Five TikTok tips for communications and marketing professionals…
Anyone who’s active on TikTok may have noticed that Kevin De Bruyne, the Manchester City and Belgium footballer, recently joined the platform.
Within a matter of hours of launching his account back in April, his following had shot into the millions, with his first post amassing 22 million views and three million likes.
At the time of writing this blog, he has a whopping 4.9 million followers – despite only posting five videos. All in all, he’s had a pretty good start.
As a City fan myself, and lover of all things TikTok, it’s fantastic to see the great man embracing the channel and doing so well.
However, I can imagine that for social media managers across the country, it probably feels like a kick in the teeth!
Within a matter of hours, he has eclipsed all our followings combined.
This is our reality, though.
Unlike KDB, it’s highly unlikely any kind of brand, service or charity is going to reach such big numbers overnight.
And whilst we may experience periods of viral hits and rapid growth, and all the excitement that comes with it, the TikTok algorithm is ‘built differently’ – as the kids today would say.
Working in comms, you’re likely to experience some pretty soul – destroying dry spells on the platform where, despite your best efforts and/or early success, the numbers simply aren’t stacking up.
Thankfully, there are some things you can do to get things back on track.
Here’s five TikTok tips from the Comms Creatives team on how to breathe some new life into your brand’s account…
1. Keep going!
Quitters never win and winners never quit. Yes, it’s a cheesy phrase, but in this case it’s absolutely relevant.
The ups and downs are all part of the TikTok journey and if you want long-term success on the platform, you have to weather the storms when they come your way.
Don’t let a drop in views stop you from posting – your next blow up could be just around the corner.
2. Review your best work
Whilst you absolutely shouldn’t let a drop in views dampen your Tok spirits, you should probably use it as a catalyst for a channel review.
This doesn’t have to be a lengthy or expensive process. In fact, all we’re actually suggesting is that you look back at your most successful videos and take some time to reflect on what made them work.
This could have been the video length, a particular member of staff or perhaps a hot topic.
Whatever seemed to bring in the views, identify the killer ingredient and use more of it!
3. Understand the channel
As a platform, TikTok explicitly describes itself as an entertainment channel, rather than a social network like Facebook, Twitter and similar.
What this means in practice is that the content you post on there should be 100 percent entertaining – putting pain to the traditional 80/20 rule that many of us may be familiar with (content on social should be 80 percent fun, 20 percent council news).
Once you have reviewed your best work on there, it might be worth reviewing the stuff that isn’t doing so well.
Much of your flops are likely to be content that centres too hard on your corporate messaging, ultimately missing the point of this particular platform.
TikTok should be fun – let your hair down!
4. Keep it short
When they say size doesn’t matter, they aren’t referring to TikTok. Indeed when it comes to The Tok, size and length make all the difference!
Whilst the infamous algorithm is very hard to understand, one element of it that is relatively well known is the fact that it rewards videos with good watch time figures.
As in, videos that people are watching all the way through.
Videos that hook people in so much that they watch until the end, and potentially then re-watch another three or four times, are much more likely to go ‘viral’ than videos that folk are only watching half of.
And of course the shorter your video is, the more likely people are going to finish watching!
5. Put in the hard yards
One of the biggest parts of being creative and finding a state of ‘flow’ at work is taking breaks and giving yourself some headspace away from social channels which, as we know,
can be extremely draining.
However, when it comes to TikTok, you absolutely have to spend time on there regularly if you are to have any kind of success.
Only by using the channel as a consumer, as well as a creator, will you be able to keep on top of new trends and, ultimately, understand the channel.
Our final advice is therefore to throw yourself into the platform and get involved – with a firm eye on your wellbeing of course.
Your viewing figures will thank you for it.
Join the TikTok Crash Course
✨ Teach you what you need to know to make it on TikTok for your brand – whether you’re a small public sector organisation, a charity, B2B, or a global entertainment or retail brand.
✨ Discover exactly what kind of content to produce to meet your goals and attract an audience of fans.
✨ Learn the coolest strategies, and guidance and inspiration from your tutors, Hel Reynolds, Jack Grasby and Zander Mills.
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