Social media is the most efficient way to grow your business and that’s mostly because it’s focused on driving prospects that are sitting at the top of your marketing funnel. It also offers an ample opportunity to engage them directly, thus keeping the name of your brand fresh in your follower’s minds.
Social media sits at the height of communication advancement. You’ll agree, much has changed in the communication spheres in the recent past.
A Brief History on the Evolution of Communication
In the 1900s, communication was mostly conducted through hand-delivery of letters from one person to another. This would, later on, evolve to postal services, which we still use today.
Later on, telephones and telegraphs would be invented, and then came the radio, and all that followed was making communication more private.
This ushered in the 20th century that would see to it that computers became the norm. The internet started ruling the airwaves, and emails became a thing. Businesses would adopt it first, followed by private homes shortly after, causing the internet to be widespread the way it is.
Initially, computers were regarded as gaming consoles and computing tools. The internet would first be used as an online search tool using the earliest search engines such as Excite in 1993, Yahoo in 1994, and Web Crawler in 1994.
As of today, social media is the most popular mode of communication all around the world. The number of people using social media has incredulously grown to billions. Social Media itself has grown to be so prevalent, thus emerging as one of the communication channels you can’t afford to ignore, particular for those operating small businesses.
This post will be covering all the basic details that you need to know about social media, together with some primers on how to make the most out of this communication channel as a small business owner or marketer in Singapore.
How is Social Media Likely to Benefit Small Businesses?
There isn’t much to debate about on this subject – one of the biggest beneficiaries of social media are small business owners. Here’re a number of ways these businesses are benefiting through social media, particularly those in Singapore:
Enhanced Web Traffic
Imagine a world of marketing with no social media in it. Where competing with high profile businesses would mean outbidding them for paid searches. Let’s just say that, small businesses wouldn’t stand a chance in that case scenario.
But then came social media that somehow levelled the playing field. Now, whether small or big, you’re all competing on a levelled ground– where everyone stands an equal chance to woo in customers and drive the much-needed traffic.
The concept behind social media has evolved to be even simpler and more straightforward. Focus on creating a strong social media presence, while engaging with the followers you attract. The rest is about promoting your product, brand or website to them – and before you know it you’ll be raking in colossal amounts of profits.
Simple, the point is to attract more visitors to your site. And social media, through hard work and some little bit of diligence, makes it a child’s play.
Again, search engines started considering social signals as part of their ranking elements. Meaning, by just working on establishing a formidable online presence, you’ll also be boosting your SEO score, thus securing a prime ranking in the result pages of Google and other search engines.
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Brand Awareness
Looking to raise some awareness around your brand? Well, look no further than social media, particularly Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
First and foremost, social media offers you the opportunity to generate some buzz around your brand. If anything, there’s no limit as to how loud you can get screaming about your brand to the whole world, which is served in a single platter in front of you.
In other words, you’re looking directly into your target market, and it’s upon you to figure out the best way possible to reach to them and engage them directly in a bid to get them to make a purchase with you.
What social media does is that it makes communication with your target audience so much easier. Customers also have a chance to contact you directly and find out more about your business or what it is you’re offering.
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Suitable for Geo-targeting
By geo-targeting we mean it’s possible to target a certain group of people or prospects based on their region of operation or residence. So instead of mass-shooting your marketing posts to everyone, you simply narrow down your target to a specific geographical location.
Among the platforms that allow you to target your audience based on where they come from includes Twitter and Facebook. They have an option where you can narrow down your list of targets to specific users, limiting your reach to only a particular region you’re accessing. That way, you get to save on your marketing budget; ergo, increasing your ROI.
This is one very important feature for small businesses that want to market their products and services to the prospects within their locality.
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Building Lasting Relationships
Social media marketing stretches far beyond making money online. In addition to winning customers over and increasing the number of sales you’re able to make, social media is also focused on establishing a long-lasting relationship with the customers you attract.
The whole point is to end up with loyal customers that will be coming back for more of your products. You also want these customers to send out positive words about your business so that your business keeps expanding.
