In our newest podcast “Marketers Ruin Everything” we commit to actually answering questions without the “I feel” and “I think” stuff, so here we go. Let’s actually answer this question to the best of our ability.
To start, Let’s Get the Stats Straight
A lot of blogs and “gurus” still go on the “It’s just kids” narrative. As of September 2021, there are 14.43 million daily active users using TikTok. The actual demographic breakdown is as follows:
28% is under 18. 35% is between the ages of 19 and 29. These statistics skew towards more Millenial takeover month over month.
48% of U.S. adults between 18-29 use TikTok, compared to 20% of adults between 30-49 and 14% among 50-64-year-olds.
(Business of Apps, Pew Research Center)
So takeaway 1: TikTok will likely follow the pattern of adoption where we start to see older users download and use the app as time goes on. Likely over the next year or two. It’s important to note that it’s still new.
As of October 2021, TikTok became the 7th platform ever to boast 1 billion users after just 5 years. 825 Million of which can be advertised to. They are showing no signs of slowing down their growth either. (Data Reportal) Here’s the important statistic your marketing company doesn’t want you to know (Because man, we’re just so USED to the other ones) TikTok currently has more active users than Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit, and Pinterest. Feeling the pressure yet?
The Strategies
There are four strategy options to cover here.
One: Don’t make a TikTok for your business
Time: Minimal Budget: None Difficulty: None
You can choose not to make a TikTok account. Just make sure this a choice you’re making, and not something you’re delaying a decision on, because prime time is -now-. So long as you have made the conscious decision not to make a TikTok account – if you’re a marketer you should still spend at least some of your research time following the biggest accounts and scrolling. One, it’s important to know what’s “going on” in the age of the internet, and two, there are still trends you can leverage such as the “Bones, and No Bones” days for content on other platforms.
Two: Advertising
Time: Low Budget: Medium Difficulty: Low
The second strategy is to bypass the native content creation and advertise on TikTok. The ads are still not terribly priced however as the migration continues those costs will even out while compared to other social media platforms. This is a way to apply an ad budget to TikTok’s engaged audience without fully investing the time it takes to commit to a native content strategy. You should consider this if you are low on time resources but have a budget. Any B2C product that ships nationally should seriously consider entering TikTok at least at this level.
Three: Funnel & Ads
Time: Medium Budget: Medium Difficulty: Low
The third strategy is using TikTok as a short form funnel for your longer format content. This is the same as (2) except you should be repurposing your longer format content to post natively as well as advertising. Keeping the focus on your longer-form content and using TikTok as another “Spoke” to the wheel. This requires, of course, having long-form video, ebook, webinar, so on and so forth content, the ability to repurpose it without sacrificing quality, and of course a budget. This could be clips from your podcast, a short introduction of your latest blog, so on and so forth. This is something to consider if you have a budget, have invested in long-form content, but don’t necessarily have the time or talent resources to commit to a fully native strategy.
Four: Native Content Creation
Time: High Budget: None-Low Difficulty: High
The fourth strategy is to post natively. If you have even $500 a month to support the content with paid promotions, you can “skip ahead in line” quite a bit, but otherwise, plan for at least 3 months to get rolling here. This can be the perfect strategy for small businesses or entrepreneurs who are flush with time but don’t have a marketing budget. It can be difficult for larger businesses for a variety of reasons. One, you need buy-in from people at the top, because it can be hard to justify to the person balancing the budget sheet why we spent 2 hours dancing to cheese sauce being poured over frozen french fries. Two, you need to be posting daily unless you’re supporting it with some type of amplification budget. If you have the time and talent resources and don’t need to justify the strategy to people who still use phone books, then strap in and get going! At first, you should be scrolling and consuming 2 hours for every 1 hour you spend filming and publishing 1 minute a day at least. That’s three hours of TikTok a day for the first month!
So, should my business be on TikTok
If you’re reading this article, the answer is probably yes.
If you are an >5MM company, sell a product to, hire, or need to communicate with ages 18-29 and have a reasonable marketing budget, yes, at least #2
If you sell a product or service to ages 18-29 and have time or a marketing budget, yes, look at options #2-4
If you are primarily a B2B product, service, no. Unless you have fully tapped Facebook, Web, Search, and LinkedIn, and have a surplus of time or budget
If you primarily serve or sell to ages 30+, no, unless you have fully tapped out your potential on other platforms and search
If you primarily sell a larger ticket item (Over $1,000) – Strategy 3 and 4 are worth investing in, #2 would be better spent on other platforms.
There will always be “what about’s.” Maybe you have a unique situation that is the exception to these general rules. However, I think we’ve all heard “it depends” and “I feel like” more than enough. Don’t get lost in the “There will always be a new thing” mentality. Sure, it can be exhausting, but you need to keep up, or hire someone that will!
Ready to make something happen? Contact Vala Marketing @ info@valamarketing.com
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