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Here’s a breakdown of how both platforms compare and what makes each one stand out in the influencer marketing space.

If you’re responsible for keeping your brand focused on the right social platforms and leveraging the right influencer partnerships, you’ve probably spent some time wondering whether you should focus on TikTok or Instagram.

TikTok and Instagram both offer distinct attractions for their users. While both are visual, TikTok is more audio and music-driven and has a more creative and spontaneous feel to much of its content. Instagram, on the other hand, is a more established platform with a more polished aesthetic. Because of its longevity, a sophisticated advertising and influencer network has developed on its ecosystem, which can make it easier to venture into known-commodity partnerships with influencers.

Where are your time and resources best spent, and what differentiates the two? The right answer often differs for each brand and that the difference depends on their audience and goals.

What’s your target audience demographic?

The platform you prefer may vary depending on which types of users you’re seeking to connect with. TikTok’s overall audience skews younger, with half of all Gen Z American adults accessing the platform, as compared to only 22 percent of millennials and 14 percent of the 50-64 cohort.

Instagram has a wider user base among all demographics, with 48 percent of 30-49 year olds on the platform and a third of the 50-64 age range. Its growth has stabilized and it’s not experiencing the same rapid user base expansion as TikTok.

How are you hoping to get seen?

Instagram has an advantage on influencer choice, because the network is more established and there are more influencers working there. Because Instagram has been an influencer option for a while, influencers may have a formula in place and be more certain about tried-and-true ways to gain attention from their specific audiences.

Sponsored content and advertising make frequent and expected appearances in Instagram users’ news feeds, while on TikTok, only 5.7% of content creators post about brands, products, or services on a daily basis. That number grows to just 17.3% on a weekly basis, with 60.8% of content creators reporting that they have never shared sponsored content on the app, as per our most recent research where we polled 1,743 influencers from more than 20 countries. This is, by far, one of TikTok’s greatest advantages and presents a great opportunity for marketers looking to capture people’s attention in a less saturated space.

Which metrics are you using to gauge success?

TikTok’s structure and users’ top content interests (#comedy and #dance) mean marketing efforts need to be more subtle, humorous and creative to attract interest. It’s not the platform for a hard sell nor for brands who want to have tight and rigid control of influencer content.

However, it is the ideal place to level up on organic engagement and to create relationships that may boost loyalty and migrate followers over to your other social platforms. In fact, 87.1 percent of TikTok influencers and content creators say their engagement rate is higher than on other platforms.

TikTok’s potential reach also far outstrips any other social platform because its algorithm doesn’t limit views, so if you’re planning campaigns that grow reach and awareness, TikTok might be the best place for your influencer marketing efforts.

If your focus is on a quicker sales cycle or moving your target audience from the middle to the bottom of the sales funnel, you may be better off with a consistent storytelling strategy on Instagram Stories where you link directly to your landing page or ecommerce site.

How well-versed are you in influencer marketing?

Do you already have an established influencer program, or are you just getting started? Your own knowledge level may influence the direction you lean with your platform choice.

If you’re accustomed to working with influencers and have a good grasp on your goals and metrics, you may feel ready to venture directly on to TikTok. You’ll know where you need to go and what you need to do, and you can guide the partnership based on your previous experience, especially if you use an influencer database to source the right people for your niche.

If you’re new to the influencer marketing world, you may want to leverage the knowledge of Instagram influencer partners.

Instagram influencers we surveyed said they typically spend at least three hours daily using the platform, which means they likely have their audiences’ likes, dislikes, and propensities down to a science. If you can source the right influencers for your campaigns, you can rely on them to serve as co-strategists as you plan your new influencer marketing campaigns.

In our recent study on TikTok influencer marketing, marketers surveyed said that analytics and tracking is one of their biggest TikTok challenge areas. If you’re confident in your influencer marketing knowledge, and you’re willing to experiment a little, you can easily and creatively overcome these challenges and get attention in a less saturated market.

Is there a clear winner for brands building an influencer marketing strategy?

In the battle for brand positioning, there’s no clear winner between these two powerhouse platforms. Instead, you can find the right place to showcase your business when you think strategically and evaluate which media sources your ideal buyer consumes.

Not many things in business come down to feeling alone, but you can evaluate which brand feels like a natural fit based on the criteria we mentioned, then continue to adjust while monitoring performance data.

You may find that one platform is clearly right for your brand or you may see opportunities to connect with your target audience across both. As each platform refines its offerings, algorithm, and business-focused features, you can continue to experiment accordingly with your strategy.

And, if you find you’re ready to dive into something new, TikTok can provide a welcome platform for experimentation. By getting your brand in the space, you can see where content is resonating for your audiences, define your goals, then align with the right creators and make a splash.

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Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

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We are all influencers is a motto in which I firmly believe because the size of our audience does not matter but how we speak to them.

Some brands seem to have understood it very well and applied it to their strategies with influencers on TikTok , the social network of the moment.

Amazon, for example, has been able to take advantage of the videos that users create organically to reuse them in their favour and promote certain products.

Thus, the e-commerce giant is taking advantage of organically driven video trends such as Things TikTok Made Me Buy ” (“Things TikTok Made Me Buy”) or “Things You Didn’t Know You Needed From Amazon” (” Things You Didn ‘ t Know You Need Of Amazon ”) to share unsponsored content that users create on their TikTok accounts.