You’re simply feeding on each other through social media engagement, where your customers share with you valuable information, and which you’ll be using to better the services you provide to them.
So one way to look at it, is simply working with your social media followers to create a solid team of supporters and loyal customers.
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Valuable Insights
There’s a lot you can tell about your business by monitoring it over social media. You want to find out what people are saying about it, and come up with possible ways to make necessary adjustments and calibrations for the better future of your business.
The information provided through social media offers you a chance to improve your business, while also understanding the environment around you.
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It’s Economical
It’s possible to run a successful social media campaign without spending a penny. So where businesses had to heavily invest in traditional forms of advertising such as radio, TV, and newspaper to address a target audience, social media avails it all for absolutely free.
The best part is that it’s even possible to measure results and adjust your campaign strategy where necessary.
Opening a social media account is the next thing to free. And even if you decide to run a paid campaign on the platform, the prices imposed on you won’t be as exorbitant as traditional media.
You get to reap huge benefits with only a small investment and minimal effort on your part.
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Highly Converting
No other form of marketing is as converting as social media. Odds are, a good number of the people you’re attracting to your page have some vested interest in your brand or some of the products and services you’re offering – and all it takes to get them to take action is some little convincing on your part and that’s it.
Examples of Social Media Networks a Singapore Business Owner Can use to Market their Products or services
The most popular social media channels in Singapore in their rightful order include YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, LinkedIn, WeChat, and Skype to name a few.
So how do you go about choosing the right social media channel to use?
One common mistake lots of Singapore marketers and web owners make all the time while running a serious social media campaign is rushing to sign up with every social media channel they find.
If you’re operating with a team of social media marketers or have enough time on your hand to juggle all the networks, well and good – but most of the time, it’s always wise to start small and expand later on to other channels as your business grows.
The last thing you want is having some of your prospects visit a particular social media network only to find out that it’s inactive. That impression isn’t going to reflect well on your business and is as such among the things you’d want to avoid at the beginning of your business.
Important Tips on How to identify the most suited Social Media Network for Your Singapore Business
- Smart Small. Don’t overburden yourself with the unnecessary workload by signing up with every social media channel you can lay your hands on. Instead, focus on two or three social media networks and utilize them to the full maximum.
- Research on Your Competitors. Your competitors have been in the business long enough to understand the market better. So instead of learning as you go, take your time to study them and find out what social media networks they’re channeling the bulk of the marketing effort. These are the channels to try out as you adjust along the way.
- Determine the type of content you prefer to post. This could be anything – written, videos or images. If your strength is on vlogging, then common sense demands that you start with YouTube. For press-like posts that focus on what’s trending or latest within the industry you’re in, then you might want to try out Twitter.
- For standard posts that are highly engaging, then Facebook should be your first stop. And lastly, if your strong suit is with photos, then Instagram has you covered.
- Determine the Social Media Network that you suspect hosts the majority of your ideal customers. This should be the network you target, unless otherwise.
- Lastly, make a point to outline your social media marketing strategy. List all your objectives and goals (content distribution, brand awareness, and so forth). This should give you a rough idea of the most suited social media channel to sign up with.
Best Social Media Marketing Practices to Follow
Once you’ve established the right social media channel to sign up with, the next thing you do is learn all there’s to know about how to conduct a solid marketing campaign on the platform. You want to make sure you’re making the most out of all the social media marketing efforts you pump in.
That being said, here’re some crucial social media marketing practices to observe to make the most out of the social media campaign you’re running:
- Choose a Social Media Channel that’s more relevant to your line of business.
Don’t settle for any channel based on its popularity or how appealing you find it to be. If the network requires you to connect with your customers first to convert them, then it would be much wiser to sign up with social media channels such as Facebook or Twitter.
- Be Consistent
Consistency matters a great deal when it comes to social media marketing. Pick a niche and stick to it. You’re allowed to veer off a little every now and then but make sure you maintain the course.
