If there’s one thing we can all universally agree on, it’s that TikTok is a major cultural force. The platform has flipped the social media landscape from kids doing dances that defy gravity to snarky chefs clowning on nasty food videos.

Check these stats:

In the United States, 150 million people are signing up annually. Globally, there are 5.3 billion users. That’s a lot of people scrolling. 

It’s time to get into some TikTok marketing

The TikTok platform is powerful. It is so powerful that many people have 9-5 lives every day, and then, a few videos later, their job is to influence others through their lifestyle or how they make things. Whatever the case, TikTok has something for everyone, and with each passing day, more and more people are joining the platform. If you want to jump on the power of social media marketing with TikTok, now you’re cooking with gas. While some people love to use their content marketing specially for Instagram, the content on TikTok is a beast. 

We talked to our TikTok guru Mel (she’s got a bazillion followers, so you know, we trust her) and got her insight on what serious TikTok marketing should look like. 

The folks who scroll on TikTok spend at least an hour on the platform, taking in all kinds of interesting things, some of which could be whatever little ecosystem you’ve built. When doing the dance with digital marketing, a solid TikTok video can change fortunes. 

The facts speak for themselves:

• Out of 5.3 billion internet users worldwide, 23% use TikTok.
• Out of 4.95 billion active social media users, 24.65% use TikTok.
• And while grandma shares her favorite recipes on Facebook, Gen Z is all over TikTok – over 60% of users are between the ages of 16 and 24. Do you know what else those users do? They’re not using Google to search. Instead, they look inside TikTok for real-world video content to help solve a query. 

In the world of TikTok, it’s all about the niche, and once you find yourself in the ever-evolving algorithm, that could be a game changer for your business. (Insert Hello Fellow Kids meme.) 

When it comes to brand visibility and the reach of video ads, Instagram is powerful, but what TikTok can do is a whole different animal for your marketing campaign. 

Because Manychat is for creators and we live in a world of social media, we’ve put together some tips and tricks, best practices, and (what we think is) good advice for harnessing the snarling mammoth that is TikTok. (If you like this, check out our other Instagram and Messenger Marketing content.)

What is TikTok?

Pretty much everyone who owns a smartphone knows what TikTok is. Even those who don’t have it know it’s a big part of the cultural zeitgeist. So, if you’ve crawled out from a science fiction movie where you’ve been frozen in time thanks to riding in an alien spaceship for the last twenty years, this breakdown is probably for you. 👽 (Pssst. It’s not the same as your Instagram profile. Tiktok trends hit a completely different audience.) 

The central premise of TikTok is that users can find trending effects, hashtags, and sounds – whatever interests them and then dive headfirst into that niche. 

Because so many different kinds of communities have embraced TikTok, the rabbit holes are endless, which is precisely what the platform wants. The content keeps coming once people get lost in their interests, and the user stays hooked. 

Can TikTok benefit retailers?

If you’re a brand that already has an online presence with apps like Facebook and Instagram, jumping in with TikTok makes as much sense as getting tacos for lunch. Why wouldn’t you want to join a massive global community? Otherwise, that’s leaving a lot of dough on the table.

Crack new markets.

TikTok is the channel to go if the goal is to reach a younger demographic. Facebook still has its audience, but it’s for the average TikToker’s mom and dad. The content and style are geared toward the younger folks, and that trend isn’t letting up anytime soon. Depending on what you’re selling, TikTok may be the perfect place to set up a web presence because when a brand is lucky enough to see its stuff catch on, it catches on big time.

A note from Mel, our social media guru here at Manychat: “there are still a large range of ages who consume content over there and the algorithm helps you hit the perfect demographic for your brand. So get creating!”

Pump up that brand awareness.

Instagram dropped in 2011, and seven years later, it hit the 1 billion user milestone. Don’t get us wrong, this is huge. But here’s the thing: TikTok hit the same milestone in four years.

So, if that data isn’t impressive enough, TikTok commissioned research that found that 52% of users said they found new products from ads on TikTok. 61% said they feel ads on TikTok are unique from other top social and video platforms. How TikTok content affects the audience is one of the most powerful tools in content marketing. 

Dance down the sales funnel.

Because TikTok has monetization in mind from the jump, TikTok ads help move users down the sales funnel. Feed ads on TikTok are a full-screen, sound-on experience that is no different from typical TikTok content. The full-screen experience means users are less likely to bounce because even though it’s paid content or a straight-up ad, it doesn’t feel like a Facebook ad, which looks and feels exactly like that. 

Ads that are indistinguishable from normal, immersive content were a big factor behind their success. Moreover, research from Kantar found that consumers saw TikTok ads as “the most fun and entertaining.” If users find your ads entertaining, they are more likely to pay attention to them.

Crafting a TikTok sales funnel that doesn’t suck 

Creating a sales funnel on TikTok is the best way to take advantage of the above benefits. Let’s cruise to construct your funnel from the top down to the bottom. Creating a marketing campaign that crushes audience expectations with savvy influencer marketing or some TikTok ads that convert are pure fairy dust for some companies. When crafting the funnel, it’s important to remember that content is king. 

Top of the funnel

So, in the ultra-cool world of Internet marketing, “top of the funnel” strategies build brand and product awareness. While TikTok’s algorithm is already awesome for organic reach, there are a couple of other methods you can use as firepower to turbocharge your results. Think of this part as someone scrolling past and seeing someone rocking your sunglasses, and they pause to consider where they, too, can grab a pair – this is the top of the funnel. This is where you lure them in with expert brand awareness. 

