Why add TikTok to your short-form video strategy?

Thinking about adding TikTok to your short-form video strategy? It doesn't have to be complicated.

With a digital landscape that is ever-evolving and attention spans that are increasingly difficult to capture, mastering the art of short-form videos has become the cornerstone of successful content strategies. TikTok is an essential addition to your toolkit, a powerhouse of growth and engagement with huge potential to boost your video marketing strategy.

TikTok's allure isn't just a passing trend; it's a dynamic force that's reshaping the way brands connect with audiences. From its colossal and diverse user base that spans the gamut of age groups and interests, to its uncanny ability to create trends, TikTok offers an array of opportunities for digital marketers. From humor to educational videos, dance challenges and recipe hacks, TikTok’s creative content reaches a diverse and engaged audience, making it an essential outlet for social media marketing.

TikTok is a realm driven by creativity, entertainment, and unabashed self-expression, offering a unique canvas for brands and businesses to craft content in brief but hugely effective formats. Its ability to convey a message in a matter of seconds is particularly suited to the current digital milieu, where pausing the scrolling and capturing attention is pivotal.

Here we’ll explore why it’s so important to add TikTok to your existing short-form video marketing toolkit, particularly for brands and agencies who are already producing for Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. You’ll also find a few tips on how to harness its incredible reach, engagement and potential for creativity.

1. TikTok’s reach and engagement are unmatchable

TikTok has swiftly risen to the top of the social media hierarchy, with a staggering user base of approximately 1.7 billion globally, and an estimated 1 billion active monthly users worldwide. It’s available in over 160 countries. What makes TikTok’s reach even more compelling is the platform's ability to attract a diverse spectrum of users across age groups and demographics, giving social media marketers a golden opportunity to showcase content to a truly global and multifaceted audience.

Whether your target audience is Gen Z trendsetters and influencers or industry professionals, TikTok's vast and heavily engaged user base ensures that your brand's message has the potential to resonate far and wide. Its algorithm is also designed to prioritize content that keeps users engaged, making it an ideal platform to capture and hold attention spans. The platform's ‘For You’ Page (FYP) serves content tailored to individual preferences, giving TikTok massive levels of user engagement. By tapping into this already heavily engaged user base, you can dramatically amplify your brand's visibility.

2. There’s huge potential for viral content

Engaging with trends and viral content enables brands and businesses to integrate seamlessly into conversations that are dominating the cultural zeitgeist. Being a part of the fun with this kind of engagement not only bolsters brand visibility but also positions you as an active participant in contemporary conversations.

TikTok's algorithm operates on a unique principle - it prioritizes content's resonance with users over the creator's follower count. This dynamic really sets TikTok apart as a platform where high-quality content can take off, giving your marketing campaigns the potential for a level of breakthrough that's often elusive on other social media channels. This democratization of visibility means that any TikTok video, irrespective of the creator's popularity, holds the potential to go viral and hit a wider audience. This distinct algorithmic approach is perfect for jumping on those short-form video trends, putting your marketing strategy on a level playing field where creativity and relevance are rewarded above all else. Whether you’re an established brand or a relative newcomer, TikTok offers a significant chance to hit a high level of exposure and user engagement you might not find on other short-form video platforms.

3. You’ll reach a younger audience

TikTok's unparalleled ability to connect with a younger demographic sets it apart as a social media platform for marketers, giving you a powerful channel to authentically interact, influence, and build relationships with the younger audience – a demographic that holds significant sway over trends, generating hype and brand loyalty.

Gen Z and millennials wield a significant influence not only over current trends, but also the future of consumer preferences. Closely connected to pop culture, current events, and social issues, engaging with these demographics is crucial to stay relevant and in touch with the ever-changing cultural landscape.

Younger individuals are also typically more digitally fluent and receptive to online marketing efforts. This fluency allows for experimentation with diverse, creative content formats and interactive campaigns. This is particularly true for something like user-generated content (UGC), which is deeply intertwined with TikTok's collaborative and interactive nature.

4. It’s easy to expand your audience across platforms

Integrating TikTok into your short-form video content strategy doesn't mean abandoning other platforms. By cross-promoting your content across video platforms, you can funnel your audience across while creating a cohesive and comprehensive online presence.

You don't always need to reinvent the wheel for every platform, but customizing the type of content to suit each platform can be beneficial. Once you've curated a piece that resonates, get ready to edit, refine and repurpose. Trim and edit the content as needed to fit TikTok's duration and style, paying attention to trending hashtags and sounds. Craft a TikTok-specific caption that captures attention and prompts engagement. By adapting your content while maintaining its essence, you can leverage the strengths of each platform and tap into TikTok's vibrant user base effectively.

