TikTok is not just for lip-syncing teenagers anymore and is an opportunity which businesses should not ignore. It is the fastest growing social media platform in the world and has become an important marketing channel for many brands, including SproutWorld, which sells the world’s first plantable pencils. Klaus Vemmer, CMO of SproutWorld, explains how businesses can use TikTok to their advantage.
With over one billion users, TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform in the world. And it isn’t just for lip-syncing teens anymore. It has become an important marketing channel for many brands, including ours, SproutWorld – the eco-friendly brand behind the world’s first plantable pencils and makeup liners, which debuted on the platform a mere two months ago. And in that time, it has proven to be a powerful marketing tool for creating genuine engagement, brand awareness and sales.
We managed to gain more than 100,000 followers and tens of millions of views with our posts featuring pencils that sprout into plants, flowers, herbs and even trees, in less than four weeks. Our most successful post generated 11.8m views and 1.6m likes. After seven days, we had amassed more than 30,000 new followers. By comparison, it took us four years to achieve 15,000 followers on Instagram.
The impact on the business was huge – the number of visitors to the website increased by 1,400% over four days alone, sales increased 10-fold compared to the same time last year, plus it kicked off a stampede of B2B inquiries, despite the social media platform being a platform for consumers mostly. We’re aware that it’s incredibly rare for a brand to go viral once, let alone on four separate occasions, so we feel we have really nailed the formula, which we are sharing with you here.
Keep it short and sweet
You can create videos lasting up to 10 minutes long but most people barely make it past the first three seconds, so aim for a max of 15 seconds as a sweet spot. We stuck to eight second videos and only posted organically. TikTok prioritises organic discovery, so tell a good story, and the platform will do the work!
Get your house in order
When it takes off, you have a very limited timeframe (just a matter of days) to capitalise on your viral success, so your marketing funnel and resources need to be ready. Ensure your website can handle a traffic surge, create email sign-ups, dedicated landing pages, if necessary, and an email for incoming enquiries. Simplify the buying journey and see if you can create upsell features on your website.
Respond to all comments
TikTok users are very engaged and enthusiastic, and comments often come in quickly when a video starts to take off. It’s important that you monitor comments and respond to as many as possible as TikTok prioritises the comments that you as a ‘creator’ answer, and these comments will rank at the top of your video.
Also, use the comments as inspiration for your next video, which has the advantage of being shown as a response under the comments section on the old video. This will generate more views for both posts – it’s a win-win. This was the case for two of our most successful viral posts.
Create TikTok-specific content
Don’t take shortcuts – they won’t pay off as TikTok works differently to other social media platforms, so the same content just won’t work everywhere. Always try to incorporate an audio element i.e. music, as well as text captions for times when audio is muted. As the audience on TikTok skews younger, we specifically asked our 26-year-old marketing assistant to lead since she was more likely to have her finger on the pulse. She took the reins in our experiment and it has been her playground ever since – it has been a lot of fun for the whole team.
Turn your cliff-hanger into a hook
Even if you do end up creating eight second videos, it’s really only the first three seconds that determine whether people see the whole video through! So, focus on creating a snappy and catchy intro. You can create curiosity by posing a question or statement i.e. “You’re never going to believe what happens next”, or summarise the video in the first couple of seconds i.e. “This is how you…”
Choose the homemade approach over glossy productions
The great thing about TikTok is that you don’t need a professional production team to achieve success. Content that is authentic and has a ‘homemade’ quality resonates more on the platform, so be creative and experiment. Don’t create glossy sales pitches as they are a real turn-off on the platform.
Consistency – don’t give up
Content and trends are something that changes daily on TikTok. Therefore, it’s important to share a lot of content regularly. To create the greatest organic growth, share videos two to three times a day, about five to six times a week. Stay consistent and eventually TikTok will recognise you as a regular. You only need one semi-viral video to grow your following base relatively quickly, so it’s worth the effort!
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