4 hashtags to keep an eye on for your Ramadan-Raya TikTok playbook

TikTok is fast becoming a popular medium among brands to reach consumers. Last year, data.ai (previously known as App Annie) ranked TikTok as the top breakout social app worldwide by spend in 2021. With Ramadan under way and brands firming up their plans for Raya, Darren Quek, strategy operations manager at TikTok Malaysia, told A+M that brands are encouraged to plan their Ramadan campaigns across three phases - pre-Ramadan (four weeks before), Ramadan month (four to five weeks during Ramadan), and Hari Raya celebrations (during and two weeks after Raya).

Brands can also tap into four content pillars, namely family, giving, renewing, and celebration, which Quek said experience high volumes of growth during Ramadan.

Citing a survey the company conducted, Quek said 54% of Malaysians agree that they spend more time on social media during the holy month, contributing to over 32 billion views in Ramadan 2021 alone, a 28% increase compared to a non-Ramadan month. Hence, brands can make use of curated hashtags to empower users to become unofficial brand ambassadors.

Here are four hashtags companies can tap on when creating their TikTok plan for the 2022 festive season.

1. #TipsRamadan (9 to 15 April)

Users can discover and share facts, information, and personal knowledge which can include religious teachings, financial tips, nutrition tips, and general health tips that can be observed during the fasting month.

2. #EntertainmentRaya (16 to 22 April)

With this hashtag, users can rediscover iconic Raya songs, music videos, movies and shows, to funny videos and discover new entertainment videos related to the Ramadan season.

3. #GayaRaya (23 to 29 April)

This hashtag challenge focuses on fashion and beauty content that will inspire users to glam up their gatherings and festivities.

4. #RancakRaya (29 April to 8 May)

Brands and users can leverage this hashtag to relay their festive messaging and greetings to their audiences.

These hashtags are part of the weekly hashtag challenges launched by TikTok to inspire users. The platform also rolled out its #RancakRaya campaign, featuring specially curated activities including theme challenges, stickers and effects, and its first-ever TikTok live show and Raya original.

The #RancakRaya campaign gathered TikTok music creators Fatia, Khai Bahar, and Izzue Islam, as well as celebrity singers Yazmin Aziz and Razmansyah, together with creators from the cooking, education, live, entertainments, sports, and beauty vertical for TikTok's first original Raya song, Rancak Raya. The Song highlights the excitement and anticipation of being able to celebrate with family and friends once again. Users can also participate in the dance challenge by uploading their own rendition of the dance.

Apart from hashtags, Quek explained that brands can also create in-feed ads targeted to specific audiences, allowing them to drive a call-to-action by appearing in users' "For You" feed between other organic content.

Need something to spark your creativity? Here's a look at the top five Ramadan-Raya TikTok campaigns from 2021.

1. Lazada Malaysia

For Raya 2021, Lazada launched its "Lazada Ada Sentuhan Raya" campaign that centred around a mother ensuring her family was prepared to buka puasa when the time came. To take it one step further and engage with their audiences, Lazada simultaneously ran a 10-day campaign using the hashtag #SeleraRamadan calling on TikTok creators to share their buka puasa experience.

Users shared anything from food, recipes, and even all the raw materials and cookware used to make the breaking of fast even more memorable. With this collaboration, Lazada attained more than 124 million video views and more than 163 million impressions in just 10 days. The eCommerce platform also paired the sponsorship with TikTok's in-feed ads.

2. Colgate

While users shared #GayaRaya tips to look gorgeous for their Raya celebrations, Colgate wanted to encourage users to elevate their look with a shiny smile and whiter teeth with the Colgate Optic White. The brand sponsored the #GayaRaya hashtag campaign where users shared skincare or makeup tutorials for Raya festivities, hijab and baju Raya styling tips, and other hacks for the perfect Raya look. With this collaboration, Colgate garnered 40 million views on the hashtag itself.

3. Maxis

With Movement Control Orders largely still in place in 2021, Maxis saw that Malaysians didn't want to dampen the Ramadan spirit and took their celebrations to TikTok. Maxis knew that the public needed great Internet service to be able to share and enjoy Ramadan.

As part of the telco's mission of enabling Malaysians to always be ahead in using technology for good, Maxisidentified this sweet spot by sponsoring TikTok's Ramadan Campaign in 2021 and its own #SenyumanRaya that encouraged people to share how they were celebrating Ramadan on TikTok.

The campaign generated more than 294 million video views and 127 million impressions in just 10 days. On top of this, Maxis had a 127% increase in register of interest.

4. Maybelline

Maybelline partnered with TikTok for its first-ever campaign last year to showcase the benefits and stress-test the products to communicate its brand messaging with authenticity and diversity. According to TikTok, partnering with creators for product demonstration videos using the Fit Me foundation and Lasting Fix Makeup Setting Spray allowed the brand to strike a balance between adherence to branding guidelines and letting the TikTok creators express themselves in a way that is truly authentic to them.

Maybelline received a total of 11.2 million impressions, over 108,000 engagements, and a 70% increase in VTR versus the benchmark for the best performing creator video.

5. Astro Radio and Universal Music Malaysia

As many Malaysians were faced with the prospect of a second straight Hari Raya Aidilfitri with limited travel, classic songs became one of the essential parts of the festivities that everyone clung on to in order to bring out the festive spirit. With a team of local artists from Rocketfuel Entertainment and Universal Music Malaysia, the Kecoh Raya campaign took form through a full-on festive song that brings sweet reminiscence of the boisterous Raya spirit back.

To add to the fun, the #KecohRayaTikTok challenge was introduced to encourage everyone to groove together to the song where the most creative and kecoh Raya video stood a chance to win exciting prizes such as an iPhone 12 256GB, Apple Watch, Apple AirPods, and exclusive Raya vouchers. The campaign which aimed to bring people together despite being far apart generated 96.6 million views.

Photo courtesy: 123RF

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