5. It’s an outlet for creative expression for your brand

TikTok stands out as a platform for short-form video format for its dedication to snappy, creative videos, offering brands an environment that fosters thinking outside the box with fresh and innovative content creation. It’s a great place to break away from more traditional marketing norms and experiment with new formats and storytelling techniques. The platform's diverse array of filters, effects, and sound options provides marketers with a toolkit to craft captivating narratives, teasers, tutorials or whatever is going to resonate with your audience. By embracing TikTok's creative ecosystem, you can connect with a wider audience on a more personal and authentic level, fostering brand loyalty and engagement that transcends your traditional advertising methods.

It could be clever teasers about new products or upcoming promotions, instructive tutorials or product demos, jumping on a meme trend or behind the scenes videos that spark curiosity - TikTok offers a medium to communicate with a flair that's uniquely yours and suits your brand or business.

6. It’s a perfect platform for Influencer collaboration

In recent years, we know that influencer marketing has evolved into a potent strategy for business, and TikTok provides an ideal platform to leverage this type of content. TikTok's thriving influencer community allows brands to collaborate with content creators who already have a mass of dedicated and engaged followers, amplifying brand credibility and engaging on a more personal level. By collaborating with these content creators, brands gain instant access to a dedicated and engaged audience that has a genuine affinity for the influencer's content.

What sets TikTok's influencer collaboration apart is the platform's innate culture of authenticity. Influencers on TikTok often come across as relatable, genuine individuals who are unafraid to showcase their authentic selves. This authenticity aligns seamlessly with the expectations of the younger audience, who value genuine connections with brands and individuals they trust. When an influencer endorses a brand or product, their followers perceive it as a genuine personal recommendation rather than your traditional advertising.

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7 Tips for your TikTok short-form video strategy:

1. Stay trend-aware

In a dynamic environment like TikTok, trends emerge at lightning speed, creating waves of viral challenges, dances, and creative formats that captivate the platform's massive audience. As a savvy marketer, staying trend-aware isn't just advantageous – it's essential. Trend participation not only showcases your brand's adaptability and relevance but also positions it at the heart of ongoing conversations within the vibrant TikTok community. The ability to recognize and integrate yourself into these trends into your content strategy will keep you on the pulse amongst an ever-changing cultural landscape.

Staying trend-aware means constant observation, adaptability and creative integration. A simple way to start is at TikTok's Explore page and For You Page (FYP), serving as treasure troves of trending content. Observing what's currently resonating among users not only offers insights into audience preferences but also presents opportunities for your brand or business to organically engage. Whether it's a dance challenge that aligns with your product's spirit or a popular audio trend that complements some behind the scenes footage, hopping on these trends is going to give you increased visibility and engagement.

2. Take advantage of trending audio

One of the unique aspects of TikTok is its ever-evolving library of trending sounds – music, quotes, and soundbites from film and TV that sweep through the platform like wildfire. These sounds gain popularity through viral challenges, memes, or just because they resonate with the TikTok community. Optimizing sound on TikTok is a dynamic endeavor that demands a keen understanding of your content's essence and the platform's trending audio landscape.

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As a savvy marketer, tapping into trending sounds can significantly boost your video's visibility and engagement. Keep an eye on those Explore and For You pages, and investigate what sounds are gaining traction. If it's part of a trend or has a growing number of videos associated with it, it's likely a trending sound. By incorporating these audio clips and songs into your content, you’ll jump into ongoing conversations and hit the algorithm’s sweet spot, increasing the chances of your videos being discovered by a wider audience.

3. Spark conversations with Stitches and Duets

A great way to kick up your TikTok short-form video strategy is to focus on igniting conversations and inviting participation from your audience, while also embracing the power of user-generated content.

Craft your content with interactive elements that prompt viewers to share their thoughts, opinions, or experiences in the comments section. Pose questions, seek recommendations, or create challenges that encourage users to respond and become part of the narrative. TikTok's unique features, like stitches and duets, offer a really fun dimension for user engagement.

A Stitch is a creation tool that allows you to combine another video on TikTok with one you're creating. Encourage your viewers to stitch your video with their commentary or reaction, effectively building upon your narrative.

Likewise, duets allow users to dance, sing, or interact alongside your video, with two videos in a split screen that play at the same time. These collaborative approaches not only bolsters engagement but also introduces your content to their followers, expanding your reach organically.

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4. Optimize your content for mobile

Ensuring your TikTok content is optimized for smartphone viewing is paramount. Being a mobile-first platform, you’ll want to ensure your videos are created for optimal vertical viewing and can be easily consumed on smartphones.