Be consistent with your content, how often you share the content around, and most importantly, learn to voice the communication by giving it your own persona.
- Engage with Your Active Followers
Don’t just post and be done with it. Make a point to respond to some of the questions some of your followers ask. Retweet their posts where possible and once in a while give a shout out where necessary.
This is important as it goes at length to establish some sort of connection with your prospects, thus establishing trust and loyalty.
- Automate What You Can
You can automate some of the things you do on social media. But remember to keep the engagement at a human level when engaging with your audience.
For instance, you have the option to retweet or repost some of the mentions you’re getting automatically via IFTTT.
- Promote your social Networks on Your Website
Just like you’re promoting your website on social networks, make a point to promote the social networks on your site as well.
WordPress makes it a whole lot easy by including a series of plugins that you could use to integrate your social media accounts directly with your website.
- Forget about the Useless Metrics you’re getting and Focus on Quality
The number of followers you have on social media doesn’t matter a whit. If anything, you’re better off with 100 loyal fans than 10, 000 uninterested fans who contribute nothing.
- Learn to Embrace Negative Comments
Not all negative comments harbour ill intend. So instead of allowing them to dispirit you, learn to embrace them with a warm heart.
Worth mentioning is that there’ll always be a group of customers who won’t be impressed by anything you do.
Don’t focus too much on them. So instead of letting their comments pin you down, embrace them with an open heart and pick whatever you find valuable to improve the quality of your services for the better.
Negative comments are part of your online reputation. Your prospects don’t expect everyone they stumble across to be in a positive ululation of your business. They instead want to find out if you’re indeed genuine enough to be trusted with their hard-earned cash.
What matters a great deal is how you respond and handle all the complaints that swing your way. If anything, all your customers care about is that you value them enough to respond to their needs should there arise a need for that.
Also, it’s possible to turn a negative comment around into a positive one by handling it correctly.
All Your Social Media Posts Should be Accompanied by Clear CTAs
The whole point of running a social media campaign is to get some of the followers you attract to take action. This requires that you remember to include clear CTAs in every single one of the posts you make.
More importantly, the CTA must be responsive enough to load just fine on mobile devices as well.
That’s because the bulk of the prospects you’re likely to attract via social media will be viewing your site on mobile.
To make sure that the campaign you’re running is effective enough to generate you some leads, then it’s crucial to make sure that all your CTAs can be navigated on phone.
Fuse Social Media Marketing and Email Marketing
You’re also to remind your social media followers to consider subscribing to your email list. A link directing them to your site or a page with the subscription form is enough to get them to consider handing you their email addresses and the green light to be served with regular newsletters.
Email marketing gives you total control over your marketing strategy. So just in case something happens to social media or they decide to make their campaigns somehow harder, you’ll still have your prospects’ email addresses.
Recommended Social Media Marketing Tools
Social media marketing is better conducted under the aid of a series of important tools, and it would be remiss if this post was to end without mentioning a few of these tools:
- Viral Content Buzz for promotions
For Measurement and Insights
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- Facebook Insights
- FollowerWonk
- Klout
- Simply Measured
- SumAll
- Topsy
- TweetReach
- Tweeroid
Social Media Monitoring Tools
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- Hootsuite
- Sprout Social
- Buffer
- Tweet Deck
- Trackur
6 Social Media Marketing Trends and Predictions
Social media marketing will enhance your branding awareness efforts. However, you need to follow the social media trends to get the most results from the platforms. Here are the top 6 social media marketing trends and predictions you should consider when creating a campaign.
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Reels Will Continue Dominating Instagram Marketing
For many months now, the debate on which option is better between Instagram Reels and Facebook videos has ravaged online, with most experts siding with Instagram Reels.
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, recently mentioned that the network was undergoing a paradigm shift to conform with the needs of its audience.
He pointed out that most of the users on the platform are engaging more with video content than the conventional photo posts. They also desired to view more video content from brands and influencers.
Click here to watch the full video on Twitter.