In addition to amplifying organic user-generated content, Amazon is investing heavily in influencer marketing for TikTok through collaborations to promote offers and increase brand recognition during the year’s busiest commercial campaigns such as Mother’s Day. , back to school, the holiday season and, of course, Prime Day.

Reply to @itsdai_ebb ## greenscreen ♬ 20min by Iil Uzi Vert –

 

The key to Amazon’s success with TikTok influencers is that they give them the creative freedom to innovate and create out-of-the-box content that is perfectly suited to the unconventional language of this Chinese-born social network.

Another brand that has known how to find influencers among users is the fast food chain Chipotle, which today has positioned itself as a benchmark for challenges on TikTok.

Chipotle leverages hashtags and influencer marketing to engage customers and create trends on TikTok. It is not intended to create scripted blockbusters, but genuine and creative user-generated content. The key to his videos and challenges: spontaneity.

For example, the #LidFlipChallenge drove a digital sales record for the company and generated more than 110K videos related to this challenge. The #GuacDance Challenge, launched in collaboration with TikTok creators including Brent Rivera and Loren Gray, generated 500 million impressions from 250K fan videos submitted.

Got it to land w / o catching it in mid-air ## ChipotleLidFlip ## lidflipchallenge ## lidflip ## lookmanohands ♬ Flip – Future

 

Endorsement from TikTok influencers and content creators, whether sponsored or organic, increases brand awareness and builds trust and connection with the audience.

What should we do?

Audience The first thing every brand should ask itself before considering TikTok as part of its digital strategy is if its audience is on that platform.

If the answer is positive, there is no better time than now to start building a presence on TikTok and not wait, as happens with many brands with other social networks, for the social network to be saturated with marketing campaigns to launch and try to draw attention.

Content . Creating content for TikTok is challenging because you only have a few seconds to grab attention before users decide to move on to the next video. TikTok users expect to be entertained or informed, or both, with each video, so you have to be absolutely clear about what the end goal is. In terms of content creation, brands need to understand that authenticity, entertainment, and originality are highly rewarded on TikTok.

The aforementioned examples from Amazon and Chipotle are a sign that these brands understand that TikTok requires its own approach because it is a different audience that expects to see different content that grabs people’s attention from the first second and is useful and educational, but not boring.

Hashtags and Challenges . Know the culture of TikTok well and find ways in which the brand can communicate and integrate naturally. Knowing which hashtags are trending and joining or creating viral challenges will help increase brand awareness, gain followers, and show your community that the brand is part of the TikTok movement.

Influencers . A recent study conducted among advertisers and influencers in the United States, Europe, and Latin America showed that TikTok is driving social commerce, but the impact comes from user-generated content, demonstrating the power and importance of integrating influencers into marketing strategies. TikTok marketing of brands.

According to the survey, 68 percent of content creators reported making a purchase based on a post from someone they follow on the platform.

Finally, remember that the best allies for a brand can be found on the same social network … because we are all influencers .

Feature Image credit: Amanda Vick vía Unsplash 

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Sourced from Entrepreneur Europe

By Chris Kuenne

Brands must focus more on the ‘why’ than the ‘what’

Over the next five years, the global marketing industry is forecasted to grow by 19%. By 2026 brands are expected to spend $66 billion annually on data, technology and new analytical approaches to convert shoppers into buyers, up from $27 billion in 2021.

This conversion funnel obsession has inadvertently confounded brand marketer’s single most important goal: creating enduring relationships with their best consumers. Think about the barrage of re-marketing campaigns that hit you when you considered buying cowboy boots: weeks of banner ads and emails trying to convince you to buy Justin, Lucchese and Corral cowboy boots in black, brown or tan.

For loyal consumers, this modern junk mail and digital harassment likely turned them off, as these brands demonstrated how little they really understood their best customer.

The key to building loyal relationships with a brand’s most valuable customers is to understand how their motivations and preferences drive brand choice, usage and lifetime value. Put simply, companies have been investing in data that reveals what people are doing or might do next, but not why they are doing it.

As digital marketing shifts from conversion craziness to relationship building, how can companies access and operationalize the data upon which true relationships are built?

Look at TikTok’s business model

To start, they can look at online dating and TikTok.

A swipe right on a dating profile is simply much more reflective of who these consumers are.

In the online dating ecosystem, individuals reveal deep insights through their clickstreams. Depending on the particular app or dating site, those looking for a match reveal everything from their sexual orientation to their political views. With this high-resolution data, a dating app could ascertain, for example, that when a 28-year-old woman increased her age preference for the men she was interested in by five years and included those who had previously been married after a series of flops with men her own age, that she was not only motivated to date older men but also likely looking for a more serious relationship.

TikTok is similar. Its business model is to keep users engaged for as many hours as possible by serving increasingly relevant content based on preferences discerned from the videos they watch. TikTok builds out user profiles rooted in viewer preferences directly revealed from high-resolution behaviours, often delivering content users wouldn’t have found just by following their friends.

Acknowledge the power behind the swipe

It isn’t that online dating apps and websites and TikTok aren’t making decisions based on clicks, like other brands are. But their personalized recommendation models are trained on clickstream data that explicitly underpins the preferences and motivations they are seeking to understand, in a way that a click on an ad for cowboy boots on Instagram does not.

A swipe right on a dating profile is simply much more reflective of who these consumers are. This allows these companies to effectively predict what their audience wants next, building deeper customer relationships and a more loyal, more profitable customer base.

So how can credit card marketers or home goods retailers, whose businesses are not based on high-resolution behavioral data like Tinder and TikTok, make the leap to discern preferences and motivations?

