You’ve got questions, I’ve got answers.
When it comes to being a social media manager, most people think of Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, but there is MUCH more to it if you really want to help your clients be seen when they’re needed.
Not all clients do well on those “normal” platforms, so we have to think outside the box. We have to do testing on a variety of platforms and then we know what may get to the right audience.
That is just what I did when I could no longer stand hearing about TikTok and being ask “Why aren’t you there?”
So in this video I take you through what TikTok is.
I show you what you can do and how you can be found.
I give you my insights into this fast growing community, so checkout the video or the transcript below it.
I think you could have fun finding ways to show off your brand on TikTok if you are willing. If you are a dull boring marketer, this probably isn’t for you.
Just as an FYI – I probably have more followers on TikTok than my grandkids do.
What is TikTok
Video Transcript
If you follow big marketers like Gary Vee you've most certainly heard of TikTok.
In fact maybe your kids or your grandkids are talking about TikTok and you just aren't sure what it is.
Heck you may have even seen it on the news, but you're trying to figure out is it a platform that's useful for you? Hard to do when you have no clue what it is. And when you're on the outside, you can't see much on the inside.
I'm Sheryl Loch with Ginger Roots Media and it's literally my job (apart from my side jobs to make extra money) to check out platforms, learn how to use them and decide if they're right for my clients. And yes I have a TikTok account. Not only do I have a TikTok account, but I don't sing, I don't dance and I don't pull pranks, because that really doesn't fit my business.
So let's go over and see what we can find out about TikTok.
TikTok is one of the fastest growing platforms on the internet right now.
The social network is exploding.
More TikTok apps are being downloaded than any other social network.
They say there's 500 million users worldwide, although I think their stats are pretty old and the number is probably a lot higher.
So what can you do on TikTok?
You can post video clips!
Not images, video clips! These are normally 15-second clips. They can be up to 1 minute in length. Now you can either post straight from the app, hit the record button and talk right to the camera or you can upload from your camera roll.
Keep in mind if you're gonna upload from your camera roll, from say different YouTube videos and such, then you are still gonna want to make your video clips vertical.
The ones I've seen where they're using the regular horizontal, that looks like they just come right out of a YouTube video, doesn't work, because on TikTok everything is vertical.
Even if you turn your phone sideways, it doesn't give you a full-length horizontal clip so vertical.
In fact you may want to start taking into consideration, if it's something you're gonna use on TikTok and you know it, you can either record it vertical or just keep it in mind as you're recording that you're gonna want a stationary center spot that you can move with and have it moving, that's one of my big tips, think as you record what platform you're going to be using that video on.
Now once you've decided on a video that you want to place on TikTok, there are a couple of things you can do.
TikTok offers a huge library of music, so if you would like to add music to your video it's right there on TikTok you don't have to go and search for music and edit it, it's right there on TikTok. The music is 15 seconds, keep that in mind.
You can also add stickers, so you can put the cutesy little stickers on if that fits what you're doing and you can add text overlays, you can do a call to action. So you could put something like, check out the full video on YouTube or visit me on my website or more to come watch part 2. There are all kinds of things you can use a text overlay for. As you get a little experience just think what can I do with this to make people do what I want them to do when they watch the video.
There's also an area where you put a short description and hash tags. The description area is going to be on the bottom of the video, so when you record keep that in mind.
When it comes to hash tags use them wisely! Don't just put random things; put some very popular hash tags, some smaller ones, so that you get found.
Hash tags are one way to get found, people can click on a hashtag and you're gonna see videos with that hashtag.
There's another way to be found and that's called the following stream. On the following stream it's just what it says, you're gonna see video clips from people you follow, easy enough.
Then there's the For You tab and what it does is every account is going to see different videos. In this stream it's going to pick from things you interact with, so if you watch a lot of dog videos, you're gonna see a lot of dog videos. If you're commenting, sharing and interacting with videos for cars, you're gonna see more car videos. It's going to figure out what kind of videos you like and therefore it's gonna push them out to you.
This is where I find it's much better than Facebook or Instagram, because it really seems to want to push you in the right direction whether it's pushing new content creators to you, your favorite content creators; it's also going to push your videos to those people that want to see them. So those are the three ways you can get found on TikToc. In fact it has Facebook beat all to hell.
One of the other great things about TikTok is the ability to share from the app right there. You don't have to have a third party app, you don't have to download and reupload and tag and all this bullcrap, you can simply hit the share and share to Twitter, you can share it to Instagram, share it to Facebook.
I don't make Facebook stories, because I just I see no point in it, but what I do is when I upload a new TikTok, boom I hit that share button goes over to my Facebook story. Whalla, I look like I'm doing something.
Now you've probably heard that the most users on TikToc are between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five, something in there is the majority of users. While that might be true, or maybe it was true, I am now seeing a lot of older people on TikTok and they're doing very well, so don't let the age thing bother you. It's not just for your kids or your grandkids and anybody can be on there, but you just have to take into consideration what the majority of the audience at this time. I think we will see that change a lot very soon.
Now if you're a marketer I know what you're asking, where can I put links? Can I put a link in the video description and push them to my website? I want to push them to my Esty store. You want to push them here or there and you're gonna put a link in the description of that clip. Maybe you want to link to that YouTube video that is associated with it, not gonna happen! You could copy and paste the link in there, but it's not hot so therefore it's not clickable. They would literally have to copy it, take it over in a tab and paste it in. They're not gonna do that. I don't do it. You don't do it. Nobody really does that. So don't waste this space, use it for what it's intended. Tell them about the video clip and add your hashtags.
But as far as links…your profile does offer two options for links, which are Instagram and YouTube.
Now you do have a little description area on your profile where you can tell about your channel, you could paste a link to your website in there, but it's not going to be clickable.
They literally have two buttons, one for YouTube one for Instagram, other than that, you're going to have to use text. You're gonna have to be a little more creative on how you push people over, but do not count on tic toc to be a big drive to somewhere else and there's a reason for that.
TikTok users are fast paced; they have 15-second videos for a reason. These people are not necessarily gonna watch your 15 seconds and then go watch an hour webinar.
TikTok fast paced, so keep that in mind. If your only goal is you want to build some other site by putting a little 15 second clips on there and try to shove them over, it'll work a little, but it's not the be-all end-all. So keep that top of mind or you're gonna be frustrated, you're gonna be wasting your time.
And when it comes to marketers I will tell you right now, TikTok is a mindset and like I said fast paced. You need to think outside the box or do something creative and not just say buy my shit, then you'll do okay. But if you want to be lazy and just say “I'm selling XYZ and you need it ”I doubt you're gonna get too far.
If you think it's gonna be like Instagram where you can put up just little cutesy quote pictures, which is why I left Instagram, oh my god not only did they cut your reach, but everything was filled with cutesy little pictures and quotes no originality.
TikTok is for originality. Come on, do something so it's not like Instagram as far as that goes. It's not like Facebook because it actually gives you reach.
It's a platform like no other at this time. So I suggest you check it out and see if it fits.
Go over there look through the streams.
Look in your niche and see what people are doing whether or not they're getting likes.
Are they getting views?
Are they getting any interaction, if so what are they doing right, if not what are they are doing wrong, then you decide what you want to do.
I just want you to keep in mind it's different, but you can do it, you might just have to think a little about it.
So go ahead and subscribe, because I'm going to be sharing more tips on my journey of joining TikTok and building a following!
Hope to see on TikTok soon... Off The Jacks on TikTok