Therefore, as you create a campaign for this platform, make sure you include video as one of the core components to leverage this trend. The video should be entertaining, innovative, and creative to stand out from the rest and channel traffic to your website.
Another factor to keep in mind is users’ attention span. Over the years, it has continued to shrink, so your videos should be brief to effectively pass the intended message effectively. Most successful brands release a series of short videos packed with valuable information about their products/services.
The videos are also entertaining, increasing their chances of getting shared and going viral online.
Yes, you need to engage with the audience continuously, but that does not mean that you should post a reel every day.
Experts recommend 2-4 reels per month for brands that sell products. Make sure the video highlights the product’s unique selling points to encourage the customer to either buy or visit your website to learn more about it.
Another hack that you can use is transforming top-performing organic reels into ads. Download them from your account and upload them as ads to spur more engagement with the target customers. The ads will also help you connect with new customers and establish warm audiences without spending a fortune. The video ads can also be used for remarketing and retargeting.
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Facebook Ads are Now More Effective
Last year, social media marketers complained about the Facebook algorithm update that resulted in their ads being buried under a heap of other ads from competitors. The company took note of the concerns and improved its algorithm to even the playfield.
You have probably noticed the messenger and lead generation ads on your feed. That’s one sign that the system has been fine-tuned to enhance the performance or effectiveness of the Facebook ads to generate leads.
Like Instagram reels, you should focus on creating more video content as it’s more relatable with social media users. The videos should be brief, easy to understand, entertaining, and informative. If you are not convinced that you should create short videos, look at how TikTok has grown in the last year by encouraging users to create short and highly informative videos.
You can actually share Reels that performed well on Facebook pages and Facebook ads. Pair them with storytelling to resonate and engage with the customers.
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The desire for Niche-Specific Experiences
Facebook is the largest social media network site in the world. It’s estimated to have a whopping 2.9 billion monthly active users, so it’s not difficult to see why most brands focus their marketing efforts on the platform.
A majority of your target customers have a Facebook account and even though they may not access it daily, rest assured that they will log in at some point. Optimise your social media campaign to ensure that your ads are displayed when they log in.
Photo Credit: Facebook
More users are thirsty for the unique socialising experiences offered by small niche communities. Facebook is aware of this need and has put features for it. Here are three areas that you should focus more on to build your audience and win their trust.
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Facebook Groups
Ideally, the Facebook group should comprise people interested in your brand and who want to learn more about it. It should be synchronised with your official Facebook page so that ads and posts published on either platform are shown on both.
Facebook recently launched a set of new features meant to make groups more appealing to the users and effective in facilitating engagements.
Some of the features that will definitely change the Facebook marketing game are:
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- The ability to create subgroups for audience segmentation. That way, you can create custom marketing campaigns for each subgroup.
- Free and paid shops for selling products
- Community fundraisers
- Advanced admin features to give you more control over your groups.
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Live Audio Rooms
Live audio rooms are meant to take engagement to the next level by allowing users to connect intimately with the members via audio files. It’s easy to start a room, and you don’t need a camera – only your voice is required.
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Facebook Live
The Facebook live feature has been around and has fostered communication between brands and customers. Online customers get an opportunity to get responses from brand personnel in real-time. They don’t have to send an email and wait for days to get a response.
In 2022 and beyond, Facebook Live will become more integral in running social media marketing campaigns.
Develop a schedule to go live several times per month and organise the topics to discuss in each session. More importantly, tell your audience when you intend to hold the session to have as many views as possible.
For maximum engagement and organic reach, incorporate Facebook Reels in your campaign.
The much anticipated full-screen video format will significantly impact the campaign as the videos will be more responsive and interactive. Take advantage of this trend before your competitors do to start getting sales.
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More Features to Support Social Commerce
Both Instagram and Facebook allow brands and individual marketers to create custom shops.
If the success achieved so far is anything to go by, we expect to see more brands creating multiple shops. Notably, Instagram surprised us all with a plethora of new features in 2021 geared toward enhancing social commerce on the platform.
