Podcast

5 Steps to a successful TikTok marketing strategy

March 30, 2020

Show Notes

Being first is always better… 


When it comes to marketing, being first to a platform allows so many advantages that you wouldn’t have if you came later. Imagine being on Instagram and building an audience in 2010 vs 2020. 


The same thing is possible if you adopt a platform like TikTok now vs when it becomes even more saturated over the next few years. 


Before you jump on the platform, though, make sure you have a strategy. Even if that strategy is to explore, make sure you are tracking the metrics you deem necessary to stick around or not.

  1. Probably the most important, is your audience on TikTok? It’s amazing to be first to market, but not if your audience isn’t there yet. This is a highly debated stance, but if you need to make money, there are a lot of ways to do it and it doesn’t have to be on TikTok if you don’t want it to be.

  2. Post valuable content, and if it makes sense and is on brand for you, find a way to be fun. There are a lot of trends that start on TikTok, if your brand can benefit, take advantage. Participate in challenges, duets, and as the platform develops, any other ways that people are using the platform. Remember, TikTok created features for a reason, you should use them all if possible. 


  1. Use the right hashtags - TikTok hashtags are absolutely useful and people search this way, but more importantly, TikTok uses this to help spread your message.

  2. Create content that matches your audience and track those results. Any successful campaign must have numbers. It doesn't’ have to always be sales or eyes on videos, but you need to now audit your results with your current goals and see if you need to be doing more or less with the current strategy.
     

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Transcript


Christian [00:00:00] If you are looking to expand your marketing campaign, your strategy, your reach, then tik tok. It's a great place to be right now, especially because of the monthly users. We're going to talk about five steps on how to successfully create a tik tok marketing strategy, things that you're not thinking about right now and things that you will be thinking about in the future after you watch this episode or listen. 

[00:00:31] This is the marketing natives providing actionable ways to grow, improve and succeed in your business. 


[00:00:39] And now your hosts, Christian and Aaron number one, identify your goals. 


Aaron [00:00:46] This is probably the number one answer for any campaign. Doesn't have to do with Tik Tok, doesn't have to do with anything else is look what you want to do. Like, why are we getting on? Take it like a we Bitbranding was going to start a tik tok strategy. We need to figure out why or what's good for us. Like, are we going for amount of use? Are we going for exposure? We want people to call us to build a Web site like what do we deem as successful? Because otherwise we're just like, hey, let's make these cool videos. And what do we expect from them? Well, I mean, we made cool videos. Well, that's great. But what are they supposed to do? Are we supposed to just get views? If so, great. And we did well there. If not, if it was supposed to bring in business and it wasn't successful. We've got a bill to write it down, right? 


Christian [00:01:33] Yeah. And I mean, video views could be one of your goals. Conversions. Right. How many people are you out of? How many videos or how many video views? Many video versus you want to get where? I want to people contact you. You know, you want to get in, I would say, because this is such a new platform and there's probably not a lot of information or data out there from this. I would just experiment and take her goals on a week by week basis. Right. Figure out, OK, this first week, the goal is to reach this many amount of people and then experiment with or maybe this month. I don't know. Experiment with, you know, how many times are posting. How many people you're reaching. The type of candidate creating. So then you can get better data. But also, I think the very first thing is figuring out a goal that you have in mind that you want to hit. Otherwise, you have nothing to work towards. 


Aaron [00:02:26] Right. And number two, this will stop your here. So if you're a number two and you can stop listening to the podcast now or watch, I watch in the video. If your audience isn't on, Tik-Tok, you should do some kind of research and there's a large amount of people on Tik-Tok. So but there are certain demographics that are, I guess, more prevalent or more relevant. And on the platform and engaged on the platform. So if it doesn't make sense for you, then it may not be the best thing for it. There's a lot of other places to make money. 


Aaron [00:02:56] And I saw somebody I saw an ad the other day as like a webinar for like Tik-Tok how to go viral and how to do whatever it like. Somebody started in like ninety seven bucks to go through this webinar for Tik-Tok. I'm like Tik-Tok. So new like this guy is just it just makes me mad because like you have no idea. No. Nothing here. So like some guy who's had 12 years of experience in the automotive industry and running a successful business, and he teamed up with somebody who has 12 million views on Tik-Tok and they're giving a webinar on how you can go viral. 


