3 Tips for Marketers: Creating Social-First TikTok Content

Courtney Marlow, Senior PR, Social Media & Influencer Marketing Manager
Sam Coons, Copywriter
Will Maslach, Paid Social Manager

Members from our Creative, Media, and Social teams spent a day at TikTok immersing themselves in all things content strategy and execution— getting them excited about the breadth of possibilities when it comes to tapping creators and ideating social-first content for the platform. For marketers across industries who are looking to “win” on the platform, here are three key tips to keep in mind. 

Empower Influencers to Do What They Do Best

Whether you are trying to sell clothing, shoes, makeup, food, home decor, financial services, medical resources, etc., influencers have the ability to help humanize the brand and connect with consumers on a more personal level. That said, it’s important to keep in mind that the true “magic” happens when you let influencers do what they do best—create. Think of it as arming them with the “recipe”—including “ingredients” like brand tone, messaging points, key CTAs, etc.—and letting them chef it up in the kitchen. Knowing that we need to strive for less “ad-like” content in order to break through on TikTok, we need to encourage influencers to ideate concepts that bring their personality to the forefront, tap into relatability, and utilize engaging/trending formats to grasp users’ attention. 

Reengineer the Creative Process 

When ideating social-first content, you may naturally start by tossing around outside-of-the-box ideas, taking inspiration from pop culture, creatively incorporating a product, etc.—but oftentimes, the creative process can and should be re-engineered. One aspect of this entails keeping a pulse on what’s trending on TikTok—what are people talking about, adding to their grocery carts, whipping up at home, etc.? Consumer behavior and preferences on the platform can serve as great inspiration and TikTok has made so many features and tools available in their Creative Center to help you stay on top of these trends, plan out new creative, write scripts, and compare your thoughts to other top trending advertisements in their ads library! 

Secondly, you can use your results and engagements to fuel what your next round of content should look like. Creators or brands will often take a deep look through their comments to answer “what do the people want next?” And it WORKS! You can even consider linking one user’s comment in your next video as a way to show users that you pay attention to them, and that their ideas are valid—garnering inspiration from your actual followers/consumers can be a game changer. 

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Integrated Creative Thinking

No matter what area of marketing you specialize in, everyone has every business learning what works on TikTok—because when it comes to reaching younger audiences, TikTok is the barometer for their culture, trends, and needs. Breaking through the noise on the platform is challenging, which is why internal and external collaboration is so key. Before kicking off your next influencer campaign or launching a new social strategy, integrate your creative thinking process and look for ways to evolve. Consider garnering insights by talking to influencers, too—after all, they may know your audience better than you. Overall, let diverse perspectives complement each other and bring stronger creative to the forefront. The industry calls this “integration,” but if we’ve learned one thing from TikTok, it’s that simply talking to each other in an authentic manner will likely lead to a bigger impression than you ever thought possible.