In 2022, it is predicted that both platforms (Facebook and Instagram) will launch new features to allow brands to sell their products straight from social media applications or websites.
TikTok is not being left behind; the network recently announced that it’s working on a series of tools for content creators, shops, and influencers.
With these new features, expect cut-throat competition for audience attention. Having an irregular posting schedule won’t cut it in 2022. To achieve significant growth in terms of brand awareness and sales, you need to consistently post quality, entertaining, and engaging content on social media platforms.
Well, it’s not possible to run the campaign on all the social networking sites. Carry out A/B tests and market research to identify the sites that your audience frequents. Focus on those specific network sites to save money and time.
Take the time to study how the different features work and use them to enhance your business. Don’t cut yourself too thin by trying to master and use all the new features. Focus on just a few that have the most potential of growing your business.
The goal of your social media campaign should be to increase brand visibility, engagement with customers, generate sales and qualified leads.
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Changes on YouTube Algorithm
YouTube is the second largest search engine today. This video-sharing platform has had a significant impact on the digital marketing landscape. Brands now have dedicated channels to showcase their products and services. They also use the platforms to share educational videos that cover industry trends.
Like Google, the YouTube algorithm is regularly updated to ensure that the platforms offer users the best video watching experience. Check out our recent article on YouTube Advertising and YouTube SEO to learn the ropes faster.
For the purposes of this article, we will narrow down to three primary YouTube trends that impact the visibility of videos.
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Discoverability of Videos
Over the last three years, the YouTube algorithm has undergone significant changes that are tailored to ensure that videos displayed in search results match the user’s search intent.
You could get a solid top ranking two years ago by just including the right keyword in the title and description.
Today, the same tags have little impact on video visibility on YouTube. However, you still need to optimise the titles and descriptions with the right keywords.
Note that YouTube SEO is different from Google SEO, so you cannot use the same keywords you used to optimise the website content to optimise the videos. Carry out independent keyword research for YouTube and use the findings to endear your videos to the YouTube algorithm.
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YouTube Shorts
YouTube Shorts is one of the new features introduced in March 2021. The feature allows anyone with a smartphone to record and post a video on the platform. It comes with several tools that enable users to create short videos quickly, and the posting process is a breeze.
The videos should not exceed 60 seconds, though, so you have to be brief. Thousands of people embraced the idea, as evident from the many short videos posted on the platform over the last eight months.
Even though the feature was successful in encouraging new users to post videos, most social media experts are of the idea think that that’s not a sign of how the platform intends to function in the future.
Therefore, you should not channel too much effort into being found organically by posting YouTube Shorts.
Numerous studies have proven that long videos rank better than short videos. They also record high engagement rates than the latter, and conversion rates are not comparable. The most plausible reason for these findings is that people prefer long-form content.
Therefore, it’s recommendable to focus on creating longer videos packed with valuable information that resonates with your audience.
Include CTA buttons at different intervals and links in the description section to direct the viewers to your website. That’s the only way to build a community of loyal customers and achieve a sustainable growth rate.
The ideal customers care about your brand and want to know more about it – not just snippets of your product or service.
Eventually, viewers who will convert don’t just want a short answer to their questions and exit. They enjoy video content that offers more information and connects with them.
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Dare to Be Different
Competition for views on YouTube is cut-throat, and it’s only getting started. Content creators who thrive on the platform are not afraid to go against the grind.
Therefore, as you work on enhancing your social media marketing campaign, find ways of creating unique and compelling videos. Add a fun and creative twist to the videos to grasp the audience’s attention. Borrow a leaf from WWE which instead of posting the latest scenes of wrestling matches, it reposts videos clips of past popular events and backstage interviews.
Such exclusive videos will work for your brand by making you different. That’s precisely what you need to stand out from the crowd.
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The Rise of Twitter Spaces
Twitter Spaces is a feature that allows users to hold live audio sessions. The short live audio conversations are characterised by authentic, open, and unfiltered discussions.
So far, brands that have leveraged the feature record better engagement rates compared to conventional posts.
