How to create a TikTok marketing strategy from scratch

TikTok has been the fastest growing app in the past few years. It has over 1 billion monthly users and has a growing impact on culture and music. With the addition of various business tools to the platform and the possibility of reaching a targeted audience, TikTok has become an ideal platform for business growth.

Now if you’re one of those brands that are actively growing people’s awareness about their brand rather than succumb to chance, you need to have a TikTok marketing strategy in place. You need to identify why you want to be on TikTok, what kinds of content you want to produce (or encourage to be produced on TikTok), and how you want to engage with users on the platform.

In this guide you’ll learn how to do all this.  

What is TikTok marketing and why it matters

TikTok marketing is a strategy where you promote your products and services to people who use the social media app TikTok. Brands that pursue this strategy often use trend-driven content, creatively use popular hashtags, and work with TikTok influencers to expand their reach.

Conversion is not the only metric in TikTok marketing. TikTok could be considered more of a community engagement platform than a sales platform per se (although they’ve partnered with Shopify to enable in-app purchasing).

As a top of funnel strategy, a good TikTok marketing strategy prioritizes users and keeps them entertained while managing your reputation in other places to ensure a pleasant customer journey. Customer review management platforms allow you to manage your reputation on different review and shopping platforms online. So they could be a good addition to your marketing strategy.

TikTok has been the most downloaded app of the year since 2019, and was downloaded 656 million times just in 2021. TikTok has been downloaded more than 3 billion times, making it the first non-Facebook app to reach 3 billion+ downloads, even though it’s been only 6 years since its launch. In 2021, the app launched in-app shopping too, making it one of the essential places for brand marketing and social sales.

While the sheer number of app users counts as a reason to invest in TikTok marketing, there’s something else that sets TikTok apart from other social media apps. TikTok is the most engaging social media app with an average user session of 10.85 minutes.

Even more interestingly, it’s the number one app to drive consumer spending. In sum, TikTok offers marketers and brands a sea of opportunities to grasp, which grows larger everyday. So even if you haven’t tried TikTok marketing yet, you’ll have to start on one of these days.

How to set up your TikTok business account

A TikTok business account will help you expand your brand’s reach to a diverse audience coming from all types of subcultures and backgrounds. More importantly, you’ll get the chance to get to know your customers and prospects by observing and reflecting on social and cultural trends over time.

You can see, for instance, the basic demographics like how your audience is spread across the world, but the app does more than just that. The analytics module shows you what your followers are watching and listening to, besides your content, of course. You also see trending business and community videos, which give you a good idea about what speaks to the general audience.

The app offers a content library called ‘’The Commercial Music Library’’, which consists of over 500,000 sound effects and songs you can use without troubling yourself with the process of obtaining a license.

It guides you through the steps of building a social presence in line with your brand identity. From choosing a video topic to picking a sound, it helps you out with almost everything. So, how do you set up an account?

The first step is getting on TikTok. Download the TikTok app from Google Play store or App Store, and sign up with your phone number, email address or a registered social media account. Then go to your account settings from ‘’Manage Account’’ and select "Switch to Business Account." You’ll see business categories, choose the one that best fits your business, so that the algorithm can offer you customized content, events, and solutions.

In time, you’ll learn what appeals to your audience and can shape your content accordingly. Ultimately, you’ll find your unique place in TikTok’s cultural landscape, and build awareness around your products and services.

Ways to grow your business on TikTok

1- Creating a community

The TikTok algorithm encourages businesses to engage with subcultures or the existing communities with shared interests. Unlike Instagram or other social networks, most of TikTok users’ time is spent on the ‘’For You’’ page, which displays content that’s coming from accounts that they’re not following already. So when you manage to tap into an existing subculture, the app amplifies your content to the right audience.

Initially, your objective is to create attention-grabbing content that holds the viewer in. The first thing that users will notice is the caption of your video, so it should be interesting enough to keep the viewer from scrolling. The next step is starting off the video with a surprise element, which will further guarantee higher engagements. It goes without saying, follower activity will give you the best time to post your content. Make sure to pick the times when your followers are most active on the app.

Keep in mind, your social media presence should reflect your authentic brand identity, and people are more likely to trust brands that have a genuine persona. In fact, 21% of the app’s users say that they feel more connected to brands that mingle with other people’s posts, in the form of comments. Comment on other content creators’ posts to create hype around topics you’d like to contribute.

2- Influencer marketing

One important pillar of the TikTok ecosystem is influencer marketing, and brands benefit from working with influencers with shared audiences. So if you’re selling sound equipment, for instance, teaming up with Spence X, who is a beatboxer and TikTok influencer with over 54 million followers, can create buzz around your brand and products. It’s easier to pitch your products to influencers in your niche, because they’ll be more inclined to relate to your value proposition.

