Today, social media marketing is an essential element of any successful marketing strategy. Among the top platforms available, TikTok has become a firm favorite for enterprises offering products or services to a younger audience.

What makes it an ideal marketing tool for your business, and how can you leverage it effectively to engage the youth? Let’s find out.

Why TikTok?

According to DataReportal, 38.5% of the platform’s ad audience (above 18 years) falls under the 18-24 age group and 32.5% under 25-34. If your regular customers are within this age profile, TikTok could be the perfect social media site to build brand awareness and drive sales.

Here are a few other statistics to explain the site’s popularity among brand marketers.

• Claiming over 1 billion monthly users, TikTok is one of the most active and widely used social media sites globally.

• 116.5 million Americans aged 18 and above are active users of the platform.

• It has a fairly balanced audience demographic, with 53.4% females and 46.6% male users. 

• TikTok was the number one most-downloaded app in the US and worldwide in 2022.

• Users spend, on average, 1.5 hours on it each day.

The popularity of the platform does not require any more evidence. But how can you make it an effective component of your digital marketing strategy? We will discuss this next.

TikTok Marketing Tips to Engage Young People

Before implementing specific marketing tactics, it is important to define your target audience. This is not simply about determining an age group, gender, or geographic location.

You must dig deeper to identify your audience’s lifestyle habits, characteristics, values, preferences, and needs and develop a customer persona. This is critical for tailoring your marketing strategy with greater precision and improving the ROI of your marketing efforts and spend.

Once you have defined your audience in detail, you can then get started with our top tips on TikTok marketing. 

Research

Gaining an in-depth understanding of a platform is essential for crafting your marketing activities. But what exactly should you research on TikTok?

Start by reviewing trending topics and hashtags to learn about content types that platform users favor and engage with the most. It will provide valuable insights into your audience’s behavior and changing trends.

Another area to research is your competition. Check competitor profiles, content, followers, and campaigns to identify what has worked and what hasn’t.

Complete Your Profile

There is no better way to lose a potential customer than flaunting an incomplete or unprofessional-looking profile. So, having complete and accurate business information is crucial. 

But first, ensure you have a TikTok business account. These have several advantages over the regular ones—for instance, you get to set up your own online store on the platform, access analytics and advertising features, and integrate scheduling tools. You can also add your business website when you gain 1,000 followers.

Once you set up a business account, add a clear image of your logo. If you really want to impress your audience, animate and upload it in video format.

Next, write a killer company bio explaining what you do. Then add your email address and business category and connect your Instagram and YouTube profiles.

It is also important to ensure the information you add is consistent with what you have on other platforms. Review all your social media profiles, search your company name on Google, and run your business phone number through PhoneHistory to check what details are publicly available. Edit them if you notice any inconsistencies.

Set Up a Budget

To determine how much you can spend on TikTok, consider available funds and the costs you expect to incur. The minimum ad spend on the platform is $500. You may also decide to hire a freelancer to prepare content, schedule videos, and engage with the audience. If so, take into account average freelancer fees based on the work required.

In addition, assess your current and future plans, engagement objectives, and KPIs. Then prepare a detailed marketing budget, ideally for the next 12 months.

Create Content

TikTok offers a range of resources, including sound clips and editing tools, to record and create videos straight from its app. This has brought significant ease for businesses to generate effective content.

But what type of video content should you create? Short clips that last up to 30 seconds perform best on TikTok. You can feature product demonstrations, tutorials, and even interesting factoids. Create several options and test them out to assess the response.

Also, draw inspiration from trending topics to understand what the audience craves. Funny videos, for instance, are known to yield higher engagement on the platform. In addition to regular videos, don’t forget to include live streaming, user-generated content, and giveaways to add variety. 

Consistent and regular content sharing is also vital. A monthly content plan will help you organize your posts and activities more strategically. 

Partner With Influencers

TikTok hosts a variety of influencers of different scales. By partnering with someone related to your industry, you can easily leverage their follower base and already-established credibility to your advantage.

However, review their profiles before reaching out for a partnership deal. Specifically, focus on the type of content they share and their public image to ensure their values and behaviors align with your brand’s.

Advertise

There are several advertising options for businesses on TikTok. Some of them include:

• Brand takeover ads that provide five seconds of guaranteed exposure when users open the app.

• In-feed ads, which appear in between user content.

• TopView ads placed at the top of user feeds for 5 - 60 seconds.

In addition, your brand can use many other advertising and promotional features on TikTok. Branded effects, for instance, allow you to create branded stickers, AR filters, and lenses to share with users.

To Conclude

TikTok serves as an effective marketing tool for businesses looking to engage the youth. From short-form, video-based content strategies to advertising and influencer marketing, the platform offers a range of options to build an audience, generate awareness, and drive product sales.