Just as an online dating website uses every swipe and match to extrapolate composite profiles, digital marketers in industries from financial services to consumer technology can build deeper customer relationships through emerging methodologies that quantitatively define personas. These techniques combine survey, behavioral and transactional data with advanced analytics to discover clusters based on how consumers’ underlying motivations and preferences drive their economic behavior (brand choice, frequency, price sensitivity, etc.).

Systematically understanding consumers’ motivations and preferences at scale will allow all digital marketers to make the next big leap toward greater personal relevance, more enduring customer loyalty and enhanced customer lifetime value.

Feature Image Credit: Bloomberg/Getty Images

By Chris Kuenne

Chris Kuenne is chairman and CEO of Rosemark.

Sourced from ADWEEK

By Lauren Thomas 

  • Teens are scouring TikTok for fashion inspiration.
  • Thanks to the social media platform’s easily searchable hashtags and the power of influencer accounts, retailers have seen a number of products become viral sensations, including a Lululemon skort, a Gap hoodie and a pair of Aerie leggings.
  • Eyeing a bigger opportunity to win sales, retailers such as Aeropostale and Abercrombie & Fitch are looking for ways to capitalize on these viral moments.

When a Lululemon skort went viral across TikTok earlier this summer, 16-year-old Kylie knew she had to get her hands on it.

But by the time she was searching for her size on Lululemon’s website, it was already sold out. The sought-after skort — part skirt, part shorts with a two-inch inseam — was also totally bought up in a nearby store in Boulder, Colorado, according to Kylie’s mom.

The teen then relied on her favourite TikTok influencers, who often post #fashionhauls and #OOTD (outfit of the day), to alert her when the skort would be back on sale. She was also closely monitoring, even during school hours, other hashtags on the social platform, like ”#preppy” and ”#closettour.” Ultimately, Kylie ended up snagging it in a bigger size and taking it in for alterations.

“My kids come to me all the time now showing me TikTok videos, pointing at them, saying, ‘I want to buy this’ or ‘I think this is cute for the fall,’” said Nicole Leinbach, a Boulder resident who is the mother of Kylie and 13-year-old Claire. “They’re definitely leaning into TikTok to help guide them in what they want.”

It used to be a trip around the mall with friends, but many teens today are scouring TikTok for inspiration. Tethered to their phones, this generation spends an average of 12 hours on social media apps per week. They desire authenticity and individualism, with clothing serving as a key form of self-expression, but Gen Z’s social habits reveal they are seeking guidance from others they trust before committing to a dress or a pair of sneakers.

Thanks to TikTok’s easily searchable hashtags and the power of influencer accounts that boast anywhere from a couple thousand to millions of followers, viral sensations keep occurring for products like the Lululemon skort. For Zara, it was a pair of wide-leg denim pants, while Aerie sold out of a pair of leggings with a unique crossover waist. Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Kate Spade sold through a heart-shaped bag thanks to a popular TikTok video. Eyeing a bigger opportunity, retailers are looking for ways to capitalize on these viral moments. And it will likely become an even bigger part of business strategies this back-to-school season.

“TikTok has the ability to make something go viral much quicker than anything we see on Instagram,” said Jessica Ramirez, retail research analyst at Jane Hali & Associates. “For retailers, that is a huge advantage.”

Gap’s hoodie moment

In January, TikTok star Barbara Kristoffersen posted a video of herself wearing Gap’s iconic logo hoodie in dark brown. It was a vintage find. Gap hadn’t manufactured that style in more than a decade.

Fuelled by the power of TikTok influencers and their devout followings, brown hoodies started appearing on resale sites for as much as $300. People who had the hoodie stowed away in the back of their closets were sharing videos pairing it with Louis Vuitton bags and other luxury brands in neutral hues.

After it went viral on TikTok, Gap is relaunching its logo hoodie in a brown color. It's currently available for presale.
After it went viral on TikTok, Gap is relaunching its logo hoodie in a brown colour. It’s currently available for presale.
Source: Gap PR

Kristoffersen’s post has since racked up nearly 2 million views. And the hashtag ”#gaphoodie” has more than 6.6 million views — and growing — on TikTok.

Gap noticed the momentum shortly after Kristoffersen’s post and began sending her more logo hoodies in various colours. The company also sent hoodies to a handful of other TikTok users. The retailer’s strategy was to rely heavily on the influencer community, Gap Chief Marketing Officer Mary Alderete explained in an interview.

“We did start [a TikTok] account, but we didn’t rush to do a lot of posts,” she said. “These creators get on there … and they’re influencing literally what the trends are.”

To tap an even bigger sales opportunity, Gap decided to manufacture a fresh batch of brown logo hoodies. The product is available for presale and will ship later this fall. The company also partnered with TikTok to crowdsource its next colour based on user votes.

“I don’t think we ever anticipated the arch logo [hoodie] — it’s a classic of ours — but I don’t think we would have necessarily anticipated it taking off like this,” Alderete said. “The key thing is you can’t really force it. You have to ride it.”

After a winning colour is selected, the new hoodies will hit Gap stores and its website just in time for back-to-school shopping, Alderete said. Aside from the holidays, it’s one of the busiest sales periods of the year.

Gap also expects the renewed momentum for its boldface logo to benefit Gap Teen, an apparel vertical it launched in early 2020 to cater to tween and teen girls.

“We have our kids’ back-to-school campaign, but we wanted to do something disruptive for back-to-school for teens,” Alderete explained. “And this crowdsourcing job was our teen approach.”

