How To Build A Strong Brand Using Videos on TikTok

It is possible to produce excellent videos, but unless they carry your brand, you lose fantastic opportunities to make it stand out online. Here’s how you can build a strong brand with your videos.

It has been a few years since TikTok exploded onto the online scene, and it has seen tremendous exponential growth. As matter of fact, it is currently the number one downloaded app worldwide as of 2021.

With the exciting opportunities, TikTok offers brands all the possible means they can’t afford to miss out. This article explains how you can use TikTok for brand building, whether or not it’s already part of your marketing strategy.

Let’s lay out the basics of TikTok, look at how other certain brands are utilizing it, and discuss how you can use it to enhance your brand.

TikTok: what is it?

It’s unlikely that you haven’t heard of TikTok. However, if there was a chance you hadn’t, here’s a brief overview.

It’s no secret that social media has become a highly effective way for brands to connect with customers and build their brands. So first, we’ve moved from Facebook to YouTube, then IGTV, and now, we have TikTok.

Like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, TikTok is a social media platform that connects people. The first thing that sets TikTok apart is that it’s all about short-form videos. Video users can upload and edit videos up to a minute in length — the more quirky and entertaining, the better.

Although TikTok is still a newcomer compared to other social media giants, it is expected to reach 1.5 billion users by the end of this year. This will make it the third most prominent social media platform after Facebook and WhatsApp.

Are TikTok users just Gen Z? Well, no – not anymore. 

Although the platform is popular among younger generations, a wider audience from different demographics is taking notice.

In the US, TikTok users aged 10-29, 47.4% are males, and 31.3% are females. TikTok’s global user base comprises 60% females and 40% males, while the US audience has slightly more female than male users.

Brand Building Benefits of TikTok

Although brands with a strong presence on TikTok are reaping the rewards, it’s not too late to begin. You should strongly and seriously consider adding it to your digital marketing campaigns if you haven’t already.

If you understand what TikTok is capable of and how you can use it, you’ll find it a powerful tool for building brand awareness.

Enhance brand awareness

The global reach of TikTok allows brands of all industries to reach millions of users.

TikTok content has a fun, engaging nature, meaning people see your brand and think about you, too. This makes it easier for your brand to become viral on TikTok.

Attract new audiences

Are you looking for a platform that targets Generation Z?

Take a look at TikTok if you want to reach a younger audience.

TikTok is a better option for brands targeting younger audiences since only 10% of teenagers use Facebook as their preferred social media platform.

But when it comes to branding and audiences, consider this as an example. 

Fashion cosmetics brand Maybelline launched a TikTok marketing campaign to reach out to younger women. To promote its flagship Volume Express Hyper Curl Mascara, the company collaborated with influencer Reiko for a video entitled “Mascara Boyfriend,” with the product message stressing that eyelashes are not always what you expect.

As a result, Maybelline increased brand awareness by 80% because of the video.

Engage your target audience

Are you looking for a way to show your customers your less serious and lighter side to your brand while reminding them how awesome you are? TikTok offers you a chance to position your brand differently with fun, snackable content.

Here’s another example. As of January 2022, the NBA had more followers on TikTok than any other sports league (14.2 million).

In its TikTok profile, the NBA shows fans videos showcasing their various mascots’ adventures behind the scenes. As a result, fans will be able to connect with their favorite NBA athletes in a more intimate and fun way than their presence on other platforms, which is more prim and polished.

Boost your sales

As a result of watching TikTok, 92% of users have taken action and ensured that brands benefited at every stage of their sales funnel.

Establish a strong local presence

It is common for popular content creators to have a small yet dedicated audience. They are known as micro-influencers, and their following may not be as large as that of more significant content creators, but they are prevalent and highly respected in their niche.

Developing a more substantial presence in a particular location can be easier with the help of micro-influencers for small, local brands. It is possible to reach out to micro-influencers in your local area who are influential and well-known, much like you would with massive Instagram influencers.

There were approximately 10,300 user-generated videos made that went viral as a result of such localized content being viewed by no less than eight million users.

Fuel your content marketing efforts

The simplicity of cross-promotion on TikTok allows you to use Instagram while testing out TikTok!

Your TikTok videos can be saved to your camera roll quickly and easily, so you can upload them to any other platform you desire. It takes just a few minutes to post your TikTok video on Instagram. With some light-hearted content from TikTok, you can “freshen up” your Instagram content.

Insta feed posts have a standard screen ratio of 4:5, not 16:9, as they are on TikTok. So, if you cross-post to your Insta feed, make sure to take note of the difference in dimensions.

Instagram vs. TikTok: What are the differences?

As both platforms promote users to post videos, TikTok and Instagram are easy to compare. They also share similar features, such as dedicated pages for discovering whom to follow and seeing what’s trending. In addition, although both platforms allow users to post videos, Instagram can also accept photos.

Each video on TikTok is no longer than 15 seconds. While users can edit together clips to create minute-long videos, each video cannot exceed that time limit.

Since TikTok users tend to be younger than Instagram users, the content on each platform differs significantly. 

On TikTok, most users aim to go viral — so expect hilarious, meme-driven videos designed to grab people’s attention. The user can also add various filters to their video after uploading it, along with music tracks from a vast library.

