The e-commerce and retail trade is consistently evolving, with new traits rising day-after-day. One of the current ones combines advertising and marketing immediately with buying, referred to as social commerce. Complete annual social commerce gross sales will attain over $50 billion by the tip of 2023, knowledge by eMarketer.
Which leads us to TikTok, a preferred social media platform for posting short-form video clips and artistic content material. TikTok is launching new options and collaborations favorable for e-commerce manufacturers wanting to advertise their enterprise by way of social buying, stay commerce, and influencer advertising and marketing.
The platform, launched initially as a social app, appeals to creators and viewers in addition to e-commerce companies worldwide. In spite of everything, selling all kinds of merchandise by way of extremely partaking content material appears like a wonderful concept, would not it?
TikTok investing closely in advertising and marketing options
TikTok is investing closely in its new advertising and marketing avenues. In accordance with a report by the media outlet LatePost in China, TikTok’s advertising and marketing income was $4 billion in 2021, with a purpose to almost triple this to $12 billion income share by the tip of 2022. What’s extra, TikTok almost doubled its measurement when it comes to its promoting and product groups in 2021.
With the rising recognition of influencer advertising and marketing, social commerce, and stay commerce, TikTok provides limitless alternatives to inventive e-commerce entrepreneurs and shouldn’t be ignored in 2022 and going ahead. Let’s have a quick take a look at what TikTok is, then dive into some ideas and finest practices for advertising and marketing your model on the platform.
What’s TikTok?
TikTok app, launched by ByteDance in China in 2016, is a social platform that permits posting short-form movies starting from 15 seconds to three minutes, enabling straightforward video enhancing and including filters and music.
The video-sharing social platform has been particularly interesting to Gen-Z and Millennials. As of September 2021, almost 50% of customers have been under 30 and fell into the 10-29 age vary, in accordance to Statista.
TikTok app is the place e-commerce companies, content material creators, and influencers merge and are available collectively to specific their type, traits, share experiences, or promote model consciousness. That could be a important cause why, equally to Instagram and Fb, TikTok is beginning to emphasize its e-commerce advertising and marketing options and actions.
Whereas these options are just like different main social platforms, a number of differentiating elements make TikTok advertising and marketing distinctive and have its benefits.
Not like different apps and platforms, TikTok has a particular discovery algorithm that offers every clip an equal probability for virality, whether or not the model or individual is new to the platform or how well-liked the creator is. After all, it does assist to have already amassed a large following or go for paid campaigns, nevertheless it doesn’t solely account for that; all customers have an opportunity to go viral if their content material is sweet.
TikTok and Shopify integration
In 2021, TikTok launched a Shopify integration that permits sellers on the Shopify e-commerce platform to sync their merchandise immediately with the TikTok Enterprise account. It creates a separate “storefront” on TikTok and shows all product catalogs bought on the model’s on-line retailer immediately
to their on-line store and permits a direct check-out with out ever leaving the app.
They realized the potential of social commerce and the rising stay commerce pattern. TikTok is the right platform for that. TikTok and Shopify revealed their partnership in October 2021 and is at the moment accessible for the US, Canada, and UK retailers; it has introduced that it will likely be launched in different international locations quickly.
Their e-commerce technique partnership permits retailers to create and handle campaigns immediately on TikTok enterprise accounts. TikTok hopes to draw manufacturers and new customers with its new options and e-commerce capabilities.
TikTok generates income primarily by way of: promoting, in-app purchases, and e-commerce options and comes with 4 completely different advert varieties: in-feed adverts, model takeovers, high views, branded hashtags, and branded results.
TikTok e-commerce advertising and marketing ideas
Though the social media panorama is altering, with tweaks in algorithms, advertising and marketing marketing campaign varieties, and rising prices, it’s the place for manufacturers and retailers to showcase their merchandise, create extra consciousness, and improve gross sales.
What’s extra, model storytelling is changing into more and more vital. Storytelling can have an incredible and direct affect on the rise in gross sales and conversions. One survey discovered that 55% of customers usually tend to purchase if the model has a narrative behind it. Social commerce is the right method to create and promote model tales and immediately interact with clients.
Though TikTok has modified its algorithms over time, one factor stays fixed – TikTok is and can stay a go-to advertising and marketing platform for the years to return. TikTok is a wonderful platform for manufacturers to create belief and join with their clients, improve loyalty, develop gross sales, and actively present their model story by way of high-quality and interesting content material.
So, the right way to market your e-commerce model on TikTok? Listed below are some tricks to incorporate to your TikTok advertising and marketing technique::
1. Don’t promote, entertain
As the entire idea of TikTok is entertaining its customers, maintaining them engaged and on the platform so long as attainable, manufacturers and retailers ought to take into consideration methods to interact the buyer slightly than immediately promote to them.
For instance, let’s take the sportswear model GymShark. They repeatedly publish entertaining content material revolving round health club and coaching with a twist of humor on TikTok utilizing related influencers within the sports activities group and encourage user-generated content material (USG) by way of varied hashtag challenges.
It isn’t about posting and pushing one paid advert. It’s about creating the entire story round your model so clients can observe your story. Having loyal followers on TikTok who love the shop is an effective way to construct belief, loyalty, and engagement and develop gross sales concurrently.
2. Be your genuine self
Though TikTok’s algorithm isn’t solely to favor the accounts and creators with essentially the most followers but additionally nice content material, it’s essential to get it proper. And to create good content material, it is very important keep genuine on the platform.