Teens love #tinytops

The teen retailer Aeropostale is leaning into a similar viral experience it had with its crop tops.

The hashtag ”#tinytops” started blowing up on TikTok in early April, and some of Aeropostale’s merchandise was in the mix, alongside that of American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch. The trend refers to crop tops, which have exploded in popularity in recent months, especially among tweens and teens who are pairing the skin-baring shirts with high-waisted and looser-fitting bottoms.

“It’s very ’90s, Y2K — as the bottoms get bigger with more volume, that’s when the tops get tinier and smaller,” said Natalie Levy, president and chief merchandise officer at Aeropostale’s parent, SPARC.

Aeropostale found itself trending on TikTok when the hashtag "#tinytops" went viral among fashion influencers.
Aeropostale found itself trending on TikTok when the hashtag ”#tinytops” went viral among fashion influencers.
Source: SPARC PR

After some TikTok posts started going viral, including one by Lexi Hidalgo, who has more than 1.6 million followers, people were not only visiting Aeropostale’s website in search of the crop tops, but they also came into stores asking employees specifically for “TikTok items,” Levy said.

Aeropostale reacted fast. It now has sections of its stores devoted to clothing that’s gone viral on TikTok: Crop tops, baggy denim and oversized sweatpants. Those will remain throughout back-to-school season.

“What’s great is we aren’t paying for celebrity influencers or talent … it just happened organically,” Levy added. “We’re really authentic about it.”

Some retailers, though, have taken the approach of directly tapping big-name talent. Abercrombie & Fitch’s Hollister brand debuted a new line of clothing called Social Tourist, in a partnership with TikTok superstars Dixie and Charli D’Amelio. Terms of the deal were never disclosed, but Abercrombie said it has a multiyear deal with the sisters, who combined have more than 170 million followers.

Sharing ideas with a stranger

According to one Gen Z expert, letting content flourish organically might be the best approach to reach consumers under the age of 24.

Hana Ben-Shabat, founder of the advisory and research firm Gen Z Planet, said that many younger TikTok users prefer seeing posts from so-called micro- or nano-influencers, who might only have a couple hundred or thousand followers. They feel as if these people, unlike the D’Amelio sisters, are much more relatable, she said.

“This is a generation that is seeking authenticity in everything they do,” said Ben-Shabat, who is also the author of the upcoming book “Gen Z 360: Preparing for the Inevitable Change in Culture, Work, and Commerce.” “Tiktok is a platform that allows you to go there and be yourself. ‘Be yourself’ is the Gen Z mantra. There’s no doubt about it.”

“And what is the best way to express individuality? Beauty and fashion,” she said.

Across all generations, though, there’s clearly a growing buy-in from people to shop directly from social media apps.

Social commerce sales in the United States are forecast to rise 35.8% this year to $36.62 billion, according to eMarketer. This would mark a slight deceleration from year-over-year growth of 38.9% in 2020, eMarketer said, when the Covid pandemic kept more people at home and shopping from their phones. EMarketer defines social commerce as products or services ordered via social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok.

The U.S. lags in comparison with China, which is expected to see social commerce sales eclipse $351.65 billion in 2021, according to eMarketer’s data.

EMarketer doesn’t break out social commerce spending by generation. But it’s worth noting that TikTok usage among teens is still growing, relative to other social platforms. TikTok is now teens’ second-favorite social media app, according to a survey of 7,000 teens from Feb. 19 to March 24 by Piper Sandler. It’s stealing share from Instagram and Snapchat.

And earlier this month, TikTok announced that in the coming weeks it will be rolling out the option to all users to create videos as long as 3 minutes. The shift could make the app even more appealing to influencers and creators hoping to share longer-form content, such as longer fashion hauls or beauty tutorials.

Forty-one percent of back-to-school shoppers are planning to use social media platforms to help them decide what to buy before going back to the classroom, according to a Deloitte survey of 1,200 consumers. That’s the highest percentage Deloitte has tracked in the six years it has asked this question.

“People are attracted to the idea of another stranger sharing ideas, whether it’s their fashion style or just their thoughts,” 43-year-old Leinbach said about her daughters spending time on TikTok.

“Users of TikTok don’t want to see brands trying to push something to them. They’re looking to influencers for inspiration,” she added. “They also, in many ways, feel as if they’re their own influencers within their smaller networks.”

Feature Image Credit: Filip Radwanski | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

By Lauren Thomas 

@LAURENTHOMAS

Sourced from CNBC

Sourced from Forbes

TikTok continues to surge in popularity. As of January of 2021, the platform had more than 680 million users worldwide. With so many users on the short-form video app, it’s quickly become a relevant channel for advertising. However, it can be a challenge for brands to create a short video ad without it coming across as run-of-the-mill, highly produced commercial.

If you’re considering using TikTok in your marketing efforts, it’s important to understand how to effectively reach your target audience on the platform. Below, 13 members of Forbes Agency Council detail the best ways to grab consumers’ attention and gain their trust by leveraging TikTok to market your business.