If you are yet to jump on this bandwagon, do so to build valuable and long-lasting relationships with your ideal customers. Make sure that the conversations are relevant to them and address one or two topics. Otherwise, you may confuse the reader by discussing more than three topics in one conversation.
Unlike video marketing, you don’t need any special equipment to get started except your smartphone, as no camera is required. You also don’t need to edit the audio; it’s meant to be raw.
The Twitter team is also working to introduce new features that will enable users to record spaces better and find, join and participate in Spaces held by others.
Once you have a solid community, show up regularly and join other people’s rooms to cement your position as an authority in the industry.
13 Superior TikTok Marketing Strategies to Get More Followers and Sales
Social media marketing is a must-have strategy to scale up your online business successfully.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn have been around for more than a decade. Thousands of companies use them to communicate with their customers.
However, one of the new platforms giving them a run for their money is TikTok.
Since 2020, TikTok has been steadily growing exponentially. Its estimated that it has more than one billion monthly active users. Clearly, it’s becoming the social media platform of choice for brands whose target customers comprise Generations X and Y.
Marketing products or services to this select group of customers is an uphill task as they are tech-savvy and have unique interests compared to the older generation. Due to this, many brands are unsure how to leverage the platform and its many opportunities.
Essential TikTok Basics You Should Know
The demand for video content is insatiable, as evident from the huge number of new videos posted on YouTube and other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The brains behind TikTok noticed the transition from text and conventional visuals such as infographics to video.
The realisation informed their decision to create an advanced social media platform that focuses solely on video content. Today, millions of videos are uploaded on TikTok every day by users from all across the globe.
Once you create and verify your TikTok account, you can start uploading videos to engage with your audience.
The videos can be up to 1 minute long, but short snappy videos record the highest engagement levels. You could even post your 30-second TV ads on TikTok to expand your audience reach.
You don’t have to record the video using an external application and then upload them to your TikTok account.
You can record them using the application and upload them in real-time. In addition, you can add video and sound effects such as music tracks to make your videos stand out and more appealing to the target audience.
TikTok allows users to like, share, and comment on videos like other social media platforms.
Be sure to respond to the comments and messages from your followers to spark a conversation and consistently engage with them.
You can also use hashtags to increase the visibility of your videos. Make sure the hashtags are relevant to the contents of the videos to connect with the right audience.
How Do I Market My Business on TikTok?
As mentioned earlier, most brands are unsure how to market their products and services on TikTok. We spent the last six weeks researching this new social media marketing powerhouse. Here are 13 no-fail strategies used by businesses to do TikTok marketing.
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Stay Abreast of Current TikTok Trends
TikTok users often gravitate towards videos that are current and trendy. Hence, it’s recommendable to keep a close eye on trending hashtags. Use them to create and share entertaining videos about your brand.
Trends on this platform don’t last for more than three days, so make sure your content keeps up with the craze. Otherwise, you won’t get many results if you follow outdated trends. More importantly, resist the urge to copy or repost trending videos posted by other users. Instead, create your unique videos from scratch, but there is no harm in using other users’ videos for inspiration.
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Use the Right Hashtags
Hashtags have been around for quite some time now. They effectively increase reach as users use them to search for content from the millions of posts published every day.
TikTok users are no different; they use hashtags to search for videos on a particular subject.
The user dashboard has a “Discover” feature with a magnifying glass at the bottom section of the window to help users locate videos fast using keywords. The videos are sorted based on trending hashtags.
Here are three primary benefits of leveraging TikTok hashtags.
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- To win more followers
- To increase content reach
- To identify strategies used by your competitors
Don’t get it twisted; associating your videos with relevant hashtags will increase their reach and viewership, but you should avoid using generic hashtags. Such hashtags are ineffective and could soon sink your videos into the bottomless pit of similar content. You are better off using less popular hashtags but relevant to your brand.
