It seems that just about every week, there’s an announcement for a new social media platform or app that’s expected to take off and offer marketers the opportunity to dominate in their niche.
Most of them never seem to get off the ground, but there are a few who rise to the top and stick around for the long-term. TikTok is one of those rare social media applications that has soared in popularity.
Not only that, but they’ve made it easy for marketers to garner a targeted audience and cater to their needs with very little effort. Many people joke that they thought TikTok was just a social media app for teenagers doing dance routines.
Truth be told, there is a lot of that on the platform. However, as videos began to go viral, marketers started to use it to discuss the needs of their niche audience. Now, not only is the app not just for teens, but men and women of all age groups are enjoying the connections and exposure they get for sharing their ideas, tips, and strategies.
Once you understand how to use it properly, TikTok can offer you a wealth of opportunities. You need to learn how it works to help you lead an audience and pique their interest to the point they end up subscribing to you and purchasing through your links.
What Is TikTok?
There are many different forms of social media. Some are based on text, some are based on audio, and some are based on images or videos. TikTok is a social media app that revolves around short video clips.
While some people put themselves on screen, you don’t have to do that in order to use and excel at this platform. The site is filled with a large variety of video content. You will find people singing and dancing, telling personal stories, showcasing events as they happen – and as many marketers will do – teaching people how to do things better, faster, or easier.
The videos that you can create on this social sharing network can range from 15 seconds all the way to three minutes in length. You can upload video clips or images to create your TikTok or record right from the app.
You can start and stop the recordings and merge things together. They do not have to be uploaded or recorded as one straight clip. This is an app that allows you to use a variety of music and sound options that other creators have uploaded.
Some people will lip synch to those or create their own messages using the sound. If you’re worried about not being able to find your audience on this app, you should know that it has over 500 million monthly users and is very popular in the United States.
In addition to being a place where ordinary men and women create content, it has also attracted many celebrities and famous individuals. You will find everything from veterinarians sharing tips about pet care to famous chefs sharing cooking tips.
There are hundreds of social influencers who reside on the social app and their presence helps bring the audience to a place where you can then also cater to their needs.
Finding Your Niche Audience on This App
When you first get on TikTok, you will be focused on creating videos that you hope will attract an audience. One of the ways you can get found by the people who will appreciate your content the most is by using #hashtags.
Using hashtags on TikTok is no different than using them on Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media platform. They are keywords that help people find the information they are interested in.
On TikTok in particular, entire communities of followers can be based on some particular hashtag. For example, if you were in the cleaning niche, you could use the hashtag #cleantok.
If you were an author, you could use the hashtag #booktok. There are communities of followers for things like #survivaltok and even #gardentok. So as you can see, you are basically putting the niche topic keyword before the word tok and turning it into its own hashtag.
As you dig into the niche that you’re in on this app, you need to be paying attention to the hashtags that others used to get found by their audience. Go to the videos that have the most views within your niche and look to see which hashtags they use.
If you are in the survival niche, for example, you would see that the hashtags used on those videos include things like #Prepper, #GetReady, #FoodStorage, #BugOutBag, #OffGridLiving, #SurvivalSkills, and more.
You don’t want to use too many niche hashtags on each video. Only use the ones that are relevant to the video clips that you are creating. For example, if the video that you are creating is about how to start a fire or how to defend yourself in a survival situation, then you would not use the hashtag #FoodStorage.
It would be considered irrelevant and then the people who are searching for that topic would be annoyed that you have labeled your video in that manner. When you are using TikTok for business purposes, you can choose to go into your settings and click on “manage my account” to switch it to a business account if you want to.
This will allow you to discover the analytics of your audience. You can see how fast or how slow your account is growing, how many video views you’ve generated overall, and other information such as the gender and location of your followers.
Be sure to engage with your audience and other creators on this platform. If you comment a genuine response or reaction to another person’s TikTok, people will be able to see and click on your username and follow it to your profile and videos to see what expertise you can share.