How to Use TikTok to Boost Your Brand Awareness and Reach Gen Z
A comprehensive guide that all millennial business owners need
This blog is for older gen-z, millennials and older generations, marketing their brands on TikTok and failing. We’re here to tell you that it’s okay because it’s different to anything you’ve ever known! TikTok is a completely different space from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which might be what you’re used to. It might require re-learning how social media marketing in today’s world, but once you nail TikTok, you’ll reap the rewards. According to Statista, in 2021, TikTok generated four billion U.S. dollars in advertising revenue. This figure is expected to double by 2024 and triple by 2026. Brands, such as The Glow Recipe, Youthforia and Odd Muse (just to name a few) were all small, unknown businesses that blew up after putting their marketing efforts into TikTok. The best part is, it can all be organic, and we’re here to tell you how.
STEP 1: UNDERSTANDING THE Algorithm
TikTok’s main competitors are Google and YouTube - their main goal is to be a video-based search engine. TikTok looks at your behavioural patterns to determine which videos are “for you”. When you first open a TikTok account, the app will offer you a variety of content, and then it will pay attention to what you search, what you engage with, what videos you watch until the end, what videos you scroll right past and more. There is a terminology circulating around TikTok that refers to which “side” of TikTok you are.
For example if you’re a fitness expert and you watch & create fitness videos, you’re on the “fitness side of TikTok”. Or if you’re a personal account, that enjoys lifestyle content, skincare and makeup, you might find yourself on the '“skincare” side of TikTok. This perfectly depicts how TikTok’s algorithm works and how it pays close attention to what type of content you enjoy and then “categorizes” you.
That’s the algorithm according to TikTok on the surface level, but there’s more. A document was leaked to the New York Times, named “TikTok Algo 101,” which described the TikTok algorithm to non-tech employees. It states that TikTok’s main internal goal is to increase the number of users on the platform. They outline 2 main ways that they aim to achieve this.
Optimizing videos for retention (getting users to come back for more)
Optimizing videos for time spent (getting users to spend more time on the app)
They also outline 4 main goals for the direction of their algorithm, which are…
User value: giving value to users
Long-term user value: keeping users coming back for more
Creator value: giving value to creators
Platform value: improving the TikTok app through an optimized algorithm
These are some great goals from TikTok, that as creators, business owners and consumers - we can see that they are moving away from being known as “a dancing app” and really harnessing value-giving. With value, comes monetization and money, which is a good thing for them and for us. This also demonstrates that they are competing with YouTube, because these are some of YouTube’s goals too. Now that we know everything we need to know about TikTok’s algorithm and internal goals, let’s get into 2 things that have changed on the app, and how implementing the best practices for both of these things will help you grow according to TikTok’s algorithm in 2022.
STEP 2: Creating Engaging Content
A TikTok user’s natural tendency is to SCROLL. That’s the motion and behavioural pattern that is engrained in them as soon as they open the app. They are actually expecting to skip through most videos, which means, you have got to do something to make them STOP SCROLLING. The main way to do this, and one of the most important ways is to include a “hook” at the beginning of your video, to encourage users to stop the scroll. You can do this in multiple different ways, depending on your video style (whether it’s a talking video, or not)…
If it’s a talking video, the easiest way to do this is by saying your hook at the start of your video. So how do you come up with a hook? Think about the main point you want to make with this video. What’s the goal? That should be included in your hook. Here are some examples…
“If you want to glow up without spending $1,000’s, this is what you need to do”
“If your boss is walking all over you, here’s exactly what you need to do”
“This product has helped 1000’s of our customers with their dry skin and eczema”
You can also do this by capturing the user’s attention in a motion like Meredith Dixbury does with her foundation.
Another helpful way that you can stop the scroll is by typing out the title of the video (or the hook) on the screen, in the first 3-5 seconds, so users can read what this video is about and know what they are expecting.
P.S. Make sure to cut out your millennial pauses! Getting to the point (fast) is key for this generation’s low attention span.
