How to Win on TikTok: Influencer Marketing Playbook

Taylor: Hi everyone, Taylor here from Tribe Dynamics. In this video I'll be walking through three best practices for engaging influencers and making an impact on today's buzziest social platform. Say it with me now, TikTok. Once a trendy app for teens, TikTok has established itself as an indispensable hub of contemporary culture. The short form video sharing platform, which reached one billion active monthly users in September 2021, is not only the go to social media channel for gen Z, but also a launch pad for viral trends and conversations around beauty, fashion, food, music and more. Given its immense influence it's no surprise that TikTok is shaping consumer behavior. According to Newsweek the platform is responsible for record breaking sales of products ranging from new makeup and skincare to leggings, to even feta cheese. As TikTok continues to steer consumer shopping cards brands are increasingly recognizing and leveraging the platforms marketing power by winning over its robust creator community. But don't be fooled into thinking you can simply repurpose the same activation tactics that work on other platforms. TikTok creators abide by a unique set of rules so if you want to ignite influencer conversation on TikTok, your brand must familiarize itself with the platform's unique content landscape and build a strategy that aligns with influencers' interests and priorities. Don't worry, we at Tribe Dynamics are here to help. Keep on watching to learn the three most important strategies to keep in mind when tapping into TikTok's tremendous marketing opportunity. Our first tip is to take a test and learn approach to your TikTok strategy. TikTok may be famous for its ability to launch viral products and trends, but predicting whether or not a piece of content will go viral on the platform is practically impossible. A carefully executed video with all the right ingredients for TikTok popularity might fall flat while a throwaway post created in five minutes might garner millions of likes. This unpredictability, while frustrating for marketers, is a key part of the apps appeal. Because there's no clear formula for success on TikTok your brand should take a test and learn approach when activating influencers on the platform. Trends on the app evolve rapidly, so your TikTok campaigns should be similarly quick to plan, execute, and evaluate. Rather than attempting to replicate the multi prong months long higher budget campaigns that tend to perform well on Instagram, treat TikTok like a marketing playground meant for experimentation and don't be afraid to flop. Focus on developing several quick low budget, creative, and timely ideas for initiatives, learn what works and what doesn't, and iterate on what your audience is responding to. Our second strategy is to make your TikTok campaigns creative and easily adaptable. TikTok's stated mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy so its no surprise that the top performing content on the platform typically reflects this playful ethos. Brands tend to see the most success with TikTok campaigns that allow influencers to freely express themselves and put their own spin on a simple, easily adaptable concept. While granting influencers creative agency is a must on any social platform, controlled scripts and strict campaign guidelines are especially off limits on TikTok. Influencers and their followers, especially members of gen Z, will stear clear of any initiatives that feel inauthentic or artistically limiting. Your brand should trust your influencers judgment, as they know TikTok and their audiences best, and rely on the creativity inherent to the platform to carry your message forward. Keep in mind that many top performing TikTok campaigns embrace two common aspects of viral posts, humorous storylines and memorable sounds. TikTokers love to laugh so initiatives that are conducive to comedic content creation tend to illicit strong responses. And because many influencers build their videos around catchy songs or distinct soundbites, creating original music for your campaign can help your brand stand out, unify campaign content, and allow your initiative to resonate with users. Our third and final piece of advice is to let influencers be the experts. We touched a little bit on this in our last tip, but it's important to recognize and reiterate that while brands and marketers are still finding their footing on TikTok, TikTok creators are deeply in touch with the platform. They know what works and what doesn't and they know better than anyone what kind of content resinates with most with their own audience. So allow your influencers to take creative liberty with partnered posts and campaigns. Don't try to impose your own preexisting ideas about how to best promote your offerings onto influencers and instead let the creators decide how to best share your brand with their fans. And don't forget to remain receptive and responsive to influencers feedback around your products or marketing activities and be ready and willing to revise your plan accordingly. TikTok may be constantly changing and evolving, but it's definitely not going anywhere. Armed with the three strategies we discussed today, take a test and learn approach, develop creative and easily adaptable campaigns, and let influencers be the experts, we hope your brand feels encouraged to jump in, start experimenting, and expand your online community of fans by making a splash on today's fastest growing platform. And don't forget that we at Tribe Dynamics are here to help. Our platform offers TikTok content tracking, data reporting, and influencer discovery tools to help your brand grow and monitor the efficacy of your influencer marketing efforts on TikTok. To learn more be sure to head over to our website at tribedynamics. com to request a demo. Thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next one.