1. Entertain Before You Try To Sell

Leverage TikTok by making authentic content that aims to entertain first and sell second, if at all. As the adage goes, “If you’re going to crash a party, bring champagne.” To stretch that analogy a bit, modern audiences are smart enough to know if you’ve brought champagne or a cheap bottle of Cava from the shop down the road. – Dan Cullen-Shute, Creature

2. Leverage Influencers And Branded Hashtag Challenges

One way to engage audiences on TikTok in a contextually relevant manner is to work with TikTok influencers to promote your brand or product. The platform has a creator’s marketplace to help you search for influencers that best fit your brand, audience and desired outcome. Another option is the branded hashtag challenge ad format, which encourages user-generated content about your product or brand. – Greg Garunov, Sightly

3. Drive Emotion And Connection

TikTok is built off of driving emotion and connection with the viewer. Marketers can easily leverage authentic influencer content from this platform that could become explosive on other platforms at a lower cost, yet still has a higher impact than even a Super Bowl commercial, as we’ve seen with the viral TikTok leggings, for example. – Logan Rae, Argon Agency

4. Share Practical Advice

Short-form video has been around for decades in the form of video news releases or news segments, with little care paid to it. Instead of trying to sound smart, share practical advice that helps another person level up personally, professionally or emotionally. Raw, unedited advice will captivate an audience that’s willing to listen. – Brad Ginsburg, Global Communication Works (GCW)

5. Give Them A Reason To Watch

Authenticity is key for any platform. TikTok is still purely entertainment; the ad world hasn’t bombarded it—yet. That means two things: The ad value is under-priced, and the audience is growing rapidly. If your marketing doesn’t appear entertaining, they will flick right past you. Remember the give/get model here for a path to success: Give them a reason to watch, and you’ll get an impression or an action. – Rob Fallon, Bluewater

6. Follow The Trends

Part of the magic of TikTok is how the content is created. It’s meant to be fun, not perfect. Brands need to understand that a perfectly produced ad will most likely stand out on TikTok, and not in a good way. Brands need to create content that is native in format and follows the trends that other users are following. That will get you into a conversation, rather than ruining the conversation. – Brian Meert, AdvertiseMint

7. Be Timely And Relevant

TikTok trends live and die overnight; what’s popular today may not be tomorrow. The smartest brands on the platform have mastered creating timely and relevant content by jumping on trends within hours of them becoming popular. The great thing about TikTok is that content doesn’t have to be polished or professionally shot. Many brands create content on their mobile devices, with minimal editing. – Charlie Grinnell, RightMetric

8. Find Inspiration In User-Produced Content

It is crucial for brands to engage with the audience in a way that’s endemic to the platform and not like standard ads or social channels. Get inspired by user-produced content (i.e., paid talent), and don’t worry about trying to piggyback on the latest thing. Be creative and design your own tropes that are fun, engaging and relevant to the brand while encouraging the audience to do the same. – Jason Parkin, Compose[d]

9. Lean Into The Creator Community

TikTok can be a powerful channel for creative storytelling and marketing opportunities. Brands should lean into the creator community and co-create content that provides value in terms of entertainment and/or education. Each brand is unique; some brands might create behind-the-scenes content or a sneak peek at a new product, while others provide entertainment or education. – Paula Bruno, Intuition Media Group d/b/a Blissful Media Group

10. Tell A Story

Take your lead from viral TikTok creators and use the power of a story. By using text on top of a video, you won’t come across as overly polished, but you will catch their eye, even if the sound is off. Start with a short bit of text that establishes a problem plaguing your ideal customer, ideally a fear or concern. Then drop in text to help solve their problem step by step. – Samantha Reynolds, ECHO Storytelling Agency

11. Mirror Your Audience’s Interests

Don’t be something you are not, regardless of medium. Ask yourself, “Why is my audience on TikTok?” What are they looking for on the app? Create content to mirror their interests. If they are there to be entertained, post something entertaining. If they are there to learn, offer educational tips or tricks on how to use your product or service. A good rule of thumb is to make it 80% information and 20% ad. – Sara Steever, Paulsen

12. Try Using The Duet Function

TikTok has a more creator-driven aesthetic versus the “produced” approach we see on other channels. To be successful, brands have to adapt their content to trends and do creative, in-app editing instead of pushing out canned content. TikTok users can easily sniff out inauthenticity. Also, using the TikTok Duet function and filters provides a more genuine way to connect with the platform’s dialled-in audience. – Mike Popowski, Dagger

13. Get Your Team Involved

Stick to using in-app features, and commit your team to only filming with their mobile devices. Encourage your team to find content that they can do a TikTok Duet with, or trending content they can do their own versions of, such as challenges or dances. Even supplying your team with swag they can wear is enough to feature your brand without looking as if you’re trying too hard. – Bernard May, National Positions

Sourced from Forbes

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When you launch an eCommerce, the first sale is as symbolic as it is necessary

When you launch an eCommerce, the first sale is as symbolic as it is necessary. It is not so much because of the income or because it is extremely complicated, but because of the optimism and tranquillity, it represents for the team. It can mean the biggest turning point in the life of the company. Obtaining that first customer will be a long and complicated battle, so in this article, we explain how to grow an eCommerce while spending the least. Keep reading!

How to grow an eCommerce with minimal expense

Without a doubt, the first sales are the most complicated and the most exasperating. Consumers won’t come to your platform by magic. Therefore, if you want to know how to grow your eCommerce investing little money, you must aggressively market your business and take advantage of the weaknesses of your competition to attract customers and traffic.

Take note of the following techniques that will help you achieve this. Keep reading!

1 # Presence in social networks

The first point on the list of how to grow an eCommerce could not be other than social networks. To start making yourself known, you must open an account. It is not about being in all of them, but about selecting the ones that will be useful to connect with your target audience, but how do you know which is the ideal one?

