TikTok - A Quick Guide

You may have wondered about this thing called TikTok that everyone is talking about. If you haven’t yet started using TikTok for your brand, you might want to reconsider. With more than 2 billion downloads, TikTok is quickly becoming a marketing tool with real teeth. 

What is TikTok?

TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to create and share short videos. It was initially intended for the dance-loving GenZ teens audience but has quickly become widely popular among celebrities, influencers, and many essential brands. Users spend approximately 52 minutes per day on TikTok, that’s a lot of exposure for your brand!

What Makes TikTok Different?

The first thing that makes this social media platform different is that it is actually fun to use. The social media drenched masses are hungry for something new, and TikTok delivers. 

The first successful users of TikTok focused on dance trends and lip-synced challenges. Although this type of content still dominates, many new unique types of engaging content are popping up on the platform. For example, the Washington Post has amassed more than 400k+ followers in less than a year by posting fun, cute videos that defy their traditional image.

Some trending concepts on TikTok are comedy lip syncs, fitness and workout tips, pranks, tutorials, fashion and beauty videos, cute animals, camera hacks, and challenges of every type. This type of viral content can push your reach to new heights and expose your brand to a younger, fresher audience. 

Why Use TikTok?

TikTok is not only fun to use; it’s effortless to create content, which is why it has become so popular so fast. Using the apps’ built-in features like video editing tools, filters, and searching for sounds to add to your video make TikTok a breeze. 

TikTok Quick Guide

Follow these quick steps to get started setting up an account and begin using TikTok for your business.

• Download the app on either iOS or Android.
• Once installed, open the app and click the “Me” icon at the bottom of the page. 
• Click the signup button and create your profile login (you have four options). 
• Enter your birthday and then choose a profile picture for your brand. If you sign up with Facebook, Google, or Twitter, the system will use your profile picture. You can always change it later.
• Now enter your bio, Instagram, and YouTube handles.

Once your profile is complete, you can begin adding content.

Discovering Content

TikTok’s platform includes three areas where you can discover content: 

For You page - a user’s default feed of curated content using the TikTok algorithm.

Following feed - new videos from users and brands you follow.

Discovery tab - where you can find fun, new content based on hashtags, users, sounds, and trending videos. 

Creating Content

Using TikTok’s built-in video creator, you can quickly create fun, relatable content for your audience. Some of the video creation tools available to you are:

• Flip (front or rear-facing camera).
• Speed (video in slow motion or speed it up).
• Beauty (retouches your video to hide flaws).
• Filters (to add effects and fun to your content - think Snapchat on steroids).
• Timer (video hands-free).
• Flash (add a flash feature using your phone’s flashlight).
• Sounds (add some music or sounds to add punch to your videos).
• Effects (add things like Trending, New, Special Effects, Interactive, Workout, Beauty, Face, Artistic, and Animal Effects, to name a few).

After you create your video, use the TikTok video editor to fine-tune your work and add more flair. 

TikTok: The Bottom Line

TikTok is trending like crazy right now, and while fads don’t always mean conversions, this is a train your marketing team will not want to miss.