engaging. Repost their videos (with their permission, of course) to keep your audience engaged, informed, and entertained. These UGC videos will also serve as social proof and help you earn the trust of people who are just learning about your brand.
Dermalogica regularly reposts videos created by their customers to give credibility to their products. These UGC videos feature skincare routines, tips, how-to’s, results, and more.
@dermalogica Pregnancy glow with these mama-approved skincare essentials! ✨ Check out @Julia | UGC Creator full routine with #pregnancysafe products by #dermalogica #mothersday ♬ original sound - dermalogica
You can even repurpose UGC into your paid advertising strategy with the content serving as your ad creative. Seeing real results from real people will help establish trust with your target audience. So it’s a great way to get your ad audience to convert, helping you boost your ROI.
17. Create Video Replies to Comments
People love it when brands are responsive. While you may be responding to their comments and questions, go the extra mile to create video replies.
Your customers’ comments help you gauge their needs and pain points. So they serve as excellent prompts to inspire your content creation. The questions they ask and the requests they make can give you brilliant ideas for the next video you should create to keep your audience engaged.
In some cases, your video replies don’t even have to be informative. They can simply be fun. See how Summer Fridays responded to one customer’s comment about one of the brand’s employees they found attractive. They put together a fun video featuring the guy handing out bagels and added an overlay text to give context.
@summerfridays Replying to @f ♬ Confidence (sped up version) - Ocean Alley
18. Optimize Your Strategy with Tools
From what you can see so far, it’s clear that TikTok marketing takes effort. The best way to avoid getting overwhelmed is by using the right tools to streamline various aspects of your strategy.
You can find plenty of TikTok marketing tools to help you optimize your strategy. For instance, Loomly will let you schedule your TikTok posts so they go out at the most engaging times. This helps you perfect your timing so that you can drive more engagements and maximize your reach.
Meanwhile, tools like Analisa help you with the analytics aspect of your TikTok marketing. This provides you with comprehensive insights into your TikTok performance, which can then inform your strategy.
Analisa TikTok marketing tool
TikTok Marketing Tools
Speaking of tools, there are a bunch of marketing tools that you can leverage for TikTok. Let’s check out some of the top TikTok marketing tools to consider using for your brand.
Upfluence
With TikTok being an excellent platform for influencer marketing, you’ll want to make use of tools like Upfluence to guide your influencer partnerships. This tool helps you narrow down the ideal TikTok creators to work with from a database of 7 million vetted creators. It even comes with the capability to identify your most influential customers.
You can then access their profile performance metrics to get an idea of their views and engagement rates. So you can efficiently find the most suitable influencers to add to your campaign.
Iconosquare
Iconosquare is an all-in-one social media management tool that simplifies your TikTok marketing efforts. You can organize your TikTok publishing schedule with a content calendar that keeps track of your content ideas and drafts. Additionally, it lets you schedule your posts to go out at optimal times to drive more engagements.
The platform comes with powerful analytics to track your content performance. You can use it to extract actionable insights to inform your TikTok strategy.
TikTok Money Calculator
Not sure how much to pay your TikTok influencers? Our very own TikTok Money Calculator gives you an estimate of how much an influencer should earn based on the number of likes, followers, videos, and engagement rate. That way, you can make informed decisions when negotiating rates and contracts with influencers.
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