TWITTER

The simplicity of Twitter makes it one of the most effective ways to engage with your audience. A good way to find potential clients is to proactively find people who post questions about your field and reach out to them so they keep you in mind. The idea is not to present or mention your products but to help them answer their questions. If you do it right, users will investigate your existence and discover your business.

LINKEDIN

Second, Linkedin is the Internet office. On this platform you can find professionals and executives of all kinds, showing off their skills and connecting with others. Once you have configured your e-commerce profile, you can start doing the same.

You may not sell anything directly through Linkedin, but you will discover many opportunities with other companies, providers and related websites. There are dozens of public and private groups created for specific niches, allowing you to post questions and talk to other members.

INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK AND PINTEREST

On the other hand, social networks like Instagram, TikTok or Pinterest allow you to take a different approach if the audience is young. They are ideal platforms for original and creative content. Take photos of your products as well as videos and tell an engaging story.

FACEBOOK

And finally Facebook. This is still a very powerful social network. Take advantage of your professional profile and create a business page to interact with friends, family and acquaintances and make people talk about your brand. Get creative with status updates and engage in public groups and fan pages relevant to your niche. In addition, you can do paid campaigns.

2 # Create a blog

If you are not yet building a blog associated with your e-commerce or product, you are losing the unlimited potential of content marketing. Producing free and valuable content builds brand trust. It also offers you content to share on social networks and helps you rank in search engines.

To start, think about all those initial inquiries that the audience has about your products and your sector. Use the blog to answer those questions with individual articles. Plus, you can use it to provide lifestyle tips, tutorials, and resources around your products. If you can create regular content, you will soon start to see results thanks to social networks and search engines.

3 # Send your product to influencers

Third, the list of how to grow your eCommerce could not be without influencers. In recent years, influencers have become key pieces for marketing strategies. The Internet is full of bloggers, journalists, entrepreneurs and vloggers of all types specialized in all fields. You need to find the right ones. Many of them have a large following and a loyal following on their web pages.

Therefore, you can send a free sample of your product to those who best fit your brand. Hopefully, you will get a mention on one of their platforms, and you will also let them know that as a company you appreciate their work with a small gift.

In this sense, you can also conduct interviews with them. It is a good way to create original and different content. Interviews work because they are win-win situations. The interviewee gets more visibility and the interviewer has good content to post on the blog, for example. Take the opportunity to ask questions about their lives and careers, but also about the industry in general.

On the other hand, to collaborate with them, you can also run contests or raffles. We all love free stuff and if you’re looking to build trust, running a contest or giveaway could help you get there. This can be done with the collaboration of influencers or on your social networks.

4 # Public relations and communication strategy

If you want to know how to grow your eCommerce, make a public relations strategy. They have the same effect as when a video goes viral and can propel your brand to success. A sure fire public relations trick is to do something unusual, outrageous, funny, or important enough to merit media attention.

If it goes well, your eCommerce will benefit from many high-profile news source links, which is great for both short-term traffic and long-term SEO.

In terms of communication, many electronic businesses publish press releases to attract the attention of the media, although most of them fail. It is a less useful strategy than it used to be but still sire. The secret is to make sure your story is newsworthy, concise, and professional, without being too monotonous.

5 # Create a Mailing list

Email is one of the best channels for attracting leads, and it can even be free. You can create a mailing list of previous and potential customers and send them information, products and content. Include an email subscription form on your website. This is an effective way to convince visitors to sign up for your database.

Instead of just saying “sign up for our newsletter,” offer an incentive or some kind of added value for subscribing.

Another use that you can give is conducting surveys to your consumers, so you receive comments to improve. Customers often have no qualms about saying what their experience with the store has been like and whether something was done wrong.

6 # Experiment with Google Ads

To know how to grow an eCommerce you have to know what Google Ads is. In case you don’t know yet, Google Ads is Google’s pay-per-click advertising platform. It enables online merchants to place ads on almost all Google results pages, YouTube videos, and partner websites.

The biggest advantage of Google Ads is its speed and massive reach. In a few minutes, you can set up and launch an advertising campaign that makes your text, image or video ads appear. You can also set the option for them to be activated and displayed next to Google results when users search for predefined or similar keywords.

7 # Pay attention to web analytics

The behaviour of each user when he visits a web page from when he enters to when he leaves helps you understand why you are or are not selling. Your page statistics will show you what your customers are doing on your website, including the websites they enter, the time they spend on each one, and the route they choose to exit.

Some tools also display additional information. For example, how often a customer visits your website. In this sense, Google Analytics is a totally free tool that helps you measure traffic in many ways.

8 # Sponsor an event

To get good results sponsoring an event you have to give it the right approach. First, you will have to make sure that you select the right event and that the target audience is the same as yours. Will your potential clients be among the attendees? Would your product interest them? How many attendees will it have?

Once the data in hand, classify them according to the type of audience and sponsorship price. Once you attend, avoid typical marketing strategies like handing out flyers. You will have to be creative to establish and build relationships.

Show off some of your most interesting products to tell their story, get people talking about it, and offer immediate promotions like free coupons in exchange for email list subscriptions or social media follow-ups.

9 # Make use of affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is those actions by which you allow other people to market your products and send traffic to your website. In return, for each sale, you pay a percentage. You can track it by giving it a custom link or a unique coupon code.

The great thing about this sales strategy is that you only pay if sales are made, which makes affiliates do their best.

10 # Outperform the Competition on Price Comparison Platforms

Most consumers like to shop around before making a purchase, this includes browsing Google and sites like Amazon for the best options. The most popular platforms are Google Shopping, Yahoo Shopping, Kelkoo, idealo, etc.

