TikTok is no longer the new kid on the block when it comes to social media platforms. In fact, it’s a go-to for your social media content strategy if you want to grow and expand your audience reach. However, it's important to keep in mind that TikTok is not Instagram and Instagram is not TikTok.
It can be a brand’s instinct to recycle your Instagram strategy to TikTok, but that actually won’t lead to success on TikTok or grow your following. In this TikTok guide, we’ll share best practices to establish your brand on TikTok and get more followers.
TikTok is the “first” short-form video content platform of its kind. Unlike Vine, TikTok is crucial to your brand’s marketing performance. It has more than 1 billion users, with 67% of those users saying TikTok inspires them to shop. It’s safe to say TikTok has more than the potential to take your brand to the next level.
Start by identifying your target audience and marketing goals on TikTok. Are your goals to build brand awareness, increase website traffic, generate sales, capture a different age range, or all of the above? Once you figure that out. Start doing some research on the app by scrolling through your For You Page (FYP) aka TikTok’s video feed for what types of videos and trends are performing well. You can also find trending hashtags and sounds through TikTok’s Discover tab. Once you get a gist for what type of content is out there, do a competitor analysis for other brands or profiles in your industry. What are they doing that’s leading to likes and engagement and how can you do it better.
The goal here is to create video content that will specifically perform well on TikTok and not what will perform well on Instagram. That comes later.
Once you’ve created your TikTok content strategy, start setting performance benchmarks. It’s important to keep in mind your performance will differ greatly from Instagram, especially if you’re an established brand on Instagram. You’ve spent a lot of time and effort growing your Instagram presence, your TikTok popularity won’t happen overnight.
You’ll want to decide how often you’ll post on TikTok. Staying consistent and multiple times a day is a great way to show TikTok you are an active account. Posting multiple times a day can feel like a lot, but since TikTok is more lofi in video quality, it makes it easier than any other type of content. You can just use popular sounds and write simple text on top. See one of our PLANOLY examples, below.
PLANOLY Pro-Tip: TikTok’s algorithm awards super active accounts. Try getting to your first 50 videos or 1,000 followers and you will trigger the algorithm to prioritize your videos. You should also interact with new TikTok features or interact with other accounts by commenting on their content.
Use TikTok built-in best times to post feature. Not only does TikTok track analytics but it gives you optimal best times to post based on when your followers are most active. Posting when your followers are most active is a great way to improve the likeness that they’ll see it. For example, they could be scrolling through their ‘Following’
Anytime you boost posts on social media, it leads to better discoverability of your organic content. Use TikTok's ad campaign manager to boost a series of TikTok content and it will expand your reach and hopefully lead to more follows.
Stay consistent with your posting. Consistency is key. Just like Instagram, you want to post often and stick to a schedule so your followers know when they can expect to see a new post.