Welcome to the second course in our marketing with TikTok program. If you have completed Course 1 in this program, you know how to set up your TikTok account and create videos on the platform. You also got a pretty comprehensive understanding of how individual creators use TikTok. We talked about the unique style of TikTok videos and how they focus on originality, authenticity, having fun, and trying new things. We also saw that creators are making videos for every type of audience possible. We learned that all different ages in demographics are using TikTok and that it's the fastest growing social media platform. How can businesses use TikTok to expand their brand awareness, engage with new users, and sell their products or services? The answer is in quite the same way as individual creators use it. One of the businesses getting TikTok right is the Washington Post. The account run by video producer Dave Jorgenson is a quirky, makes a funny, original skits, parodies, and memes about current events that feature both award-winning journalists and props Jorgenson has in his apartment. The videos match the style of TikTok and a 144 year old newspaper has nearly a million followers after only two years. According to Jorgenson, joining TikTok isn't about telling the platform what you want to do, but about making sure you know the platform well enough first so that you know how to add to the conversation. When he pitched the Washington Post on starting a TikTok. He didn't just start making videos, but put together a packet of research for the editors. That way when they were ready to launch, they knew exactly how to integrate into the TikTok community and how to make videos that fit the TikTok style. As you start on TikTok, you don't necessarily need to put together a packet of research, but make sure you do your homework to learn about the platform first. Part of that is certainly taking this course. What are some other tips we can learn from the Washington Post TikTok account, Jorgenson created a persona for his TikTok, one that capitalizes on dad jokes and self-deprecating humor, but one that's recognizable and engaging to the community. That could be something you integrate as you think about your TikTok strategy. As for creating content, Jorgenson doesn't create videos in advance. He comes up with a few ideas for the day. But first, browsers, what's trending on TikTok in the morning and makes videos that might fit a hashtag or a challenge. He didn't mix new videos each day. You have to show that you understand what you did and show that you're actually involved with the community. Jorgenson said in an interview with CNN in 2019, you may not have the ability to create a fresh video every day, but adding to what's trending will help you stay relevant and engaging. A great starting point for businesses. Get on the platform and get to know it a bit, see what's trending, and see what other businesses are up to, then you can start formulating some ideas for original content. But creating original content isn't the only thing businesses can do on TikTok. Tiktok also offers advertising opportunities where businesses can purchase ads that pop up when users open the platform or ads that fit right into the For You page. Businesses can also sponsor branded hashtags to create their own trends and user community to have their brand go viral. Businesses can also partner with influence-rs to get the word out through sponsored content. TikTok also has ecommerce integrations as well and just launched a new partnership with Shopify. Businesses can set up their own campaigns through TikTok self-service ads platform, and track their success through TikToks analytics tools. You can see how your campaigns and content are performing and tweak your marketing strategies accordingly. This week will give you an introduction to these various ways that businesses can use TikTok. Next week, we'll go over building a presence on TikTok, including how to create a marketing strategy and content calendar, will give you some best practices for creating content, will also give you advice on how to continue growing your presence on TikTok, how to increase engagement, and how to start using analytics to help you. Let's get started.