To achieve notoriety, you have to follow the rules of each platform, stay competitive on pricing, and wait while you experiment to find out which platform is the best fit for you and offers the best ROI.

What did you think of this article on how to grow eCommerce? Leave your comments and share!

And if you want to set up your own e-commerce and you don’t know how to launch your project, take the Master in e-Commerce & Digital Marketing. You will learn everything related to managing electronic commerce with a comprehensive vision with the best business models and strategies. We will wait for you!

By

Author Selena is a blogger and a guest contributor for a well-known brand that includes MESHEBLE, Saveucoupon & INTHEMARKET. In her leisure time, she plays tennis.

Sourced from INFLUENCIVE

By Lisa Montenegro

Social media has long been in the spotlight; however, over the last few years, the giants have been under fire for numerous reasons. Pick your platform — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok. They’ve all been embroiled in problems and scandals, with public and political outrage often the result. Yet many of us still flock to them in droves. And where the public goes so do businesses and marketers. If public opinion is often so low for social media platforms, why do we still use them?

A good start to answering this is remembering what exactly the giants of the industry have done, and there’s no better one to start with than Facebook. The social media behemoth has more than 2.7 billion monthly active users and by 2025 is expected to be used by just over 69% of the U.S. population. Yet even those who have no time for social media or have little care for the news likely know about at least one of the multitude of controversies the social media giant has found itself in. Tax avoidance, censorship, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and how the platform handles users’ data are just the start of the dizzying list. Then there’s the scrutiny it has come under for shirking its responsibility to monitor what is posted on the site, such as hate speech.

And this is not to say the other major social media sites have not been in similar trouble. Instagram, YouTube and Twitter have all been accused of not being proactive enough when it comes to regulating what people post online, as well as a whole array of other problems, like taking a rape threat and making it into an advertisement or fake Twitter accounts trying to sway public opinion. Such controversies have been met with public disgust and anger, prompting politicians to move toward more regulation.

All of the incidents above have been major controversies, but social media platforms also have made smaller moves like algorithm and design changes and the infamous Instagram shadowbans, which, aside from being a mild irritant to daily users, have created major hurdles for marketers and businesses. In early March, many Instagram users suddenly found that likes were no longer shown on their posts. This turned out to be a trial of a feature that accidentally included too many people. But here in Canada, this is how it has been for two years now. Add in changes to Facebook’s algorithm to put friends and family first, and suddenly you’re likely dealing with a loss of impressions, reach and likes.

You would think with all of this that social media platforms would be losing millions of followers, right?

Facebook actually saw its U.S. and Canadian user bases decrease toward the end of last year, but the drop has done little in the grand scheme of things. The social media site still recorded huge revenue and gained more new users in Asia and the rest of the world. Instagram has over a billion monthly users, and that number is predicted to continue rising. Twitter has over 322 million users and will likely continue gaining them. And TikTok set a record for app installs last year after surpassing 2 billion downloads. Despite all the outrage and dislike of social media sites, people still flock to them in the millions and billions. But why?

The simple answer is that they connect us. It’s been over a year since the Covid-19 pandemic began, and lockdown measures closed stores and cut off our usual social interactions. The importance of sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and many others for keeping people connected not just to the people they are close to but also to strangers or people in need of support has truly been shown.

We live in an age when we can publish a post in Boston that can be seen within seconds in Berlin. We can communicate with friends around the world in an instant, and often the main way we do this is through social media. We can connect with those with the same interests. We can find jobs and network. And businesses can connect with audiences on a larger scale and reach more potential customers. Social media is a major part of how we stay connected. Last year proved that.

But what does that mean for those of us in marketing and PR or running businesses trying to connect with our audiences? We must go where the customers are. But this leaves us at the mercy of algorithms and major platform changes. When Instagram decides to tweak its systems again or a social media site finds itself grappling with a government, what can you do? Major changes can have serious effects, and before you know it, your reach and interactions can drop drastically. So how do you work around this?

To use an old phrase, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Diversifying between multiple social media platforms may mean posting in more places, but it can offer many benefits. The main one is that you are not dependent on a single social media site. If one is hit by regulations or changes its algorithms suddenly and accidentally takes out your page, you have others to fall back on. It also can provide you with a much larger reach. While a large section of your audience may be on a single platform, that doesn’t account for all of them. With a presence on other social media platforms, your brand can reach more people and possibly a wider range of demographics.

It will be interesting to see from here what happens to the social media giants with regulations and their relationships with audiences. For those of us in Canada, it would be nice if Instagram could let us see the number of likes on our posts again.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Lisa Montenegro

Founder & President at Digital Marketing Experts – DMX Marketing, a Premier Google Partner Agency located in Toronto, Canada.

Sourced from Forbes

“Should we be on TikTok?” It’s the question brands and companies in all industries are asking themselves as the platform continues to grow. TikTok is available in more than 150 countries, has over 1 billion users and has been downloaded at least 200 million times in the United States alone, according to Wallaroo Media.

For many marketing experts, it’s a no-brainer to give it a go.

“It’s almost imperative for brands to be on it because now is the time to capture that organic growth,” said Aliza Licht, founder and president of consultancy firm Leave Your Mark. “TikTok is ripe for the taking.”

