TikTok is fast emerging as the most powerful medium in Australia with 8.5M Australians spending an average of 58 minutes a day on the platform, more than in any other country.
The uptake has been so big globally that the platform has taken over Google as the number one search engine in the world.
Yet, TikTok is still seen as the Wild West and few Australian FMCG brands have properly leveraged the platform, so there is still a lot of opportunity to dominate ahead of the competitor.
TikTok, more than any other social media platform, forces the user to ‘earn’ the eyeballs through a commitment to quality, original content that is unique to TikTok, meaning that agencies with roots in earned media are the best placed to help brands to earn the eyeballs on the platform.
Here at Grapevine we take an earned media lens to everything we do, focusing on quality content that utilises a variety of messaging to resonate with a variety of audiences in a way that is specific to each micro-segmentation.
Our approach is human and granular. It is both carefully considered and at times completely off the cuff, in a way that TikTok encourages users to ‘throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks’. In the same vein of media stories, some videos go flat while others go wildly viral which is where the magic lies.
The rise in popularity of platforms like TikTok represents a permanent cultural shift in the way Australians consume media. It’s where all of the attention is heading, and therefore a critical place for brands to have a presence.
Average increase in engagement
Increase in profile views
Management retention
TikTok requires unique original content that is shot in the TikTok style in order to get a shot at going viral. The algorithm is one of life’s great mysteries and seemingly at times without logic, however there are ways you can sure up your content by being mindful of things like the thumbnail and the first second of the video to grab the user’s attention.
Best practice requires time spent each day observing the communities in which your brand operates and looking out for trends and conversations you can be a part of. Being active on the platform also requires frequent content video shoots that are planned, paired with ad-hoc content creation on the fly to quickly react to what’s trending. The good news is that this can all be outsourced to a dedicated agency that has experience in representing brands on the platform and is immersed in this world every single day.
We have two decades experience in managing brand communications with traditional media that can at times be unpredictable and difficult to influence, and we use this lens to guide our approach to managing brands on social media.
Unlike other social media platforms the beauty of TikTok is that an account doesn’t need to have a high number of followers in order for a video to be seen by the masses. Videos are shown to a large number of viewers independent of the number of followers and age of a page. While consistency of posting is rewarded in building authority of an account, the more important focus is on the quality of the content and the user experience so results can be found in the early stages of launching a brand onto TikTok.
