There’s no doubt that the rise of TikTok has transformed the world of PR, marketing, influencers and ecommerce. From viral trends to TikTok shop, the app has the ability to completely transform businesses and individuals alike, but where do agencies stand in this changing landscape?
We attended the PR Moment webinar which brought together experts in this field to discuss and present how PR specialists can use TikTok for communications and how to be successful on the app.
Finding your voice:
One of the key ways to succeed on the app is finding your unique voice. Whether it’s jumping on a trend or creating sales focused content, finding a voice that represents the brand and appeals to your consumers is the best way to create successful and authentic content. When it comes to trending content, it can be hard to know whether to get involved, especially if it’s not directly relevant to the brand. Sometimes, if you don’t have something interesting to add to a trend or you don’t feel it’s the kind of content your audience wants to see, it's not worth getting involved just for the views. For example, trends such as ‘demure and mindful’ became stale in record time, as hundreds of brands jumped on the trend even when it wasn’t relevant to their audience.
Audience:
The truth is, your audience does want to hear from you! 60% of TikTok users have bought a product because they saw it on the app. Whether it's talking about promotions, use cases, news, category behavior, or brand culture, there are so many ways to connect with your audience in a way that’s entertaining and genuine. Algorithms are so powerful in knowing what users want to watch. A key tactic for generating content that your users will engage with is to follow and interact with accounts that you think your audience will interact with. That way you can see the trends that are relevant to your audience and increase chances of appearing on their pages.
Influencers:
Influencer marketing is a sector that has boomed in recent years, and this has largely been facilitated by TikTok, whose unique algorithm encourages overnight viral content. At present, there are approximately 16 million influencers in the world and around a half are on TikTok. In addition to this, the presence of influencers on TikTok has completely shaped how users are interacting on the app, with 3 in 4 TikTok account owners using the app to watch influencer content.
So how can you tap into the influencer goldmine? With so many influencers available, how do you find the right ones for a brand or your agency? TikTok Creator Marketplace created by TikTok aims to match creators and brands, though this does require you to set up an account on the marketplace. Searching using hashtags is another effective, and free, way to find creators and allows you to be more specific when searching for influencers.
Integrating traditional PR stories and social media:
While some people may view traditional PR and PR on TikTok as two totally separate worlds, this is not the case. It is possible to take traditional PR stories that you’re selling into the media and transform that content into TikTok content. A great example of how this can work is the brand USwitch - they ran a story that young people don’t call anymore and transformed it into a viral social media video. Using a TikTok comedy creator to turn this PR story into a comedy skit on the app, the brand reached its audience through both traditional and new media forms.