Given that many viewers consume content with the sound off, captions are a necessity for short-form video content with a lot of dialogue. Integrating clear and engaging captions allows your message to transcend the audio barriers, catering to both sound-on and sound-off viewers. Additionally, creative captions can pique curiosity quickly and encourage users to turn on the sound, keeping them engaged with your message.

You can further enhance your visual storytelling by incorporating text overlays and graphics that amplify your message. These elements can provide context, highlight important details, or add a touch of creativity to your content.

5. Keep everything concise

Remember, TikTok's fast-paced environment demands immediate impact to prevent viewers from scrolling past. You want to convey your message concisely and effectively, avoid lengthy explanations or narratives that require extended attention spans. Instead, convey your key points through punchy visual storytelling that's easily comprehensible, even in brief glances.

The platform's short-form nature necessitates a distilled and impactful approach to storytelling. Keep your transitions smooth and intuitive, your captions and graphics clear, ensuring viewers can easily follow the storyline without feeling disoriented. In such a short video, every second counts, and every frame should contribute to the vibe, the joke, or the narrative you want to create.

Whether it's showcasing a product's features, sharing a brief anecdote, doing a brief FAQ or eliciting a quick laugh, simplicity and clarity are your guiding principles on TikTok.

6. Maximize your reach across channels

If you’re already crafting short-form video content for platforms like Instagram and YouTube, it’s time to cross-pollinate.

You might start by dipping your toes in the water by repurposing or editing your existing short-form content to fit the vibe on TikTok. That ingenious clip that hit the sweet spot and garnered laughter and engagement on YouTube? It might just elicit the same reaction on TikTok. If you’ve got behind the scenes content, short product demos or funny bits that performed well on Reels, it’s likely they’ll be loved by viewers on TikTok too. By adapting your content to different platforms, you open doors to a wider audience and increase the chances your content will take off.

And cross-pollination isn't just about maximizing the reach of your content, it's about learning what resonates best. It's your laboratory for social media experimentation. As you share your content across diverse platforms, you gain valuable insights into what sparks engagement, kindles conversations, and captivates attention. Experiment with platforms, video length and different types of content. It's a process of discovery that can help you understand the nuances of each platform's audience and their preferences.

7. Schedule and auto-publish your TikTok videos with Sked

This is where a comprehensive social media marketing platform becomes indispensable. As you navigate different social media channels and content strategies, a platform like Sked Social empowers you to seamlessly manage, schedule auto-publishing, and analyze your content across multiple channels. You’ll be able to efficiently repurpose your TikTok gems for other platforms, saving you an abundance of time and effort.

Scheduling and auto-publishing video to TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube shorts empowers you to strategically time your content for maximum impact. Different social media platforms have peak usage hours when audiences are most active. By scheduling your posts to align with these peak hours, you increase the likelihood of your content reaching a larger and more engaged audience. This is especially crucial for brands targeting global audiences across different time zones.

Related reading: The Best TikTok Schedulers‍

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How Sked Social can help elevate your TikTok strategy

It’s easy to really kick up your short-form video strategy with an all-in-one social media management toolkit like Sked Social.

With true auto-publishing, not just notification based publishing like some platforms, Sked makes it easy to repurpose content from other channels, or go all-in on a dedicated TikTok video strategy.

Here’s how Sked Social can take your TikTok strategy to the next level.

Visual harmony across platforms

‍Sked Social allows you to plan and visually map out your short-form video strategy, ensuring that your campaigns resonate cohesively across your social channels. With its intuitive visual content calendar, your team stays synchronized, whether they're crafting TikTok masterpieces or devising copy for other platforms. No more disjointed efforts, just a harmonious narrative that captures your brand's essence.

One-stop publishing hub - for all social video

‍Sked makes it super easy to craft your short-form video content once and effortlessly schedule and auto-publish posts across TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Sked Social's auto-posting capability means you can create your masterpiece, customize captions for each platform, and schedule them for auto-publishing. It's a single command center for all your cross-platform content, saving you time and eliminating the hassle of manual posting.

Collaboration made easy

‍Collaboration fuels creativity, and Sked Social takes all the back-and-forth complexities out of collaboration. From ideation to approvals, the platform streamlines content collaboration among teams, influencers, and other stakeholders. A centralized hub for all aspects of your social media content planning and collaboration, it ensures everyone's voice is heard.

Effortless approvals process

‍In the fast-paced world of short-form video, efficient approvals are paramount. Sked Social's friction-free approvals workflow empowers reviewers to swiftly approve content or provide feedback. This streamlined process eliminates bottlenecks, allowing your content to move swiftly from creation to deployment without those unnecessary delays.

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Why add TikTok to your short-form video strategy?

1. TikTok’s reach and engagement are unmatchable