In just a few short years, TikTok has evolved from being just another fun, trendy social media platform to a powerful tool for marketers looking to make an impact. With more than 1.92 billion users now on the platform, there’s a good chance that your brand’s target audience is on TikTok — which means it’s worth at least considering whether TikTok should be part of your social media strategy.
If your company is considering whether or not to board the TikTok train, it can be easy to get enticed by the (seemingly) low lift of creating quick-form content and capitalizing on lighthearted trends. However, in order to be truly successful, it’s important to define and develop a TikTok strategy before focusing your efforts on the platform.
Here are four simple steps that will help you create a TikTok strategy for your small business:
Step 1: Define Your Purpose and Goals
The first step of a successful TikTok strategy is determining your company’s purpose for joining the platform.
Are you trying to establish your organization as thought leaders in your industry? Are you attempting to show off a bit of your team’s creativity, or demonstrate your exceptional company culture? This purpose should connect to the broader goals of your organization — and if it doesn’t, it may not be worth your time and effort to have a presence on the platform.
Need to think a bit deeper into the “why” behind your TikTok strategy? Check out our guide on “How to Get Started on TikTok” for a more in-depth discussion.
Step 2: Determine Your Audiences
Once you have defined your goals, you must consider the target audience you are attempting to reach with your videos, as that will inform the tone and types of your content.
Are you creating relatable content to speak to others in your industry? Do you want your TikTok videos to reach current college students that you may want to recruit for jobs or internship? Thinking through these considerations will allow you to narrow your audience and create video content that speaks directly to that audience, making them more likely to engage with it.
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Step 3: Establish an Execution Plan
Next, it is vital to establish a plan for executing your TikTok strategy that is reasonable based on your current capacity and resources.
When determining what your posting schedule will look like, consider your current capacity, as well as the capacity for other team members who may be involved in filming your content. Do you realistically have the time in your schedule to post five times per week, or is aiming for two videos per week more reasonable? Setting a manageable plan for yourself during the initial stages will put you on the path to success.
If you are proposing your TikTok strategy to decision-makers in your company, they will likely want to know how much time you will be spending on creating and executing content for the platform. Don’t sell yourself short — TikTok may be fun, but it can also be very time-consuming! Make sure to break down how much time you estimate for each part of the execution plan, including researching trending topics, filming, editing, and posting.
It’s also important to create an execution plan for all team members who will be creating content. Hosting weekly or bi-weekly meetings may be beneficial, giving you an opportunity check in on the status of videos and determine which trends your small business may be able to capitalize on. Delegating specific tasks such as which team member will write copy, who will be filming, which team members want to participate, and who needs to approve the video before posting is also an important element of your strategy. Although these roles may fluctuate as you start creating content, clearly defining them will ensure everyone in your organization knows their responsibilities.
Step 4: Evaluate Performance
The last step to defining your TikTok strategy is determining how you will evaluate the performance of your efforts. Within the TikTok platform, you can gather metrics including likes, comments, shares, saves, percentage of viewers that watched the full video, and accounts reached.
Take care to ensure the metrics you are evaluating ladder back to the purpose and goals you established in step 1. Even if your content is reaching a smaller audience, take a look at who is engaging — if the likes, comments, and shares are aligned with your target audiences, you are on the right track! Especially when getting started, it can be helpful to identify smaller benchmarks (for example, month-over-month or week-over-week growth) that will help you evaluate how your content is performing on a more incremental basis.
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Before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to executing a top-notch TikTok strategy! As you continue diving into the world of TikTok, here are some additional tips and tricks from the experts at Scooter Media that you may find helpful:
