Building a community is a great social media strategy for brands to start with on TikTok. Creating a community on the platform allows brands to connect with users more personally and create loyal fans. This means actively engaging with followers, responding to comments and messages, and creating content that resonates with their audience.
Building a strong community is a crucial goal for brands on TikTok, and there are several effective methods to achieve this goal. The next few sections will cover how to achieve this goal with the following strategies:
Community Management
Community management is essential to elevating a brand and supporting community growth. At its core, community management involves creating and maintaining a social media presence that fosters engagement and brand loyalty among customers. This includes account creation, content creation, developing social media calendars for publishing content, and engagement tactics.
Account Creation
In case your brand doesn't have a TikTok account, our team will create one for you and secure a handle that reflects your brand identity. For large B2C brands, we're equipped to obtain your branded and verified handles if necessary, due to our close partnership with TikTok.
Content Creation
Once your account has been set up, our team will begin developing content for you. This involves brainstorming creative concepts that will grab the attention of the platform's audience, leveraging TikTok's editing tools to add effects and music, and ensuring that the video is optimized for the platform's vertical format. Additionally, it's important to keep in mind the length of the video, with 15-30 seconds being the recommended range. This allows users to quickly consume a large amount of content in a short amount of time, making it easier for them to engage with and share videos that are succinct and attention-grabbing.
Content Planning & Publishing
Our team prepares a weekly or monthly calendar for our clients, which includes identifying key themes, topics, and types of content that will resonate with the target audience. The next step is creating and curating the actual content for TikTok, which could include developing original videos, repurposing existing content, or partnering with influencers to create user-generated content (UGC), as well as relevant hashtags and captions for each video. Once the content is created, our team schedules and publishes at the optimal times to maximize engagement and reach.
Engagement
Our services also consist of engagement and community management for any client profiles, which includes monitoring all incoming comments and DMs and responding in a timely and appropriate manner. Doing so increases your visibility on the platform and attracts more followers. As an extension of this, we proactively engage with trending content within your industry to actively participate in relevant conversations and amplify your brand exposure.
How Community Management
Elevates Your Brand
Building a loyal customer base who feels genuinely connected to your brand is one of the most significant benefits of community management. You can establish yourself as a trusted authority in your industry or niche by engaging with followers regularly and creating content that resonates with them. This, in turn, leads to increased customer loyalty, brand advocacy, and, ultimately, revenue growth.
Setting Goals for
Community Management
Setting goals for this strategy should be based on your primary campaign KPIs. From an organic perspective, your main KPIs are community growth and engagement. Set measurable goals for these metrics and track progress over time. It's also a good idea to partner with a community management company like The Influence Agency that knows the industry so that you get expert guidance and support.
Branded & Reactive
Content Creation
Video content for TikTok is typically divided into two categories: evergreen and reactive.
Evergreen content refers to content that remains relevant and useful over a long period of time and can be used repeatedly, even years after it was originally created, continuing to generate traffic, engagement, and leads for a brand. Examples of evergreen content include workplace or office tours, day-in-the-life videos, answering product or service FAQs, and educational resources.
Additionally, we create reactive content since it is favoured by the TikTok algorithm. The goal of reactive content is to engage with the audience in real-time and to increase the likelihood of the content being shared and seen by a wider audience. Our social media team meets on a weekly basis to discuss trending TikTok content and determine how it can be adapted for our clients. From there, we create reactive video content and present it to you for final approval.
Evergreen Content
Relevant to your brand at any time, regardless of seasonality or current TikTok trends.
Timeless Value
Consistent Engagement
Increases Brand Awareness
Cost-Effective
Builds Authority
Reactive Content
Created in response to a specific event or trend, usually with the aim of capitalizing on its popularity or relevance.
Timeliness
Viral Potential
Fosters Brand Personality
Increases Brand Visibility
Keeps Content Fresh
However, creating content that resonates with the platform’s audience is a challenge that many brands are facing, making it an integral part of The Influence Agency’s TikTok marketing services. Specifically, our services address the following pain points:
Post Frequency & Quick Turnaround Times:
To be successful on the platform, you need to post frequently and in order to ride the momentum of trends, you need to hop on these trends quickly. Many brands don’t have the internal ability to execute video in such a timely manner.
Using Personal Likeness:
Many brands don’t have staff that are comfortable being on camera or willing to be the sole face featured in the content which is an important component to success on TikTok.
Our internal team has the ability to combat both these pain points quickly and effectively, all we need is a little coordination and input from your brand team.
How Content Creation Elevates Your Brand
Content creation is the backbone of any successful TikTok marketing strategy. By creating a variety of content, including evergreen and reactive content, you can keep your audience interested and engaged
Repurposing organic content for paid social and community-building efforts on TikTok can be an effective way to maximize your investment in content creation. By identifying top-performing organic content, brands can use this content to create paid ads that are more likely to resonate with their target audience. This not only saves time and resources in the content creation process, but also ensures that your paid ads are leveraging content that has already proven to be successful with your audience.
Setting Goals for Content Creation
A strategic approach to content creation should consider the brand's objectives, target audience, and current trends. The key is to balance evergreen and reactive content to ensure the brand's message is always relevant, fresh, and engaging. Similar to community management, content creation goals are dependent on the brand’s main campaign KPIs. From an organic perspective, KPIs are typically community growth and engagement.
Follower Campaigns
As the strategy name suggests, follower campaigns are aimed at increasing the number of followers for your brand’s TikTok account. They are a powerful way to increase your brand’s visibility to a larger audience through paid ads with Community Interaction objectives—AKA Follower Optimization and Profile Visit Optimization.
Follower Optimization
A campaign objective designed to help brands increase their TikTok following and engagement.
This objective is accomplished by running ads that encourage users to follow a brand's TikTok account, with the goal of building a loyal audience of engaged followers.
Profile Visit Optimization
A paid advertising campaign objective designed to drive traffic to a brand's TikTok profile.
With this objective, the goal is to increase the number of people who visit a brand's profile on TikTok, which can ultimately lead to more followers, engagement, and conversions.
These campaign objectives can be used in conjunction with each other to create a comprehensive TikTok advertising strategy. Just make sure you rotate your ads frequently to avoid ad fatigue by repurposing existing content and strategically targeting audiences based on factors such as location, interests, and demographics.
Community Interaction Campaign
From a single spark ad, we generated 3,000+ new followers at a cost-per-follow of <$0.30
Case Study
3,000+
New Followers Generated
at
<$0.30
Cost-Per-Follow
How Follower Campaigns Elevate Your Brand
This objective is particularly effective for brands that regularly upload content and provide value to their audience. The more value a brand provides to its audience, the more likely they are to follow the brand and engage with its content. By running follower campaigns, brands can increase their social proof and brand trust by demonstrating that they have a large following of engaged users.
Ultimately, follower campaigns elevate your brand's social proof and build trust with online communities by showing you have a sizeable amount of followers.
Setting Goals for Follower Campaigns
Setting follower campaign goals requires knowing what audiences your brand wants to reach and target. Having a goal in mind helps select the right targeting options, creatives, and ad formats to use in the campaign. Assets should reflect your brand and encompass future content users can expect. Once a campaign is live, monitor conversion rates and determine top-performing and lowest-performing creatives to identify what content works best for this objective.
Benchmarks for cost-per-follow (CPF) vary depending on the industry, but they can range from $1.50 upwards of $10.
$1.50 to $10
Range for Cost-per-follow (CPF)
How to Get Started Building a Community on TikTok
Building a community on TikTok can be a powerful way for brands and individuals to connect with their audience and expand their reach. However, getting started on the platform can be daunting, especially if you're new to social media or not familiar with TikTok's unique features. In this section, we'll guide you through the process of how to get started building a community on TikTok with actionable steps you can take.
Step 1
Know Your Audience
Knowing your audience is essential before you start creating TikTok content. As a brand, you must understand your audience's preferences and interests in order to develop content that resonates with them. This means you have to analyze your followers' demographics, interests, and behaviours to create content that's tailored to them. By doing this, your brand can better understand how to develop engaging and relevant content.
Producing content that resonates with your audience is more likely to attract followers and build a community on the platform. Understanding what your audience wants to see and what they find entertaining is a crucial first step in building a successful TikTok presence.
Step 2
Post Often
Posting often is a vital component of building a successful TikTok presence.
The platform's most successful creators and brands post daily, sometimes even multiple times a day!Consistency is key, as it helps ensure that you stay top of mind with your audience. But it's not just about frequency, it's also about catering to the TikTok algorithm. The more you post content that the algorithm deems valuable to your desired audience, the more likely your content will be discovered and shared widely. So, if you want to achieve viral success on TikTok, make posting often a priority.
Step 3
Use Relevant Hashtags
Hashtags are crucial to getting your content discovered by the right audience on TikTok. Using relevant hashtags popular in your niche can increase your visibility and get your content in front of users interested in your brand or products. Researching and choosing the right hashtags for each post is essential to maximize its reach. Here’s how:
Look At What Your Competitors Are Doing for Inspiration
Use TikTok’s Search Function to Find Related Keywords
Check the For You Page for Popular and Trending Content
Use Niche-Specific Hashtags to Reach a Wider Audience
Experiment With Different Hashtags to Find Out What Works
Creating a branded hashtag for your business that you can use across all your TikTok content is also a good idea. This will help users discover more of your content and create a sense of community around your brand. So, don't overlook the power of hashtags in getting your content discovered on TikTok.
Step 4
Keep Your Content Casual
TikTok is a platform where authenticity and relatability reign supreme. The content that performs the best is often the one that appears to be user-generated. Brands that lean into this aesthetic and keep their content casual and authentic-looking perform better than those that are too "corporate" or polished.
TikTok's algorithm tends to reward brands that present themselves in a relatable way to the user base instead of coming across as overly promotional.
Brands that act like creators instead of advertisers are more likely to garner attention and engagement
It's all about staying true to the essence of TikTok and presenting a personality that resonates with the community.
Step 5
Collaborate With Creators
Collaborating with creators is a powerful way to expand your reach on TikTok. By partnering with influencers with established audiences that align with your brand, you can tap into new demographics and build credibility with potential customers.
When choosing creators to collaborate with, it's important to consider their audience demographics, content style, and overall brand fit. Working with a diverse range of creators can also help you reach new audiences and increase your brand's visibility on the platform. With the right partnerships in place, you can leverage the power of social proof to build your brand's reputation and drive engagement with your content.
Step 6
Engage With Your Audience
Engaging with your audience is essential to building a community on TikTok. Brands who actively comment under their videos, UGC content, competitor content, and viral content in their category or content mentioning a competitor in the hope of getting in on the conversation excel on the platform.
A great example of a brand doing this is Duolingo, which uses humour and wit to interact with its followers in a fun and playful way. It's a great way to show off your brand personality and attract users to your page, especially if your comment gets pinned or gets the most likes. When you engage with your audience, you build relationships and show the algorithm that your content is valuable.
Step 7
Lead With Value Through “Edu-tainment”
Creating educational content on TikTok can be a powerful way to build a loyal following while providing value to your audience. The platform has become a go-to source for quick, visually engaging how-to's and hacks, making it an excellent platform for brands to showcase their expertise. From work-from-home tips to DIY projects, educational content possibilities are endless.
However, keeping the content light and fun is important, as TikTok users tend to favour entertaining content over more serious or dry educational content. Additionally, TikTok's algorithm acts as a search engine, with 40% of Gen Z preferring TikTok over Google when searching for something online. This makes educational content even more valuable for building a brand's presence on the platform.
Step 8
Engage With Your Competitors
Engaging with competitors on TikTok can actually benefit your brand!
When you comment on viral industry content within your niche, it can increase your brand visibility. The key is to make sure your comment is interesting and cheeky enough to get the attention of other users. If your comment receives a lot of "likes," it may even appear at the top of the comments section, giving you even more exposure.
Additionally, keeping tabs on your competitors' content is a good idea to see if there's an opportunity to "own" a competitor issue or hijack a trending story for your benefit. Just remember to always be respectful and professional in your engagement.
Step 9
Create a Recurring Series
Creating a recurring series is a great way to keep your audience engaged and coming back for more. By breaking down a topic within your niche into multiple parts, you can create an ongoing storyline or theme that your audience will eagerly anticipate. The beauty of this tactic is that it will leave your audience wanting more and coming back for the next episode.
Plus, if your audience watches the entire video, TikTok's algorithm will likely serve the follow-up episodes as well. The more traction your series gets, the more conversation will spark in the comments, which could inspire future TikToks within the series. So, get creative and plan a series that your audience will love!
Step 10
Experiment and Take Creative Risks
Brands must be willing to take creative risks and think outside the box to stand out. Unlike other platforms, TikTok rewards content creators who are daring and unafraid to experiment with new approaches. Brands should be open to exploring innovative ideas and embracing unconventional content styles to make an impact.
The more unique, memorable, and attention-grabbing the content, the better the chance of capturing the interest of your desired audience. By pushing the boundaries and taking creative risks, you can connect with your audience and make a lasting impression on the platform.
