TikTok Best Practices for Brands

Whether you’re targeting the Generation Z market or not, using TikTok as a marketing tool is a useful approach to expanding your brand. This social media app has the fastest global growth and is an excellent way of connecting with millions of individuals through engaging video content. As a result, businesses are developing various strategies to benefit from their marketing opportunity.

But how can your brand succeed on TikTok? Perhaps the most important first step is to gain a more profound comprehension of TikTok best practices and how to leverage them for your brand. BFO has you covered, so read on to learn more about how to get your brand on TikTok and kick your brand up a notch!

The TikTok Algorithm

Just like users of other social media platforms, TikTok’s users have preferences that brands need to consider when creating marketing content. Based on these user preferences, the TikTok algorithm chooses which curated video content to show on the “For You” page. The algorithm is highly skilled at selecting videos that closely match the user’s interests, so you know you’re reaching the right audience. As users’ preferences change over time, the TikTok algorithm detects changes in user behavior to provide the most relevant content at the time.

When recommending videos, the TikTok algorithm takes into account several parameters, including:

User Interactions

The TikTok algorithm gives substantial focus on how people engage with the platform. It assesses how they interact with the site to determine what users would enjoy. More specifically, it considers necessary data signals such as:

• User video choices
• Content the user publishes
• Comments the user makes
• Accounts they follow
• The number of videos the user watches, and much more

Information on the Video

TikTok considers your video content alongside user behavior to determine the topics and the type of videos people will find interesting. The algorithm also examines features like captions for keyword identification, hashtags for content categorization, and audio files for identifying popular audio content.

Your Device & Account Settings

In addition to user interaction and video content, TikTok also examines your device and account settings. Because customers typically don’t publicly declare their preferences, TikTok makes performance improvements using your device and account settings. The type of device, language selection, and country setting are some of the device and account settings TikTok considers.

Examples of Brand Success on TikTok

Some firms have already seen content marketing success with TikTok thanks to the platform’s user base, which spends an average of 24.5 hours using it monthly. If you have any doubts, take a look at these critical examples:

• Chipotle Mexican Grill: This organization joined TikTok in 2018 and demonstrated how to use TikTok to improve brand awareness. Chipotle focused on a more pleasant setting, highlighted by dancing competitions and user-generated video content. It also featured behind-the-scenes shots of actual staff members working in Chipotle kitchens. As a result, Chipotle has achieved massive reach and awareness, gaining more than 1.3 million followers.
• Gymshark: A well-known fitness brand that successfully developed a TikTok content strategy that attracted about 6 million followers. Gymshark entices fitness enthusiasts by providing content about training challenges and healthy journey inspiration.
• Washington Post: A major tech-media company that has used TikTok to attract a much younger audience and increase its followers.

TikTok Best Practices

Here’s our list of TikTok best practices to consider to create engaging TikTok content that appeals to your audience:

1. Upgrade to Pro Account: This account will let you keep tabs on the marketing performance of your posts on a weekly and monthly basis. Utilize these insights and develop a thorough analysis of your previous videos to see where you can improve.
2. Create content for existing communities that include your target audience: Ensure that you target your audience based on demographic, age, interests, and behaviors.
3. Optimize video content: Provide information and entertainment first, then add more promotional posts, such as product tutorials last while trying to weave in your brand message to be relatively seamless.
4. Optimize the 150 characters: TikTok captions only have 150 characters, yet they might still be helpful. Ultimately, you want users to watch and interact with your content. Optimizing your caption with callouts and hashtags will give your audience a good reason to watch your video or start a discussion in the comments’ session.
5. Best performing video length: Ensure you maximize your message based on TikTok timing. If it’s too short, the message could be hazy and unclear; if it’s too long, the viewer might lose interest and skip or pass on before the most important details are revealed. Videos length ranges from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
6. Good lighting for video: High-quality videos will draw viewers, so ensure yours are visually appealing by including appropriate lighting and audio.
7. Design videos to be played with sound: Videos with sound have high success on TikTok. Your ad will engage nearly 90% of TikTok users.
8. Utilize built-in features like effects and text treatment: For instance, TikTok playlists might assist you with the playlist organization of your videos. As a result, your viewers will find it simple to watch content identical to the media they currently appreciate.
9. The right time to post for your audience: Your brand won’t obtain the desired number of views if you post while nobody else is using the app. Therefore, examine your account analytics to learn when your users are online so that you can upload your most recent content at the ideal moment for the greatest awareness.
10. Engage with TikTok users: Although users need to watch a little portion of your content for you to receive a ‘view,’ it’s crucial to keep them engaged. It’s because the TikTok algorithm gives videos with excellent completion rates priority. It seeks to provide recommendations on the “For You” page for high-quality material.
11. Use trending sounds and music: TikTok Sounds tend to go through waves of popularity. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for recurring sound clips that you can riff on.
12. Use the right hashtag strategy: Hashtags are a significant tool, since the TikTok algorithm uses hashtags to determine what you’re posting about and who might be interested in viewing it. Users will find your material more easily when you utilize the right hashtags for searches.

What Does This Mean for Your Business?

TikTok best practices for brands are meant to help you engage with your audience by posting consistently high-quality videos. It is currently one of the best platforms to grow your authority, improve leads, or increase conversions.

TikTok Is the Key to Your Marketing Goals

There is more to marketing other than just sharing creative videos. Following TikTok ads best practices allows your brand to have a consistent impression to engage and attract users. For a successful TikTok ad, there are numerous vital practices to consider. Contact our Be Found Online team to help develop the best strategies to raise the public’s awareness of your business.