Study: A guide to growing your brand following on TikTok

Today, around 50% of the top brands have no TikTok presence, including billion-dollar brands like Google, Facebook, YouTube, and IKEA, said a recent report by In Video. According to the company, despite its incredible popularity, many brands still don’t have a coherent TikTok marketing campaign. This means that establishing a TikTok presence early can be an advantage for smaller brands to leapfrog as many larger brands that haven’t made their mark on the platform.

Among the brands studied by In Video, So Satisfying, Samsung, TikTok, Chevrolet, and Flighthouse were the five most popular brands in terms of average views per video.

The study closely looked at 300 brands and more than 650 videos and specifically zoomed in on which of the most valuable brands had a TikTok presence; how often these brands were posting on TikTok; channel and video-level metrics for these big brands on TikTok; style, tone, and content of the best performing TikTok videos

So what works best?

According to the company, tech, food, and gaming brands tend to have higher views. Generally, the best-performing TikTok brands post 3.52 times per week on average and 80% of the top videos had music, with upbeat songs being the most popular TikTok music choice by far.

On average, the best-performing TikTok brands (those with 10,000 or more average views per post) released a new video 3.1 times per week. While doing more than 5 posts per week is likely not going to make much of a difference, the study said.

Marketing strategy to grow TikTok following

The article added that a 1% increase in followers corresponds to an approximate 0.65% increase in average views per post. Say you currently have 100 followers, and you run a SG$500 giveaway to get an additional 20 followers. That’s a 20% increase in followers, and you can expect, in return, an approximately 13% increase in the number of views your posts generate.

To grow your following, your TikTok marketing campaign should include paid campaigns and giveaways to attract followers which will, in turn, boost the overall reach of your content.

Meanwhile, a large majority of brands on TikTok posts showcase one or more products. In fact, over 90% of the videos studied had some form of brand placement, as such marketers shouldn’t shy away from subtle product placement. Celebrity and influencer endorsements are also relatively popular among TikTok brands, with around a quarter of the videos featuring either an endorsement or a collaboration. Dance videos and tutorials rounded out the top five most popular types of content, accounting for 15% and 14% of the videos, respectively - so these are some types of content brands can consider as well.

Unfortunately, only 3.7% of the videos included a call to action which is a significant missed opportunity.

Getting the mood and trend right

Given emotions play a strong part in marketing, and you’d want your audience to associate positive emotions with your brand. Music can play a big part so ensure you choose the right and consistent music which is good for your brand identity. Data also showed that 30% of the videos employed humor in some form or the other.

One of the easiest ways to start leveraging TikTok for your brand or business is to jump on the latest TikTok trends. In video has a list of the top 5 trends TikTok challenges and trends of 2021 that business can use along with ready-to-use templates.

Vogue challenge
In this first TikTok trend, you can edit your favourite photos to look like they were on the cover of the Vogue magazine. This is a great trend for both creators and businesses who can showcase their best photos and products.

Picture trend
This is a super simple TikTok trending video where you showcase yourself, your work, or what you sell, and "someone falls in love". It makes for the perfect opportunity for businesses to showcase their products and campaign photos.

Album cover challenge
This is one of the funnier TikTok challenges that businesses can use to show their quirky side. For this, all you need is a video that will freeze on the beat of the music and you can make for an album cover. You can use this trend to showcase your products or take your audience behind the scenes. 

Turning your DMs into quotes trend
Creators are using this TikTok trend to share their most funny, weird, or even nasty DMs in the form of inspirational quotes. As a business, don’t shy away from using a trend like this one to share short testimonials, FAQs, or even funny DMs that you get from your customers. 

What I mean when I say I’m from trend
In this TikTok trend, creators are showing their audience pictures of where they come from. You can share your country’s or town’s most special places, local food, experiences, etc. For a business, you can use this trend to show where your business is from or where you source materials for your best-selling products.

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