1.8 billion. That is the number of people on TikTok, as reported in Q1 of 2022, making it one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. It is a platform that businesses cannot afford to ignore. However, before marketing your business on TikTok, it’s important to understand its pros and cons.
Pros of TikTok Marketing
It’s a great way to reach gen z
As a platform that is especially popular among Gen Zers and younger Millennials, TikTok provides marketers with a powerful tool to reach one of the most important consumer segments in today’s market. This cohort holds significant spending power, with an estimated $142 billion in buying power in the U.S. alone, making it essential for marketers to pay attention to their unique beliefs and behaviors – especially online.
It allows self-expression and anonymity
Many young people are now moving away from old-school social networks like Facebook, to embrace newer platforms that represent these values such as TikTok. With 62 percent of TikTok users under the age of 30, ads on this platform can be highly effective at reaching target buyers in a way that feels authentic and natural.
A high chance of being featured on the app’s ‘for you’ page
This page is essentially a curated feed of posts chosen based on several factors, such as engagement and relevance. As such, being featured on this page greatly increases the visibility of your content and gives your brand exposure to a wide audience. You must use hashtags and music to improve your brand’s probability of featuring on the For You page. Both of these features help to make your content more discoverable and engaging, thereby increasing the chances that users will like and share it with their followers.
Ability to engage with the audience in different ways
The world of TikTok marketing is filled with exciting opportunities for brands and marketers to engage with their target audiences. One of the main benefits of utilizing this platform is the range of tools at your disposal, such as:
- Stitching your videos into other users’ content. Adding a snippet of your footage to a video from another creator can help promote your brand creatively and uniquely.
- Another great advantage is forming duet videos with your followers or other users. This allows you to channel a dynamic dialogue with your audience through captions and sounds that both parties can enjoy and interact with.
- Finally, you can also upload your sounds for others to incorporate into their videos or use as part of their storytelling. Whether you are an audio producer or just have some great music that you want to share, TikTok offers plenty of opportunities for you to engage with others on this dynamic platform.
Ability to track your ad performance
For one, the platform provides excellent ad performance, making it possible to reach audiences and track, measure, and evaluate them properly. Additionally, TikTok advertising provides a range of tools for targeting and retargeting both new and existing audiences, enabling you to leverage your existing audience through custom and lookalike audiences. Furthermore, by using TikTok for marketing, you can access valuable insights that can help inform future campaigns and improve your overall results.
Cons of TikTok Marketing:
It can be expensive for businesses to produce content
TikTok’s only format of short, creative videos comes with some challenges. For one thing, creating videos can be costly and time-consuming, and it requires a special set of skills and professional touch that not all brands have or afford at their disposal.
TikTok has broad targeting
Perhaps the biggest con of TikTok marketing is the fact that the platform’s broad targeting features make it difficult to reach a specific audience. Because the platform casts such a wide net, it may not be ideal for certain marketing campaigns requiring pinpoint precision in reaching their target market. Additionally, the algorithm takes some time to learn how users interact with your ads, which means that results may not be as immediate or consistent as they would be on other platforms. One tip you can use is to leverage its broad target, to succeed on this popular platform -even in the face of challenges like user engagement and targeting.
Limitations in the content format
Though the platform’s focus on video content can be a great way to reach your target audience, there may also be limitations to what you can do with this type of marketing format as a brand. Some businesses may find that they are constrained by TikTok’s format restrictions, as ads must be video-based rather than static graphics or text-based. If your audience is primarily on TikTok, you can overcome this limitation by converting slides into a slide show and posting it, like the eCommerce brand, Lazada, which did this successfully.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are new to marketing on TikTok or a seasoned pro, there is no doubt that the pros of using TikTok far outweigh the cons for a business. Use it to promote your products or services, or simply build brand awareness. Therefore, if you’re prepared to step up your marketing efforts, consider incorporating some TikTok strategies into your strategy. Targeting contemporary, tech-savvy consumers on TikTok is a terrific way to stay ahead of the curve. If you’re thinking about exploring its potential for your business, make sure you do your research and consider your goals carefully before getting started. Contact our experts at Thumbvista to see how we can help your marketing strategy.