Authenticity is more than just a marketing buzzword. It’s the true essence of what makes TikTok special and stand out from other platforms.
The TikTok community has been built around this, seeking out authentic, fun and creative content that will inspire and entertain them.
According to a study in the U.S. conducted by Nielsen, TikTok is the only app where “to lift my spirits” was a top reason for using it, with nearly three out of four respondents saying they felt positive stating they felt inspired, confident and entertained while using TikTok.
Users also associated the advertising on TikTok with being more authentic, fun, genuine, honest, real and trustworthy compared to other channels.
When it came to advertising on the platform, 61% said that the ads were unique from what they had seen on other social and video platforms.
So what does this mean for brands looking to advertise on TikTok?
It’s time to leave behind the polished productions, filters and heavily edited imagery. The TikTok community are throwing their support behind brands that engage with them on a more genuine level, moving beyond one-way advertising to open up two-way conversations.
The brands who are finding success are those who embrace the creative and authentic spirit of the platform and give users a new way to discover and engage with the products they love.
This is the key to converting TikTok’s hyper-engaged community into brand evangelists.
User-generated creativity
TikTok is a holy grail for creative and viral user-generated content.
The platform offers brands the opportunity to take their connection with audiences to a new level through its flagship advertising product, the Branded Hashtag Challenge, where brands inspire user-generated content by issuing challenges around a chosen theme. TikTok creators are typically enlisted to kick-start the challenge; users then post their own submissions - often involving singing, dancing or comedy.
Hashtag Challenges can be hugely successful at bolstering a brand into the spotlight, but brands have to be prepared to let go and allow users freedom to create.
But control does not have to be given up entirely. TikTok has features that balance user creativity with maintaining some content management.
This can happen upfront, in the conception of the Branded Hashtag Challenge, where it is important to make sure the call-to-action is tightly aligned with the brand.
Music is also a unique strength of TikTok, as sound is on by default. The use of music and sound in short form video is a game changer.
A catchy and unique soundtrack can make a Branded Hashtag Challenge both recognisable and memorable.
Motion challenges are a popular format, and it is crucial to pair the right music to the right choreography to create something distinct.
Frucor Suntory understood this format well with its viral #MakeItHappen Branded Hashtag Challenge, where users were encouraged to show how they make things happen in their daily lives, against a catchy soundtrack by Indigenous Aussie artist HVWKS. The result was more than 28 million hashtag views to date, and an ongoing stream of user-generated content.
Don’t make ads: The secret to brand building
TikTok has the ability to achieve breakthrough brand building that hasn’t been seen before with other platforms.
In fact, it may even shorten the funnel.
In its short history, TikTok has already helped drive brand awareness and intent and now innovative new features have been built to help reduce the gap between awareness and purchase.
The results of Branded Hashtag Challenges have so far focused on engagement, awareness, consideration and intent, but brands are beginning to chart footfall, sales and site visits.
It all boils down to TikTok’s approach to advertising. ‘Don’t make ads, make TikToks’ has become a mantra for success for marketers looking to create successful campaigns across the platform.
According to the Nielsen study, 43% of heavy TikTok users feel that advertising on TikTok "blends in" with the content.
In an age where consumers could be exposed to up to 10,000 ads a day, and attention is divided across various content platforms, breaking through all of the noise can be hard for brands - particularly with digital-first audiences.
TikTok has managed to capture that attention though.
Creating content for audiences to share and recreate in their own way is TikTok’s differentiator for brands.
Today brands are no longer having a one or two-way dialogue with their audience. Instead, consumers are becoming actively involved in the discussion and creation of content for brands in their own unique way.
Through empowering its creators, TikTok enables brands to reach audiences via their favourite creators with content that is authentic, unique and engaging.
This was showcased in TikTok’s online miniseries Don’t Make Ads: An Advertising Competition, where brands like Tourism New Zealand, Afterpay, Optus and Hyundai gave out marketing briefs for to four Aussie TikTok creators.
For example, to celebrate International Hobbit Day on September 22 and stay top of mind for future travellers, Tourism New Zealand briefed creators to come up with a TikTok that commemorated Lord of the Rings characters Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ birthdays.
From Ash Magic (@ashmagic) using his magic tricks to tell the story of whose birthday party he was attending, to Janet Rifenstine (@rifenstine) baking an epic birthday cake for her “bae” in New Zealand, each creator interpreted the brief in their own unique way.
Amid the global pandemic, Tourism New Zealand general manager Andrew Waddel says the tourism board was excited to leverage the platform’s talented creators to keep the nation top of mind for when borders reopen.
“What we really like about TikTok as a platform is it’s more than a conversation, it’s actually inviting the audience to be involved and participate,” says Waddel.
“That’s hugely exciting for New Zealand as a country to be able to be involved with future travellers.”
Optus is another brand who has embraced the TikTok platform and its audiences.
Dubbed a “trailblazer” by TikTok Australia’s general manager for global business solutions Brett Armstrong, the telco’s chief marketing officer Melissa Hopkins says she saw huge opportunities with the platform.
“We were looking at ways to connect with Australians and during a time where we felt people needed a bit of optimism in their lives and we felt TikTok was a great platform to do that,” Hopkins says.
The brand kicked off its first campaign with the #NewInterns Branded Hashtag Challenge and then followed it up with #YeahWeBack, a reunion dance challenge that exploded across the platform and saw Optus gain nearly 29 million views globally of the content.
“I think we got back from our consumers how they used our products and services authentically in their everyday life,” Hopkins says.
“For Optus, one of our really big ambitions is to become what we call a ‘fabric’ brand. A fabric brand to us is just sort of entwined into society and people’s everyday lives. And TikTok has allowed us to do that.”
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