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TikTok: It's the fastest growing entertainment platform in the world and the 3rd largest social network in the US, boasting over a billion monthly active users. For advertisers, tapping into TikTok has evolved from being an experimental playground to a core part of their marketing strategy. 

The way content is created, consumed, and served up on TikTok differs from what you see on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube. It's understandable that confusion exists among marketers regarding what kind of creative to put on TikTok, how to produce it, and how to apply paid media strategically to build on creator-led, user-generated, and owned content.

TikTok is one of the most exciting spaces for marketers and advertisers today, but diving into a TikTok strategy can be challenging. What’s popular or trending on the platform changes at a rapid pace – but there are ways to produce amazing content and make sure your brand stands out. 

 At Code3, our creative team has produced thousands of TikToks for brands over the last 24 months, resulting in videos topping 800k views. We have a front-row seat to what works in driving commerce, enhancing brand presence, and driving engagement. Here’s what brands need to know to produce amazing TikTok content.

8 Ways to Get Started on TikTok

1. Be on TikTok. If you are creating content for the platform you need to be familiar with it and spend time on it. TikTok has its own language and it’s essential to understand it so that you don’t seem stale.
2. Your goal on TikTok should be to create content that is scalable for the community to be able to take and make their own, allowing for co-collaboration. 
3. Start by executing different types of assets to gain insights into what your audience responds to, then test for consistent responses. This will help you to understand what your audience is looking for and how you can best connect to them.
4. Similar to Twitter, show up in the comments of other viral videos to drive ‘halo effect’ engagement. Showing up is more than just posting - it’s important to comment on posts and comment back to people on your own posts.
5. When creating captions on organic content, keep in mind searchability and helping people who WANT to find your content, FIND your content. Hashtags will also help people discover your content. 
6. It can be difficult for new people to find your content. To help here, apply trending audio! Knowing how to find these sounds and edit them so you’re releasing the best content possible will help drive traction. Not sure where to start? Here’s how to find trending audios:  
   • Sift through your “for you” page and by paying attention to specific challenges and trends that are consistently shown on your feed. You’ll know that the audio is trending if you’re seeing a pattern of the same ones being used. Another way to find trending audios is by clicking the “add sound” button after you make the video. From there you’ll have access to the top 10 sounds that are the most active at that time. Additional ways to  find  music include:
     • Viral TikTok audios playlist
     • TikTok commercial library
     • Find and use trending sounds 
     • Create your own! 
7.  TikTok has more engagement than any other platform - with millions of videos being generated through users' FYPs each day. To garner more chances to be seen, post, and post often – preferably 3 to 4 times a day, according to top TikTok creators. Although this seems challenging, unlike other social platforms like Instagram, TikTok has more of a carefree authenticity which provides the freedom to take chances and lean into native content.
8. Lastly, work WITH creators. The key word here is with. It's important to remember they are posting the content to their audiences, and they know best! They know what is trending, what music people like, and what style of editing is the most popular at that moment. Give them the brief with key information, and then let them fly. Be sure to check out the Creator Marketplace to collaborate with creators based on your industry, budget, and business goals.

Takeaways

What started with hashtag campaigns, lip-syncing and dance challenges is changing the way groups with the greatest spending power create, consume, share and shop. As the platform continues to evolve, its role in our lives and in the universe of digital commerce will also grow. 

Get involved now, and have fun! 

Ready to get started? Contact us to learn more about how we can work together.