Aaron [00:03:28] And so, like, it's just really bad. But more importantly, I guess the thing to note here is that if your audience isn't there or if you guys don't find value with it after you've identified your goals and started something and figured out like, hey, we're not going to build a business off of this, don't continue to do it. Last thing we want you to do is spend five hours or 10 hours a week and it hurts your business because you focus that time on it, but it never brings you any real business. Then don't do that. Now, that being said, you should always test things, but never put your business in jeopardy to test a new platform because it's hot right now. So make sure that your audience. What we should really focus near, make sure your audience is on Tik-Tok. And if they are on Tik-Tok, then great. If not, then reevaluate and see if it still makes sense for you to do it there. 


Aaron [00:04:16] Yeah. To be honest, I think they might be surprised on whether their audience is or if they could niche out just to cater to their audience and have a different messaging to the audience, aren't they? Right. Someone it was a car salesman actually. He's probably buyer probably seen him, but he just gives car buying tips on on tik tok and he's highly successful. And I would've never thought that, you know, you would think about tik tok a nd you can obviously always a younger demographic. They're probably not ready to buy cars or anything like that. But he's just highly successful because he's just as genuine and authentic and he's given out really good, viable content, which is actually our third one. So good Segway. It's like I say, the next one was. So you had a. Number three that it is possible to contact. But going back, it's you know, he figured out a way to talk to that audience. Right. That resonated with them. And it was just a straight ahead on like no B.S. This is what happens in the car sells. You know, industry does what you need to move pat attention to when you're ready to buy a vehicle. Mm hmm. Right. So I think that the way he approached it and his messaging and the way he was in it was just perfect for the audience on on tik tok. 


Aaron [00:05:33] Yeah. The way he did it. I think I know you're talking about like he made me think like I read this like some kind of insider secret hack stuff then like nobody else was gonna know or like only the people who fall on Nelson line. All right. Now, I know I'm not going to it because it also he played to the to the notion that people think they're going to get screwed by the car salesman. So he's telling people like, hey, this is how you get the best deal for your car. This is how you go shopping for a car. I know, because I'm an industry in my doing so. It's like if they live in that area, you know, they're more, I don't know, worries from. But more likely they're going to say, hey, look, I want that guy to sell me my car. I'm always at ease. Trustworthy. I saw online. He's fine. He's authentic. 


Christian [00:06:12] Well, not only that, but, you know, whenever he's ready to. I mean, I know you were saying that. I don't think it's the same guy. But whenever he's ready to create a course on how to buy a vehicle, he could do that. Yes. He already has the audience for it. Right. And someone was talking about this recently. Yes. I remember that exact same thing where, you know, you have to go out and carry your audience to then be able to sell something super easily. Right. So if you're on tik tok and for a few months, you're just talking and building your audience and just getting engagement, not necessarily creating any conversion like that, but you're just prepping and getting all those people ready to whenever you release some sort of online course or package on how to do X, Y, Z, then you already have it ready to buy. Yeah. Right. Buy at that point. 


Aaron [00:07:05] Yeah. That we were. Yeah. That's exactly right. I mean you should build the audience first, sell it then build the course. That's like the method or the tried and true way. But let's jump to number three because I feel like we were going there. 


Christian [00:07:20] Has a vital valuable content. And. To be honest, like if you're on tik tok, then, I mean, this guy did it in a very kind of like a dry. No B.S. like to the point, there's no frills, no dances, nothing like that. But I resonate with the audience. Right. And it was it was valuable. But, you know, you're in tik tok. You're on the platform. So there is a lot of fun things going on. Oh, I love where you could just be very creative on how do you deliver that content, right. Where it can be valuable and you want to be an and present serious, but you can use a platform to still share value while also doing these challenges and things like that. 


Aaron [00:08:01] Yeah. You know, and that's I think that's part of this too is like you should be yourself. But also take away like if you do it like like a duet or you do something like that, like Mark Cuban had one. He's Mark Cuban. So obviously he went pretty viral. But he did to mark you. He did a duet with somebody who's like the top five worst names in the world or something like that. And one of them was Mark. And it was just literally like him just sitting here, like as you're like John, Joe, you saw that. And so he didn't do anything. But it's just like it's Mark's personality and it's gone off somebody else. And now, granted, he had a lot of followers. But I think even if he didn't like it's just funny because it's a guy named Mark and he's getting mad at this guy who's like really pissed off that all these people are like horrible names. And he's like, you're making fun of my name. Mark, whatever. But then also he does some I don't if you follow Mark Cuban or not, but he does some dances and stuff that are not really that good. Yeah, but he doesn't want his daughter because it's just fun and whatever else. So it's like showing that side of him is like Beaumont's. It works for him. And I mean very smart. Obviously, he's a smart businessman. But now I guess the point is, like even if he wasn't Mark Cuban just being a dad and doing those things and doing what he does like it works for him because he's using what the platform gave him, which is like duets and doing some fun stuff and but being himself, too. I would love to see him do more business advice stuff on Tik-Tok because, you know, he would blow up on that. 