Undoubtedly, the content generated by each platform is meant to appeal to a slightly different age group.

Using TikTok to build your brand

When it comes to TikTok, it may seem like it’s all about fun and games. After all, the app is popular among teens who make memes and want to go viral.

Nevertheless, brands can reap the benefits of using this new social media platform when they venture onto it, as shown by the examples above.

Are you interested in making it big on TikTok? Here are a few tips to help you succeed.

The most effective way to get on the “For You” page is to take advantage of TikTok analytics and trends.

Upon signing up for TikTok, you can choose either a free profile or a Pro account. It is recommended that you upgrade to the Pro account since you will gain access to app analytics.

There is little information available about the TikTok algorithm at the moment, but you’ll be able to see who is watching and sharing your videos. This can be extremely helpful since you’ll know how important it is to try to get on the highly coveted “For You” page.

In the same way, Instagram’s “Discover” page displays posts that are similar to those a user already follows, the “For You” page allows you to promote your brand directly to users, increasing brand awareness for you.

Depending on the performance of your previous videos, your future exposure will be essentially determined by it.

You’re off to a fantastic start if your first TikTok video goes viral! 

A new video is displayed to a small number of users right after it’s published. TikTok will then open it up to even more people if these users like it and interact with it.

A video’s geographical location also matters. Once it goes live, it is usually only visible to users in the same country. This is excellent news for smaller brands.

The more prominent brands might think this is a disadvantage, but if you do well in your initial geo-location performance, your video will also spread further across different networks. 

Don’t forget that your videos must be engaging, and they will work for brands of all sizes!

Additionally, hashtags and sound effects help videos go viral, so it’s always a good idea to implement them.

Hashtags: why use them?

By adding these tags, videos can appear on Discovery pages – some even believe that #foryou, #foryoupage, and #fyp will increase the chances of a video making it big.

Videos on TikTok have a much longer shelf life than on Instagram since videos can become viral at any time, regardless of whether it was uploaded years ago.

Furthermore, every video content’s performance is tracked by its algorithm. Therefore, if a video from a month ago suddenly becomes very popular, it could start gaining serious traction.

By following the latest trends, posting regularly, and using TikTok analytics to identify what your target audience wants to see, you’ll be more likely to reach the “For You” page – the ultimate goal for every brand that allows them to be discovered even more efficiently.

Focus on brand awareness and engagement

When creating content for TikTok, keep brand awareness and engagement in mind.

TikTok has several features and trends that you can use to help get your brand name out there, so it shouldn’t be that difficult.

Maintaining consistency is key to building brand awareness as you engage in the brand-building process.

Excellent advertising platform

As well as building an organic presence, it would be best if you also considered TikTok Ads. Depending on your budget and goals, there are various ad formats available.

When brand takeover ads are out of your budget (since they can cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars), you may want to consider in-feed ads, native video ads that appear between user-generated content and can last between 9 – 15 seconds. They cost $10 per impression (prepaid minimum of 600 impressions).

There is only one disadvantage to these ads: they can be skipped by users, but this encourages brands to make engaging advertisements.

Hashtag challenges for marketing

There are a couple of ways to do this: you can create your series of hashtags and campaign among your followers to use it or participate in a current challenge.

Approximately a third of users have participated in these challenges before, making them a popular way to go viral if the challenge goes viral.

Use of viral music

As TikTok emphasizes, 9 out of 10 users consider sound vital to the experience of TikTok. According to TikTok, when distinctive brand sounds are used in ads, brand linkage and recall increase by more than eight times compared to other elements such as slogans and logos.

The TikTok app further substantiates this, stating that internal data shows that sound can foster brand engagement, while music also influences user behavior.

Of course, just be mindful of copyright and access restrictions.

Partner with influencers

As with Instagram, TikTok has a set of influencers with more than 10 million followers, including 40 stars.

Although you may not be able to partner with such big names, you can still utilize an influencer marketing strategy with users with those having tens of thousands of followers on TikTok.

Let’s go live!

A live stream is a great way to increase engagement with your fans, but you’ll need at least 1,000 followers.

Taking your brand live allows followers to interact with you, ask questions, and get a better, more authentic sense of who you are as a brand.

Quality knows no limits

Having professional, high-quality video production will make your video content stand out.

In addition to the devices being used to watch TikTok or YouTube videos, video production quality is also becoming more critical. Video content has become increasingly popular and resonates well with audiences from all walks of life, regardless of age, gender, or social status.

Professional video editing services such as Vidpros provide Tiktok video content creators with that edge to give them the superb and professional quality of their final video content. 

In closing

This year, TikTok is forecasted to be a key focus for brands across almost all industries, not just for teenagers who go viral.

There are many ways to use TikTok to grow your brand, from awareness to loyalty and sales, but high-quality content is the key. Users are there to be entertained, not to see advertisements flooding their screens all the time, but it does not mean that you cannot use TikTok to build and promote your brand.

No matter how long you’ve been on TikTok or how much experience you’ve acquired on the video platform, the tips and ideas above will help you build a stronger, more successful brand.