Remember, the goal is to instruct the TikTok algorithm to display your videos to people who are most likely interested in your brand. You won’t achieve the desired campaign results if the videos are shown to audiences who are not interested in what your business offers.
More importantly, limit the number of hashtags on one TikTok video to get the most results. Too many hashtags will reduce the performance of your videos on this platform as the algorithm won’t know which audience you’re targeting.
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Post New Videos Often
Consistency is key when doing social media marketing. To remain in the minds of your TikTok followers, you need to post new videos more often. The videos on your account, the higher the engagement and follower rate.
The more times you post fresh and engaging videos, the easier it will be for the target audience to find your account and follow. Develop a posting schedule such that followers can expect a new video on a specific day of the week.
Out of sight of mind – if the followers don’t hear from you for several days, they are likely to unfollow you.
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Encourage Viewers to Leave Comments on Your Videos
TikTok is one of the platforms that supports and rewards users who frequently post and engage with followers with more visibility in search results. Spur user engagement by encouraging viewers to comment on your videos.
Reply to the comments to spark conversations and increase the visibility of your TikTok videos. Research shows that the TikTok algorithm uses the number of comments, likes, and shares to determine the relevance of videos.
Therefore, the more comments you have, the more visibility your videos will get despite the cut-throat competition for attention. Also, comments are ranked based on the number of likes from other users, so make sure that your responses are meaningful. Steer clear of the generic or bland type of comments.
No man is an island, and you cannot succeed in TikTok marketing if you don’t also support other users. Increase your popularity on the platform and show the followers that you are an authority by submitting thoughtful and insightful comments on videos posted by other users.
Preferably, engage with other users in your niche through comments and messages and collaborations on videos. You can reach out to other professionals in your industry to create videos together. Share the videos on your account, and remember to mention your collaborators in the video description to increase video visibility.
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Post-User-generated Content (UGC)
TikTok owes its appeal and popularity to user-generated content that is unedited or raw. Generation X and Y prefer content that is unedited and genuine. Yes, posting professionally filmed and edited videos on your TikTok account can help you gain traction, but consider posting more user-generated content to get more results.
UGC is more effective in encouraging conversions and engagement than brand-generated content. Encourage your customers to record and share videos of themselves using your services or products. Posting such videos on your account will boost brand awareness and convince customers who are on the fence to try out your products.
Recently, TikTok UK collaborated with Converse, a leading shoe brand, to challenge its customers to create and post videos on the platform using the hashtag #ConverseAllStar. The participants were encouraged to use their creativity and embrace their individuality to create compelling videos. Currently, the hashtag has accrued over 56 million views on TikTok.
You, too, can create a similar campaign to give your brand much-needed exposure on TikTok. Use background information about your audience to fine-tune the campaign and increase its chances of going viral.
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Leverage Trending Songs
In its quest to become the most entertaining social platform, TikTok allows users to use their creativity to make their videos stand out. You can increase the number of people who engage with your TikTok videos by adding trending videos.
Finding trending songs relevant to your niche and the type of content you post is not difficult. Check out the “For You” page to see a list of music you can use in your videos to increase their chances of being featured and going viral.
Add songs you intend to use in future videos to your favourites by clicking on the music name and selecting the “add to your favourites” option.
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Strive to Create Original Content Always
The mammoth see of content on TikTok makes it difficult for most new users to get a firm footing on the platform. There is no limit on the kind of content that you can post on your TikTok account. It all depends on the campaign, brand personality, and tone of voice.
You can be as controversial, poignant, serious, funny, or meaningful as you want, provided the content is original and resonates with your brand.
Gain ground on this platform by participating in trending challenges. This hack will create a buzz and increase your exposure on the platform. Once you start gaining followers, shift your focus to creating and sharing your content.
For instance, start your trend by creating a funny and engaging challenge related to your industry. You could also record a funny video of your team singing or dancing to one of the trending songs.
Concisely, TikTok is your oyster when creating entertaining and original content. The more creative you are, the more followers and results you will get from your TikTok marketing campaign.