Christian [00:09:25] Yeah, he might. I mean, that's the thing like it. His strategy right now is for religious awareness. Right. Just be an open and available to that particular audience. Right. Smart. 


Christian [00:09:37] And where if he just hangs out on Linked-In, like he's never gonna reach those people. And I think that something that Gary has done very well is being on everybody's act. Yeah. Gary Retrak being omnipresent everywhere. Right. And having the ability to I mean, nowadays you you talk to the teenager. They know where he is. You to a business man. They know who gave you is a good marketer, you know. 


Christian [00:10:00] So all people know who Gary is because of, I think, his omnipresence and the way that he's just stretched out his messaging through. 


Aaron [00:10:10] Right. But the message the right message for the right places like he's doing so on tik tok is completely different than what he does at a boardroom for Pepsi. Hmm. So, I mean, that's absolutely true. And it's really just smart too because he's playing that long game is like the 16 year old kid who probably isn't gonna be worth anything to him right now, may not be worth anything in the future, but in ten years, he may have a ridiculously successful app that just goes crazy. And he's like while watching this video from Gary made me start this business. You just never know. It's 10 years away, 10 years to make that happen. But it just I mean, reciprocity pays dividends, I guess, on that part of it. 


Christian [00:10:47] Yeah. 


Aaron [00:10:55] All right. Thank you guys so much for listening. This is a little pause and the interruption here is to let you guys know a little bit more about us. And right now we're talking about our leads accelerator. This is a complete system, a complete package for you, that service based business owner who wants to find a way to scale their business without working more hours. You're tired of an inconsistent low quality leads and you want a steady stream of high quality leads that you can take more of without having them work more. If this sounds interesting to you, if this sounds like how the heck do I make that happen? It seems like it's a scam. It's it's not too good to be true, but it is a process and it is a proven method that you should check out and you can do so. I'm to get a free strategy session by going to apply DOT branding dot CO. Again, that's apply dot bitbranding dot CO fill out the calendar link there and schedule the time for your free strategy session? That's simple. 


Christian [00:11:52] All right, so step number five and I think there's. Number four, right? It's a combination of couple of things like and I think you mentioned using the tools that they use. 


Christian [00:12:06] They give you rent. Right. But also using hashtags. I think using the right hashtags is crucial for this platform. I like how Instagram you're able to search for those hashtags and find the content that you want. Same thing with hashtags, especially, I think, as a global measure. Tik-Tok also gives you what are the hashtags that are trending. Yeah, I guess I combined Instagram with like a little bit of Twitter. Twitter does give you what's trending as far as hashtags. So Tik-Tok does the same thing and you're able to see once that hashtag is. Insanely, you know, in the top one, two, three, four, five. Like you may not have a good chance of reaching the people, maybe you do. And if it's good enough, right. It's just harder and harder because it is all just a. The volume is just insane. But if you're able to capture new trends while they're still very young, you can be super successful by using those right hashtags in there. 


Aaron [00:13:06] And some people are saying like, so this is March of 2020 when we're recording this. Like, I can't go viral as easy like it used to be. Like you create a video, use certain hashtags. You did this five or six things. Then boom, you went viral. And I think there is if one is calling for you FOR like Y-O-U. And there is at the time when I used it, it was like two hundred million like people had used it. Now I think it's like three billion. But I used it and I was like, Oh, well, I don't know what this means. Money uses hashtag what I eat and it's spread like crazy because I use the hashtag to your point, it's like it's no longer as effective because so many people are using it and more people are posting on the corner on the platform. Now, it's still really foreign. It's infancy stage, but it's not as easy as like  Alright. There's a thousand people and one person likes a video. And that person is gonna go viral because there's just so many people consuming and not enough people creating. That's not the case anymore. But you still can go viral. But you should also do some research on those those hashtags and which ones you should use. 