Plus, they’ll convey a message that resonates with the audience better, considering they actually have knowledge about the issue, and can make a convincing argument on your behalf.

However, you don’t need to shoot for the stars. Just find local influencers that are easier to reach. If you’re selling surfing equipment in Long Beach, California, for example, you can search #calisurf #californiasurfing, or similar hashtags, to see who creates content about surfing in your region. Influencers have the know-how to use the algorithm to their benefit, and you can benefit from their skills and knowledge.You can also use an influencer marketing platform that could help you find the right influencers and connect with them, or an affiliate marketing platform to streamline the customer referral program and payment processes in one place .

3- Advertising

TikTok’s research suggests that 67% of their users state the app inspires them to shop, even if it isn’t their plan. On top of that, 37% of their users see a product on the app and want to buy it right away. Add that to the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt hashtag gaining immense popularity in 2021, the app seems to have an impact on users’ buying behavior. Conveniently, the social media behemoth signed up with Shopify, and announced an integration that allows in-app shopping.

In 2022, the company launched a suite of e-commerce tools that turn videos and LIVEs into ‘’shoppable entertainment’’, as they state. Product Links, for instance, are badges that let brands highlight items in a video and direct viewers to product pages. Collection Ads, on the other hand, allow merchants to display multiple items on rotating product cards placed in videos, and link out to product pages.

At the same time, Dynamic Showcase Ads turns your inventory into ads automatically, and displays them to the viewers that are likely to be interested. The app evaluates such interest by looking at your products, and the viewer’s in-app behavior. Make sure to use a combination of those tools and your order management system to promote your products and keep track of them.

How to increase audience engagement

1- Engage with others

TikTok’s Duet tool allows you to record a duet with another user by responding to the original creator’s video in real time. Use Duets to react to content that can interest your audience. Stitch, another in-app tool, allows you to clip parts from other creators’ content, and integrate into your own. Use both tools to stay engaged with the community.

Embed: <blockquote cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@tiktok/video/6867963867230653702" data-video-id="6867963867230653702" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" > <section> <a target="_blank" title="@tiktok" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tiktok">@tiktok</a> <p>Now Introducing: STITCH! Make the ultimate collab with your fav creators ?</p> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - TikTok" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-6867963893873003270">♬ original sound - TikTok</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>

2- Collaborate with creators

The app’s creator marketplace is a space where you can find creators who produce content in your niche. Search for creators in your niche, invite them to collaborate, and analyze the success of the partnership afterwards. Remember, TikTok offers filters that give you the opportunity to build partnerships that serve your business goals, and remain in budget while doing so.

Businesses that make use of the creator marketplace see incredible ROI. Take Photomyne, for example. Photomyne, a digital memories photo-app partnered with 10 creators in relevant categories, such as DIY, Art, Tech, and so on, reached out to creators from UK, Germany and the US, and saw a 5x increase in video views, and 2x increase in engagement. The app achieved 27.5% conversion rate for app installs and reduced cost per acquisition by 50%.

3- Start a branded hashtag challenge

Branded hashtag challenges are great for driving authentic user generated content. Basically, you share a video with a sponsored hashtag, and people join your challenge. TikTok displays your content through official videos, Discover Page, user generated content responses, and music. This means that if you manage to create authentic, enjoyable, and creative content, people are likely to see it and give a response.

PhotoSi, an Italian photographic printing company, for example, ran a branded hashtag challenge named #ReviveconPhotoSi, which challenged the TikTok community to recreate a childhood photo and capture themselves doing so. Over 380,000 user generated content came out of the challenge, and the purchase rate increased by 25%. On top of that, they saw a 54% decrease in CPA. Think about what will urge your audience to participate in and get creative.

Focus on engagement more than anything:

It’s quite understandable to have sales growth in mind when thinking of your TikTok marketing strategy. But since fun and entertainment factors come first for TikTok users, you can’t be too hard on them. Instead of pushing your ads and promotional content everywhere on the platform, try to be part of the trends on the platform and be fun and entertaining.

Create a community of engaged and active users, grow awareness about your products by partnering with influencers, review and answer people’s comments, schedule entertaining posts, and most importantly always monitor your analytics to assess your campaign’s success.

Eclincher is a platform that integrates well with TikTok (as well as other social media platforms) and allows you to

• Schedule and publish posts on autopilot
• Bulk upload content and schedule smart queues
• Engage with people’s content real time from the platform
• Monitor your analytics and view your mentions
• Manage different teams such as content creation, marketing and advertising, etc. through collaboration features
• And a lot more.

Start your 14-day free trial to see if Eclincher is the right fit for you.