It is the most controversial, famous, or even hated app of 2020. And I am not even exaggerating. India had it bann
ed, the United States military had it banned because of privacy issues. Parents had it sued left and right. So as a social media manager, have you ever considered Tiktok in your strat? Or because of its controversies, you disregard it away. But did you know that Tiktok has 800 million active users worldwide? (Datare
portal, 2020) Making it the most downloaded app both in Playstore and Apple App Store. Any digital marketer should take advantage of Tiktok's numbers because it only shows how influential the app will be for years to come. There's no sign of it stopping!
A smart marketer will see the potential of the app. Statistics show that the app is used on an average of 52 minutes, eight times per day (Businessinfoapps). Since the majority of the users are teenagers, your marketing strategy should be highly creative and engaging. Just like Instagram and Facebook, brands use Tiktok marketing via influencers, paid advertisements, or create original content.
Tiktok is mostly known for their #hashtag challenges, and it's crazy! A lot of major brands have already used it to their advantage, only proving how effective you can use the app. Hashtag challenges create branding and make your product easy to find! For example, Crocs. They combined influencer and hashtag challenge to increase brand awareness. That's hard to imagine since Crocs is always lambasted for its design. They partnered with ten influencers, including Post Malone, and created #ThousandDollarCrocs challenge. The challenge is about embracing Croc's motto of "Come As You Are" - being unique and just be yourself. The winner will receive $1,000.00. The result? In less than 24 hours, Croc's Tiktok channel had an 18% increase!
Another great example is James Charle's #passthebrushchallenge, that garnered 9.1 million likes as of this writing. The emotional appeal of the challenge clicked; it created a notion that everyone in the world can connect and ultimately creating a collective movement. Other versions of the #passthebrushchallenge also went viral.
As a social media manager, pitching Tiktok to your client can be one of the best moves you can make. Having it included in your business and marketing strategy can pay off. Just follow the Tiktok formula:
Nothing beats the appeal of tapping to someone's passion and sharing it with the world. That's how powerful the hashtag challenges on Tiktok when it comes to creating brand awareness. It becomes a collective movement—the Tiktok community rallying behind your brand.
Despite its shared controversies, why not give the app a chance to prove to you what it did to other brands? 26.5 million Tiktok users are in the USA alone. So what's stopping you from pioneering another hashtag challenge and create brand awareness?