With a lot competitors and noise, it’s essential to know the right way to relate to the viewers to face out. Content material that comes throughout strongly like a gross sales pitch or is simply one other paid product advert gained’t get you far.
For instance, let’s check out an unbiased equipment label XXL Scrunchie from Canada, lively on TikTok. They repeatedly publish genuine content material about their household manufacturing course of, “how-to” movies, and basic enterprise day-to-day enterprise that brings their clients in and makes them really feel like part of the model, which will increase belief and loyalty.
Work out how your ultimate buyer and target market would need to see and have interaction them. For instance, check the algorithm on what else (different content material) comes up within the feed by scrolling by way of the feeds out of your model’s viewpoint; this may give extra insights into what sort of content material appeals to the goal customers.
3. Reside commerce – use TikTok Reside function
In 2016, China’s e-commerce behemoth Alibaba launched Taobao Reside on their on-line buying app Taobao, the place influencers or key opinion leaders (KOLs) current varied merchandise on live-stream movies, marking a brand new chapter for social commerce.
Reside commerce connects on-line broadcasts on to e-commerce shops, permitting clients to buy merchandise within the movies whereas watching the stream, both by way of SMS messages or in-app messaging providers. These stay streams are hosted by way of specialised livestream buying platforms comparable to ShopShops or Talkshoplive or, on this case, social media platforms Instagram, Fb, and TikTok.
TikTok launched their first live-stream occasion referred to as “Vacation Store-Alongside Spectacular” in December 2021, a collaboration between Walmart and TikTok.
Ever since, the stay stream buying function has been favored by a number of different e-commerce manufacturers, together with magnificence manufacturers comparable to E.l.f, Too Confronted, and Milk Make-up, or luxurious designers together with Saint Laurent, JW Anderson, and Louis Vuitton.
4. Have interaction in conversations along with your clients
To actually join and have interaction along with your viewers, take into account taking part in conversations with them by replying to the feedback and questions beneath your posts, as it might develop loyalty and model belief. TikTok feedback are an ideal place to reply any questions, have an open dialog, or clarify how your services and products work.
As your responses are tagged with a “Creator badge” subsequent to your username, it’s fairly clear if you, an professional within the subject, have responded, favored the remark, or engaged within the dialog. While you interact with a viewer’s feedback, they routinely get a notification “Preferred by Creator” pop up on the app, immediately giving it a private contact and making them really feel acknowledged.
5. Observe the hashtag problem traits
Checking the trending hashtags part is an effective way to get a really feel for what’s well-liked on the time. After all, not all traits, or maybe none, will match one-on-one to your manufacturers’ target market. Nevertheless, it may act as an inspiration to your TikTok content material advertising and marketing technique.
Whereas drafting new posts, control what’s trending and use trending hashtags to look in entrance of a bigger viewers. Nevertheless, don’t use a preferred hashtag or hashtags along with your content material simply because they’re trending; at all times ensure they’re additionally related to the content material you publish; in any other case, it’d seem irrelevant and never fascinating for the viewing viewers.
6. Monitor and implement new options
A current information publish on Techcrunch from January 2022 introduced that TikTok is launching a number of new options. These embrace Bitmoji-like avatars, key phrase filtering on the “For You” web page, group chats, audio-only stay streaming, display screen sharing throughout stay streams, and subscription options, permitting subscriber-only remark sections.
TikTok is arising with new options to maintain customers engaged, and e-commerce manufacturers can leverage these to do the identical. Whereas the algorithm is stored a secret, monitoring what’s new when it comes to prospects and new options can improve the consumer expertise to maintain your feed contemporary and interesting, entice new followers, and preserve current ones. Implementing new options helps to remain forward of the competitors.
7. Publish repeatedly
Like different main social media platforms with a number of commerce options, Instagram and Fb, TikTok has excellent posting instances for max efficiency outcomes and ROI.
Following a complete research performed by Influencer Advertising Hub, who analyzed over 100,000 TikTok posts to see a sample for finest posting instances:
Monday: 6.00 am, 10.00 am, or 10.00 pm
Tuesday: 2 am, 4 am, or 9 am
Wednesday: 7 am, 8 am, or 11 pm
Thursday: 9 am, 12 am, or 7 pm
Friday: 5 am, 1 pm, or 3 pm
Saturday: 11 am, 7 pm, or 8 pm
Sunday: 7 am, 8 am, or 4 pm
Take into account that TikTok typically swallows customers to their feeds, so customers are extra lively earlier than or after work hours, as we will additionally see from the sample above. And most significantly, additionally verify and take into account when your followers interact most along with your content material, it’s a trial and error course of.
Develop your e-commerce with social and stay commerce
Social commerce is exploding, and it looks like the subsequent huge factor within the US, and Europe is stay commerce. TikTok, amongst different social media platforms, provides each of those options and prospects for manufacturers and retailers to develop their gross sales and buyer base.
TikTok’s growth to a number of new on-line buying options comes when e-commerce traits proceed to discover new areas. Whereas Instagram and Fb have been among the many first to leap on the social media buying bandwagon, TikTok is catching as much as incorporate these new options into enterprise accounts.
In 2021, Gen-Z represented a collective buying energy of $150 billion, leaving manufacturers to know their distinctive buying behaviors. TikTok can supply the correct viewers, analytical capabilities to see what they like, and wonderful options comparable to in-app purchases and stay stream buying to catch the purchasers on the proper time.