Collab with influencers 

We’ve all been affected by influencer marketing. And on TikTok, influencers are everywhere and for every niche. Influencers help promote products in a way that differentiates your brand from your competition. The world of social media created this niche way of following people’s lives, and the masses follow their input on promoting or who they collaborate with as a sign that the brand is quality. 

From Mel:

“Not only are you creating more native content to the platform (when collaborating with influencers), but you’re putting a face/name behind it that people may be seeing frequently on their feeds, helping build not only brand awareness but more credibility by tying in people’s favorite influencers with products they use/love/can trust. Another pro to working with influencers on video collabs is that, a lot of times, the content is published on the creators account (exposing the product to their audience) and also repurposed on the brands account, giving them more content to use and putting relatable content on their pages.”

Partnering with someone isn’t black and white; the partnership must have a purpose. If you’re selling craft beers, a fashion influencer doesn’t make sense. When aiming for legit brand visibility, it’s all about championing the relationships that will elevate the brand and sales through effective and smart content marketing.

Run ads

Because so many people are on TikTok, their ads translate – hard. According to TikTok, they’re: 

• Ranked no. 1 globally for ad equity 
• TikTok users are 1.5 times more likely to immediately go out and buy something they discovered on the platform
• 68% of TikTok users find advertising content here unique or different from any other platform.

Because the algorithm is so fine-tuned to personal interests, ads are a killer way to utilize top-of-funnel lead generation. 

There are three chief options: 

• TopView Ads: These ads appear at the top of the For You page about three seconds after opening the app.
• Brand Takeover: A full-page ad that appears when you open the app (after the loading screen). The brand takeover ad can include a clickable link to an external webpage, app store download, or even your TikTok shop (if approved).
• In-feed Ad: These are standard ads users see when scrolling through videos in its For You home feed. 

Beyond those, there’s the Discover banner and branded Hashtag challenges. TikTok’s got plenty of options for your company. 

Run contests or giveaways.

There’s a ton of content on TikTok. So running a contest or a giveaway is effective because people will do it if it’s low effort. You have to remember: people scroll fast. You don’t want to lose them. You gotta follow TikTok’s rules and guidelines to try this strategy.

Contests and giveaways help reach a vast audience. One of the most significant ways people utilize the algorithm is the famous “follow me and tag friends” method for giveaways, which produces a snowball (cue the Indiana Jones music) effect for follower growth and brand awareness.

Middle (Insert Malcolm joke here)

Connecting with your newfound followers in the middle of the sales/marketing funnel is key. Interacting with your audience in multiple places draws people closer to your brand and products. 

Be genuine with your followers.

Engagement metrics matter. Social media algorithms favor content that generates conversations. The more buzz your post produces, the more people will see it. 

Be cool, and engage with your followers by commenting and liking what they say about you. Building an interactive brand is critical for long-term success. This shows empathy for people and that the company isn’t just some corporate automaton. Do a few TikTok live events, create the TikTok hashtag that people get excited about. This is supposed to be a fun channel for engaging content that drives brand visibility and keeps you on your folks’ radar.

Responding to comments on your posts encourages the commenter to continue the thread, so the longer and more engaged you are with your content marketing, the more it will pay off. If you’re going to do branded content, stay true to the voice of the company and before you know it, reaching a wider audience is possible. For a small business, be about the people; every sale counts and if you’re a business owner, you know that – especially when you look at your bank account. 

Encourage followers on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. 

Marketing isn’t one-size-fits-all. Instead, brands need to work to encourage their followers to click those “like and subscribe” buttons everywhere. TikTok allows you to connect your Instagram account or YouTube channel, both of which show up as a dedicated icon next to your follow button on your profile. 

Most age groups favor Instagram over YouTube, so connecting Instagram to your TikTok account would be a better choice. When you connect your audience to Instagram, you can take advantage of its established Shop features, and we can help you scale your lead generation even further. Trust us on this one. 

Bottom 

The bottom of the funnel is where the magic happens. 🪄

This is part of the customer journey when people know you and are into the product or service. It’s now your job to reel them in. 

Promote. Promote. Promote.

Accessing a TikTok shop will create a frictionless journey from your feed content to the checkout page. Stick the link in your bio to your website. (If you’re directing them to IG, we can simplify the process.) The TikTok algorithm is no joke, so by promoting the right ways, your company can only see the sales go up and up.

Send people to Messenger. 

If you don’t have a Shopify store set up, there’s always directing customers to your Messenger via Facebook or another platform. (We wrote about that, too.)

You can create quizzes, direct people to drop a message, or take action in whatever way makes sense for the brand. 

Whatever form your content marketing plan takes, grabbing the power of TikTok is an ace way to keep business coming. TikTok is only getting bigger by the day, so we might as well join the party and keep the sales coming in rapidly. If the goal is a successful TikTok marketing strategy, let this be your guide into a bigger world.

You’ve set up your TikTok funnel. What’s next?

Thanks to TikTok’s popularity, it’s now easier than ever for small businesses to make money online. But sending people through your TikTok sales funnel is just one part of the process; true growth comes from making this a recurring funnel. 

With ManyChat, you can create an omnichannel marketing strategy around your TikTok funnel by building up your contacts list and connecting with them on Instagram, Messenger, email, SMS—wherever they prefer to be. 

The more places you can reach your customers, the more opportunities you have to repeatedly sell to them.

Ready to grow your business on TikTok and beyond? Try ManyChat free today.