Jimmy Fallon is one of the influential TikTok users who gained traction on the platform by creating his challenges from scratch and aligning them to his business. The challenges capitalise on the current trends and happenings around the world. #SharpieChallenge and #ElfOnTheShelf are some of his most successful challenges so far.
Get out of your comfort zone and be bold enough to create content that is unique and relevant to your brand. It’s OK to feel awkward the first time you post, but unlike other social media platforms, TikTok users expect such content. They prefer entertaining, funny, and sometimes blonde videos that make them laugh.
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Consider Repurposing Existing Content
You will not always have time to create fresh content. You may also run out of ideas after some time, and with your audience expecting a new video from you every week, you cannot afford to leave them hanging.
Keep them engaging by repurposing existing content that trended on other platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. Sure, jumping on a trending TikTok challenge will help you get started, but the results are short-lived.
To establish your brand presence and community of loyal fans interested in what your brand offers, you need to invest time and other resources to share different types of content. For example, post previews of a YouTube video tutorial to encourage the viewers to visit your YouTube channel to watch the entire tutorial video.
Podcasts can also be distilled into 15-30 seconds succinct videos. As mentioned earlier, consistency is the secret key to success in TikTok marketing. Give the platform the same attention and time as other marketing channels.
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Grab Viewers’ Attention from the Start
How you start the video will determine whether the target viewers will swipe away or watch the video. So, start your videos strongly with either humour, motivation, or value to hook them and encourage them to watch, like, share, and comment.
Videos that go viral on TikTok are packed with valuable information, concisely grab the viewers’ attention, and retain it to the end. Go an extra mile and add special effects to the videos to grasp the viewers’ attention.
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Keep your Videos Snappy
In the TikTok basics section, we mentioned that you could record and post videos up to 1 minute long on TikTok. However, lengthy videos record low engagement and views compare to short videos. The latter’s chances of going viral are high as they deliver the message quickly and often in a humorous way.
If possible, limit the length of your TikTok videos to 7-10 seconds. However, that doesn’t mean you should never post longer videos. Strike a balance between the two to engage with your audience effectively.
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Consider Cross Promoting Your TikTok Videos
Before Instagram introduced Reels, TikTok users relied heavily on Twitter and Facebook to promote their videos. Increase awareness by promoting your TikTok videos across different social media channels such as Instagram Stories.
Because the videos have a stamp showing your TikTok account username, people who come across the video are likely to search for your account to watch more videos and follow you. Include a clear CTA to encourage your audience to check out other videos on your TikTok account.
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Submit the First Comment on Your Videos
Most brands provide follow-up information in either the first or second comment on their TikTok videos. This hack effectively sparks a conversation as viewers are naturally lured into responding to the comment, thereby boosting the video’s reach.
Be sure to respond to all comments to establish a community of loyal followers who trust your brand and consider it an authority.
Don’t shy aware from encouraging them to join the conversation and share their thoughts. The comments can also give you insights into the type of videos you should create in the future.
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Use TikTok Ads
Create a TikTok advertising campaign to further connect with prospects.
The platform has three distinct types of ads namely;
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- In-feed native ads: These ads are similar to traditional online ads. You can add CTA buttons such as Buy Now, Order Now and links to direct viewers to your landing pages. They are skippable and can be used for various purposes such as introducing new products.
- Brand Takeover Ads: You can create them by using different images, video clips and GIFs. Link them to your landing pages or hashtag challenges.
- Hashtag Challenge Ads: A banner ad with instructions on how to participate in the challenge is displayed to the viewers. Change the campaign settings to target select group of customers.
Like any other social media paid ad campaign, experiment with all three ad types to know which ones best resonates with your business.
Let’s wrap it all Up Here
This is the guide you need to develop a basic understanding of what social media marketing really is and how to work your way around it. It’s the guide you need to get started if you’ve decided to handle social media marketing on your own.
For help in managing your social media account or some more primers on how to handle it correctly, you’re hereby requested to contact MediaOne today with your query and their friendly customer care department will be glad to help you out.