Also making sure your video is high quality is important. This tells users whether your video is worth watching. You can do so by doing the following…
Wipe your camera! This is an underrated tip, but with our fingers touching our phone 24/7, we don’t realize how dirty the camera is until we wipe it! Before creating content, make sure you give the camera lens (this applies to both the front & back camera) a little wipe and watch the clarity go from 0 to 100.
Make sure your camera settings are on 4k (you can change this in your settings).
If you have an iPhone 13 or 14, there is an option called “Cinematic” which only applies to videos filmed using your back camera, so if you’re filming anything with your back camera, adjust it to the cinematic camera setting!
Make sure your lighting is good! Natural lighting is always best, but if it’s a cloudy day - a good quality ring light will be just as good!
Generally speaking, try to film with the back camera of your phone as much as you can, because the quality is better.
STEP 3: Leveraging User-Generated Content
If you’re a product-based business, leverage user-generated content as much as you can. User-generated content (UGC) is content created by consumers or users of a brand's products or services. UGC is seen as more authentic and trustworthy than branded content. Consumers are more likely to trust the opinions and experiences of their peers than those of a brand (which is also why TikTok is ranking higher than Google as a search engine in gen z, which you can read more about here). With UGC, brands have the opportunity to show that their products or services are genuinely liked and used by real people.
If you’re still small and you don’t have customers creating UGC, here is how you can; A) do it yourself and B) get the ball rolling on UGC…
Host a giveaway that encourages your customers to take UGC and post it on their TikTok, IG Stories and/ or feed, and the best one wins a prize!
Gift presents to influencers, but don’t expect a post in return without a budget. Some influencers will post you, some won’t; but either way, you are getting your name out there! When you have the budget, collaborate with influencers on a larger scale.
Create your own UGC by jumping on trends, showing up on your social media to showcase your product or service, and creating how-to videos & tutorials so users can see your product in action - to name a few. If you don’t have the capacity to do this (or you’re doing it, but it’s not going well) and you’re based in London, you can hire us on a 1-Off basis and we can create all the content for you (read more here under “1-Off UGC Creation” then Enquire here).
Bonus Tip: Include your face (or “a” face to your brand, i.e. a content creator). Adding a face to your products can increase sales by 70%! Personal brands will generally have 10x more followers than product-based brands. Why? Because people crave connection and trust when it comes to purchasing on social media and adding a face to your brand, does just that! Examples like Odd Muse, Huda Beauty & Youthforia, in which all the Founders (Aimee, Huda & Fiona) have created a personal connection with their audience and customers by being so heavily involved in their social media. If you check each one of their profiles, you will notice that they are in 80-90% of every video on TikTok.
STEP 4: Measuring Success
The last step, and one of the most important is actually measuring your success! Do this by keeping an eye on your analytics on both a weekly and monthly basis, so you can evaluate what you need to improve on. We do this for each one of our clients. Here’s an example of how this can look like:
Low Reach = Let’s see if we can push more awareness content, meaning, more relatable, entertaining & “viral” type content to reach more of our audience.
Low Engagement = Let’s start to add more specific CTAs, or conversation-driving content to boost engagement.
Low Clicks = Let’s tell our audience more about where they can find us and how they can buy from us, and let’s evaluate our customer journey and possibly make it more seamless!
These are just a few examples regarding how we can draw conclusions based on analytics; however, every account is different and this is also a highly personalized process and difficult to do without having a deep dive into individual accounts! We highly recommend going through your analytics…
On a weekly basis, to recap the week and see how things are performing on a short-term basis.
On a monthly basis, to evaluate what is performing well & what isn’t - then adjust accordingly.
On a quarterly basis, to provide more insight on what’s performing well & what isn’t on a larger scale. Looking at sales along side the quarterly reports can be helpful too!
TAKEAWAY
All in all, TikTok is an incredibly powerful platform that can help brands connect with their audience and increase brand awareness. It’s less complicated and curated than Instagram and Facebook and requires a learning curve, but once you nail your strategy by using the tips above, you’re longevity as a brand is secured! We hope this helped and if you need clarification on this or more insight into how to personalize your strategy according to your brand, book a 1:1 call with our Founder Miriam here!