Christian [00:14:08] Yeah. I think once the those videos start hitting other platforms, then I've seen this more and more every day where you see Tik-Tok videos on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram. Think at that point, you know, like, OK, this is like everyone has seen this already. Yeah. Right. If it's something that's still living in the platform and thriving there with while still not one to deliver platforms and you know, you're hitting at the right at the right time, there's like a hashtag, anything on Instagram or somewhere out there, it's like keep Tik-Tok videos on Tik-Tok. 


Aaron [00:14:39] Like you shouldn't search for some time. But there's like a few polls that I've followed from people from like, hey, do you like to see Tik-Tok videos on Instagram stories? And like 60 percent of people are like, yes. And 40 percent are like, no, it's annoying. Like, it is just a fun debate at the back, you know, going back and forth. But I guess the point is that like from what you're saying, is that it's gotten so popular now that it is spread across. So you see tik tok videos. I sure to tik tok video on Facebook. I was like, I would never do that. Like, I nothing no purpose for Facebook, but it was like a cool, funny dance video. And so, yeah, we put it on Facebook, the worst. 


Christian [00:15:11] I think the worst is whenever you're on Facebook and then you click on a blog post link and then that has a Twitter embed of a tik tok. 


Christian [00:15:23] Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's insane. Like a lot of times, like you see something on Facebook and you go to the blog to go back to a different social network. Yeah. It's like they're trying to. Chief chief Facebook for sure. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Mm hmm. 


Aaron [00:15:38] All right. Our last one here is to create content that matches your audience, but more importantly, tracking those results. So we talk, number one, about setting your goals. Number five, track the results. So Christian said once a week, like because a platform so new, track your results, see if it's effective for you. And then at the end of that week, figure out, hey, does this measure up, does not measure up. Is this something scalable for us? Is this something we should do more of? We did create three videos and we like had 100000 views. Should we create six videos or should we create more engagement with these videos? So figure out what you're testing and track those results and just look at it over time. You know, give yourself a 30, 60 and 90 day metric of saying, hey, look, this is what we've done. We've started to trend up. This makes sense. This is part of our strategy. We should spend more time on it. And then, you know, if it's not, then you can reevaluate and say, hey, great, it's fun to do. But maybe we just do it once a month and we reevaluate next quarter or we'd reevaluate in a couple of months. 


Christian [00:16:38] And so we will all be thinking like, oh, how do I attract is? And I mean, to and as it might be a manual process where you're just putting numbers based off of where you figure out your goals into a spreadsheet. And if you want something a little bit more powerful than using something like air table where you could potentially just run a report or create a graph super easily from the metrics that you're you're following right there on on every table. I don't know if there might be some tracking software metrics for tik tok. As far as like analytics and give it reports, I really haven't heard of anything like that. But I think this is more you just starting out. You need to figure out know what are the numbers that you're really wanting to get behind and figure out if this is actually going to work or not. So maybe, yeah, a little bit of a manual, you know, burdensome process to, you know, try these numbers, but it'll be absolutely beneficial to be successful on. And I mean, any kind of marketing strategy, right? 


Aaron [00:17:38] Yeah. Let's just go back to the basics here and just figure out what you try at least track one or two things at a time and you can do that. They'd be getting better at their statistics, too. So like you can see how many people viewed videos. Great, but you can also see how many people visit your profile and liked your videos. 


Aaron [00:17:52] And those are just good metrics to start with. So just go with that and track it, make it super simple and make sure that you're just actually looking at tracking and not just going out there and spinning at tangent hunting time, creating the content. You don't know if it's good or not. 


Aaron [00:18:07] All right. Awesome. Thank you guys so much for listening to another episode of The Marketing Natives today was Five Steps to a Successful Tik-Tok Marketing Strategy. We hope you got a lot out of this. And if you did and this is your first time, please make sure you hit. Subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on, whether it's Apple podcasts, Spotify. Tune in. I Heart radio. Make sure that you hit subscribe so you don't miss out on every episode that comes out on Mondays. And if you've been listening for a while. Make sure that you go over to Apple podcast and leave us an honest rating review. It takes maybe two minutes and it really helps us grow, but it also gives us some really good feedback on whether or not we should continue to create content like this. We want to want to know more about Tik-Tok or if you want to know more strategic advice where you would like to see more interviews. We want to know we want to hear from you guys. So make sure you go over to Apple podcast and do that. And we will talk to you guys next week. 


[00:18:58] The marketing native's podcast is a production of Bitbranding.

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