TikTok Branding

Anna Peck
6/14/2022

TikTok branding has become a staple for businesses in the social media age. Read through this guide to find out how to attract TikTok users to your brand.

Your company doesn’t need to participate in dance challenges to have a successful TikTok branding strategy.

The power of TikTok should not be understated – the social media platform that blends social media aesthetics, sound, and culture to target a key demographic for brands today.

Being the most downloaded app in 2021, it has surpassed Instagram for popularity among Gen Z users. Savvy businesses are looking to get in on the action.

TikTok branded content can attract active users to become trusted followers – of the account and business.

This article dives into types of content that performs well and other TikTok branding tips for companies looking to invest in the social media channel.

What Brands are Big on TikTok?

If your company is looking to use TikTok in your social media strategy, take a look at some companies using the latest TikTok trends to build up brand awareness.

Chipotle

The popular food chain knows how to use TikTok for restaurants to create organic content and viral videos using popular trends and original sounds. Their content includes ads for new food items, trending topics, and more.

chipotle
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Washington Post

The newspaper provides new stories via TikTok in real time to create news content that is digestible.
 

washington post tiktok
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Netflix

The original binge-model service has dived into a new area of video content with short TikTok videos that attract attention to their shows.
 

netflix tiktok
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Your company likely doesn’t have a social media budget like these big-name companies, but your TikTok branding strategy can mirror theirs.

Why Should Your Brand Be on TikTok?

As TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform in recent years, your brand should see where they fit within the platform.

Your company should invest in TikTok branding because:

  • It is the clear next step in your social media marketing strategy
  • Marketing campaigns can go viral using TikTok content
  • TikTok marketing can attract newer demographics to your business
  • Time investment can be dependent on your overall marketing campaigns
  • TikTok for Business provides different avenues for companies of all sizes.

Now that we’ve discussed why businesses should follow larger brands on TikTok, here is how your company can use TikTok for branding.
 

How to Brand Your Company on TikTok:

  1. Creating TikTok Ads
  2. Promoting Products on TikTok
  3. Appeal to New Audiences
  4. Fuel Your Creative Content Marketing
  5. Strengthen Your Presence with Influencers 

 
1. Creating TikTok Ads

One of the more exciting advertising channels for businesses is TikTok.

It operates similar to other social media advertising models, but it is less saturated. This means that companies can generate clicks and impressions at an affordable price.

How can your company advertise on TikTok? Create sponsored hashtag challenges, banner ads, and in-feed adverts that will show up on ‘for you pages’.

Your company, like other advertising models, can cater the advertising to fit different demographics like age and location.

To run self-serve advertising campaigns, sign up for TikTok for business.

2. Promoting Products on TikTok

If your company sells a specific product, using TikTok for branding is a given.

Tutorials for the latest trends are prime real estate on TikTok. Why not use this to your company’s advantage?

To spread brand awareness for a new product, create a short and engaging piece of video content on TikTok.

Selena Gomez’s makeup line Rare Beauty uses TikTok to create different tutorials to showcase their products.

Here is a video of Gomez using their new blot & glow touch-up kit during a recent visit to the White House.

rare beauty tiktok
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Gomez uses a popular TikTok trend: lip-syncing. Using this audio connects the video tutorial to other popular TikTok campaigns while increasing video views by using their brand’s face and original sound.

3. Appeal to New Audiences

The main reason why brands began investing in TikTok strategy is the audience that it attracts.

As mentioned earlier in this article, TikTok is the top social media channel used by Gen Z.

Branded as the “future of shopping,” Generation Z is a target audience that all brands – old and new – are striving to attract.

If your business is having trouble figuring out how to appeal to this audience on TikTok, do some user research within the TikTok community.

See how competitors and other businesses are crafting video content. Invest in partnerships with brands that have that target marketing nailed down. Take a look at different TikTok accounts to see what’s working – is it memes or dance challenges? What is driving downloads for those businesses?

The best part of this process is that your business can be as open as it’d like. Make sure you’re using strategies that fit within your overall business acumen.

You don’t want to come off as a poser or boomer to Gen Z.

Read this: ‘How Marketers Can Prepare for Generation Z’s Social Media Habits

4. Fuel Your Creative Content Marketing

A successful TikTok strategy relies on creativity. TikTok’s popularity came at the height of the pandemic when creatives were stuck at home and were bored.

TikTok gave many users an outlet for discovery – think about that when crafting your company’s TikTok branding.

Businesses need to keep their audience engaged – so they don’t scroll away at the first sign of a popular song rift.

Use your company’s storytelling to add a creative, unique edge to some of the more popular TikTok trends.

It is also important to have fun when communicating your TikTok strategy – do not overthink.

Leave an impact on your consumer base with a spark of creativity.

Additional reading, ‘How To Go Viral on TikTok: 6 Tips for SMBs.’

5. Strengthen Your Presence with Influencers

Influencer marketing is key to social media success in this digital age.

Because influencers have a hold on target audiences, they’re able to have a solid understanding of social media channels such as TikTok.

They can transform messages into creative and fun videos.

For example, Morgan Gaines has a popular Instagram account dedicated to Disney. Along with her successful social media presence on Instagram, she has carried it over to TikTok, using popular challenges while giving them a “Disney” spin to fit her demographic of followers.
 

disney tiktok
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Think about how your business can partner with micro-influencers in your area to craft video content.

Latest TikTok Features

In June 2022, TikTok released new features that can even further branding opportunities on the social media platform:

  • New insight elements have been added to their Creative Center platform which shows data on trending hashtags, songs, and influencers. For example, popular 80s song “Running Up That Hill” saw a resurgence towards the end of May after a feature on the hit Netflix show, Stranger Things:

stranger things running up that hill

  • Their new and improved Ad Library shows which advertisements are performing well in the app – which your business can replicate. 
  • In May, TikTok launched an interactive insights portal that allows users to get more specific, localized data. 

Learn more about what features TikTok offers brands here

Hire a TikTok Marketer

If social media management isn’t your company’s expertise, especially in the realm of TikTok, browse Clutch’s directory of top-performing TikTok advertising companies
 

Use TikTok Branding for Your Business

While your small business might have trouble getting the reach and social metrics of Chipotle and the NBA, your company can still invest in TikTok branding as part of your overall social media marketing strategy.

Sign up for Tiktok for Business to begin advertising on the platform. Be creative while looking into partnerships with influencers. Promote what you’re good at – use TikTok to brand and showcase your products and services. Appeal to different audiences by crafting video content that follows popular trends.

Spreading brand awareness should boost engagement and business for your company. Start your TikTok branding efforts today.

author

Anna Peck

Senior SEO Specialist at Clutch.co
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