Cracking the Code on TikTok Trends
May 2020:
Influencer Marketer: Have ya'll heard about TikTok!? Maybe we should start thinking about how to build a brand presence on the platform.
CMO: TikTok? Isn’t that just for middle school kids doing silly dances?
January 2021:
CMO: How are we activating on TikTok?! This is a top priority! This has been an all too familiar conversation amongst many brand and influencer marketing teams over the past 12 months as TikTok has skyrocketed to the forefront of the social media space and solidified itself as a key player in all things pop culture. As more brands begin to put resources and brainpower behind their presence on the platform, the true power TikTok has to make brands culturally relevant has become clear.
What once was a conversation about “Why TikTok should be a focus” is now a conversation of “How do we do it?” a question I was tasked with finding the answer to during my time at Postmates Inc.
Influencers + TikTok Trends = Success
It only takes a quick pass at content published by mega-influencers and nano-influencers alike to see the common denominator of their content; the use of trending hashtags. Starting a TikTok trend has become a coveted, cloud-filled accomplishment for brands and influencers and has sparked innovative brand partnerships like the Postmates x TikTok, #TikTokTreats Collection, a campaign I had the privilege of leading the influencer component of while on the Brand Team at Postmates Inc.
When beginning to identify a strategy for capitalizing on TikTok Trends, it became clear to me that working with influencers was the way to go. Influencers on TikTok have massive followings, and higher engagement rates than any other social platform, and are also motivated to capitalize on the trends (this is the key).
I have always believed the best influencer campaigns are rooted in authenticity and achieve the goals of the brand while also aligning with the voice, tone, and aesthetic of the influencer. As an increased number of brands attempt to activate influencers, there are more and more examples of collaborations that feel too #sponsored and don’t check the authenticity box that is so crucial when trying to build brand awareness and ultimate company growth.
How to avoid this? Get creative.
As an influencer marketer, it is incredibly important to remember that the title “influencer” is synonymous with “content creator.” The only reason influencers have the following they do is because they create engaging content that those who follow them like. Coming from the brand side of things, this can be a tricky construct to adopt as the main objective is to meet brand goals and OKRs via this collaboration, not necessarily to pitch concepts that align with the social presence and content objectives of the influencer.
As time went on, however, my mindset shifted from this being a challenge to this being an opportunity to get influencers excited about the content they were creating for the brand. More excitement regarding the content concept, guarantees higher content quality, thus maximizing the reach of the content, and opening up more opportunities for the brand to repost and repurpose the content. Boom, TikTok Trends is the answer.
Get Creative and Every Trend Can Work
When analyzing the trending page on TikTok from a brand perspective, it can be easy to say, “None of these trends align with my brand.” When I first started creating content concepts relating to trends on TikTok while on the brand team at Postmates Inc. I found myself excluding all trends that didn’t relate to food; food was the obvious choice. I quickly found this approach greatly limited the number of trends the brand could capitalize on and prompted me to think critically about how brands with much more niche products/services could too, get in on the trends.
What I soon realized was a lot can be said and done in 1 minute (length of a TikTok video). This is a tremendous amount of time and there are lots of opportunities to both get in on the trend as well as work in your brand in a creative and unconventional way that may not directly relate to the trend but is still part of the piece of content that the influencer creates.
Okay, enough talk. I want to show you what I mean. Below I have chosen 4 brands, all in different industries, and 4 top TikTok Trends, all with very different focuses (#HomeProject, #FetaPasta, #SkinCare101, & #CoupleThings.)
These 4 brands are very different. Different industries, some physical products, some services, some niche, and some household names. The 4 TikTok Trends that I have selected are also very different. What I like most about these 4 trends, is that there are no obvious, slam dunk, pairings between one of the brands and one of the trends.
This is where you must get creative and identify the ways in which your brand fits in with your customer’s day-to-day lives, not just how the brand fits the trend at face-value. Below I have identified a content concept that ties each of the brands to each one of the trends.
It all goes back to creativity. As you can see with the content concepts I have outlined above, it took some critical thought regarding how both the brand and the trend can fit into people’s lives, routines, and habits. The use of these trending hashtags in influencer’s posts will maximize the reach of their content. This strategy of working your brand into some part of that piece of content in a way that feels organic and authentic will both maximize your reach and get your brand in on the cultural moment.
TikTok is its own beast. What has traditionally worked on other social platforms may not work on TikTok and I have had to abandon many of the foolproof methods that I found success in on Instagram and Twitter and approach influencer marketing on TikTok with a mindset of problem-solving and trial and error.
At their core, influencer activations on TikTok need to be creative. There is tremendous value on this platform for brands to build brand awareness and reach a new audience that was previously untapped. #fyp
