Diversification + Other Industry-Leading Tips to Win with TikTok
With its user base on track to surpass 1.8 billion by the end of 2023, the TikTok craze shows no signs of slowing down. Thanks to its massive, diverse, and engaged audience of shoppers, TikTok has become a key player in the world of digital marketing, as evidenced by the success of MuteSix clients like Pinsy and Primally Pure.
Besides being the procrastination tool of choice for short-attention spans everywhere, it’s the destination du jour for brands looking to boost brand awareness, engagement, and – yes – conversions.
While hashtag challenges and testimonials were the platform’s secret sauce during its infancy, TikTok marketers are studying a new manual of must-consider tactics to better combat the heightening competition.
At our May 4 fireside chat, Winning with TikTok: Diversification as a Prospecting Strategy, MuteSix joined TikTok, Disco (the masterminds behind high-intent audience targeting on TikTok), and KnoCommerce (a leader in customer surveys for e-commerce brands), as well as non-toxic skincare client Primally Pure, to speak more about the importance of shaking things up for the sake of success.
ICYMI, you can watch the full recording, or read on for highlights from the webinar below.
Once upon a time, the formula for success on TikTok involved content creators, thumb stopping creative, and hysterical hashtag challenges. While they’re still critical, it seems “diversification” is topping every marketer’s mind as they gear up to outperform the competition.
But what does “diversification” really mean, and how are platforms mixing things up to maximize TikTok success?
… Diversification of Marketing Channels, Strategies, and Creative.
“We’ve embraced ‘diversification’ to include partners, marketing channels, strategy, and creative mix. We thrive off of these changes because we know it is how growth occurs. We’re able to do this since we chase the latest trends in marketing, and we create them strategically and with an eye on real-time data.”
-Ilene Rothman, Paid Social Campaign Manager at MuteSix
… Diversification of Audience Signals.
“When I think about diversification, it’s all about the uniqueness of your targeting signals. With so many users on TikTok today, Disco built cross-branded profiles on the shoppers that you really can’t access anywhere else.
So, when we build an audience for a brand that wants to advertise on TikTok, we’re essentially going into that pool of millions of profiles, identifying the new customers on the platform that we think would have the highest likelihood of conversion with your brand.”
– Teddy Kolva, Head of Partnerships at Disco
… Diversification of Measurement Signals.
“When it comes to measurement – because obviously we’re still in this weird shifting period where we are experimenting with first-party data, we’re trying to pull enough information from our platforms, but just the bits that are accurate enough to help us figure out where to put our advertising dollars. So, diversification for us comes down to how much knowledge brands have on their customers. And then which of that data they use and how they use it to actually push their brand forward.”
-Sarah Levinger, Director of Growth Marketing at KnoCommerce
… Diversification of TikTok Users.
“You really need to understand who those audiences are because they’re so different, and that’s what Kno and Disco can really offer in this kind of environment. Because at our foundation, we’re really driven by the creativity and authenticity of our user base.
About 53% of our audience is 25 to 45 years old. And Gen Z is just getting older and having more and more disposable income. So, if you can figure out how to reach those people, that’s how you can diversify on our platform.”
– Justin Liut, Agency Partnership Manager, TikTok
So, now that it’s clear brands need to diversify myriad elements of their behind-the-scenes paid media strategy, when and how should they launch on TikTok to really see results?
According to Ilene Rothman at MuteSix, “The right time is now, but we completely understand that this is new territory. We highly encourage brands to embrace that level of discomfort and trust that you are not walking this road alone.”
Once you have the right performance marketing agency and partners in-place, the panel outlined these five tips for driving measurable success on TikTok:
“TikTok is really a full-funnel platform player, but … the user behavior there is not … a leanly linear path. On the other hand, it is actually a never-ending loop. People could find a new brand on TikTok, which could be generating interest and consideration, and then could be converting on the platform, but their journey doesn’t just stop there. After purchase … they will go back to the platform and post a reveal post or video … and like that will kick off another whole another loop of discovery, interest, consideration, and conversion. ” (Yangdi Li, TikTok).
“One in three of our users reported that they bought a product the moment they saw an ad. So, that’s the real opportunity brands have when they show up on the platform. Then they understand that it is a little bit different. And you do need to set your campaign up and you set your expectations to be that like that long-haul partner where you can really make a difference if you lean into what the platform has to offer.” (Justin Liut, TikTok)
“Test the platform for a minimum of three, and by six months, you will get a better sense of how viable a TikTok strategy will be for your brand, and what it should look like for your brand in terms of campaign and audience.” (Ilene Rothman, MuteSix)
“All of a sudden, we started selling four to five times the amount of a product overnight. It was an extremely fast transition. We really saw truly overnight what the power of one piece of successful creative can do for a hero product of ours.” (Dinah Chapman, Primally Pure)
“Efficiencies in-platform are a thing of the past if you’re really looking for overall brand and sales growth. Even though TikTok was a clear fit for us, we still had to measure success and justify the budget and increase or decrease in spend. So utilizing tools like a post-purchase survey from KnoCommerce was a great way to understand our customers.” (Dinah Chapman, Primally Pure)
For more tips from the fireside chat, head over to the Disco blog, where they dive deep into how DiscoAudiences + KnoCommerce’s Purchase Survey + MuteSix Media and Creative Optimization helped Primally Pure drive nearly 5x more purchases practically overnight.
And, to start mapping out the winning strategy to drive growth, reach out to MuteSix’s TikTok Paid Media, Creative, and Data experts today.