What sets TikTok apart from other social media platforms is its overall virality, according to marketers. TikTok has a knack for connecting people around shared interests through discovery because it is not based on who you know or follow, but rather on the content. With that, users with small followings can often receive views in the hundreds of thousands to millions. User Anna DeCarlo, for instance, has a modest 9,000-person TikTok following and she received nearly 115,000 views on a video that showed off her shoe closet.

It’s not just about singing and dancing either, which is a common misconception. Content is created within a variety of different categories — including fashion, which is a breakout tier that brands can capitalize on.

In 2020, the app could be credited for many of the biggest style trends during stay-at-home orders — whether it was the explosion of Nike Air Force 1s or tie-dye sweat suits — and the fashion category is only continuing to grow on the platform, earning a whopping 17.5 billion views as of June 2020, according to a report by Statista.

“Fashion is unique in the sense that it is so dynamic and so tied to culture that everyone’s got a way to play into it,” Matt Cleary, director of Retail & Dining, Global Business Solutions at TikTok, told FN. “Fashion is such an opportunity for TikTok to be a force in itself, but also a huge channel for brands to either reinvent themselves or create new relationships.”

An estimated 60% of TikTok users are Gen Zers, which has been a key demographic for brands who are looking to tap a younger audience. What’s more, TikTok users are ageing up — with more millennials using the platform.

But beyond brand building, the question for many companies is: Is there a revenue opportunity? And the numbers show there is an appetite among users to shop: The popular #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt currently has 1.9 billion views, for instance, and features a variety of trending purchased product, including everything from Walmart sneakers to Aerie leggings.

The Case for Instagram

While TikTok is a fast-growing platform with a fresh take on content, Instagram remains the No. 1 tool for social media marketing. At the end of 2020, 96% of brand campaigns included Instagram influencers, for instance, compared to 6.8% TikTok influencers, as reported by Influencer Marketing Hub.

Kyle Hjelmeseth, founder of G&B Digital Management, explained that influencers have been sticking with Instagram because it is so well-established.

“Influencer talent is so ingrained in Instagram and brands are spending money there. So there’s not a lot of incentive for Instagrammers to move to TikTok,” he said. “They’re already making a lot of money. And Instagram now has Reels [videos], so we can arguably do the same thing, while keeping to your core audience.”

On the brand side, Instagram remains a safe investment: Companies already have established relationships and an understanding of how it works.

“The credibility is still there,” explained Gil Eyal, founder of influencer marketing database HYPR. “If you’re looking to build a brand reputation and you want to surround it with people who are fashion thought leaders, you’re probably going to do better on a place like Instagram. Every photo is carefully looked at before it’s posted, and your brand is going to be seen the way that you want it to be seen. If you’re looking for visibility and people talking about your brand and giving away control, TikTok is a much better place because of the nature of the platform.”

Indeed, TikTok has many advantages. Recent data from influencer marketing platform Upfluence showed much higher engagement rates on TikTok, where micro-influencers garnered engagement rates of 17.96%, compared with 3.86% on Instagram.

Eyal said, “It depends on your target audience, but if all things are equal, there’s no question that TikTok is way better than Instagram right now [when it comes to engagement]. In very straightforward terms, Facebook and Instagram have implemented algorithms that limit your viewership in an effort to get people to pay for additional exposure.”

However, Licht added that Instagram is still hugely important from a performance marketing standpoint. “When we say it’s the No. 1 platform, it is because that is what’s driving revenue,” she said. “Organic posts are tough, but paid works. So if you are an e-commerce brand, then you’re not giving up Facebook and Instagram.”

Finding a Balance

Even if Instagram is a successful platform for brands, experts say the goal is to diversify your audience, so TikTok should be part of the plan.

They suggest that brands create their own account on the platform and use organic posts as a testing ground to find what resonates. Then tap TikTok creators to make a splash for specific goals, such as a product launch.

One way TikTok is enticing brands and influencers is through it’s Creator Marketplace, which helps to establish direct collaborations and partnerships between brands and creators.

“Creators are the lifeblood of our platform” said Cleary. “When we think about how brands can participate, we generally point to creators either as a muse or as a tool for brands to leverage. They’re platform natives; they know exactly what works. They know that when they lean in to what makes them different and authentic, their content becomes very viral, and we want to make sure brands are leveraging them for that.”

Licht also advised brands new to TikTok to start small, research hashtags and not be so cautious with content. “It’s OK to make mistakes,” she said. “It’s OK not to know how to use it. It’s initiation by fire and you have to test stuff.”

But experts said one thing companies must realize is that Instagram or YouTube content doesn’t translate well on TikTok. For instance, repurposing content and cutting a fashion campaign video or runway clip into 30 seconds will not connect with TikTokers.

“We want our brands to create TikToks, not ads,” said Cleary. “They have to be comfortable taking down their traditional guardrails and testing and sourcing, listening. All the best brands, they’re listening to see how their fans are already talking about them on the platform and then leaning into those trends.”

For marketers, the success of TikTok doesn’t mean the end for Instagram. But they warn that Instagram fatigue is out there, and expectations from consumers are changing.

“It’s creating a competitive environment for other platforms to attract and maintain creators. Previously, this was less of a concern,” said Eric Dahan, CEO of Open Influence. “There’s a bigger sense of comfort with Instagram, [but] TikTok is forcing platforms to think how they cater to their influencers [and] audience.”

Feature Image Credit: TikTok/AP; Instagram/Adobe Stock

TikTok and Instagram both have approximately 1 billion active users.

Sourced from FN

By Jamie Johnson

TikTok is currently one of the fastest-growing social media networks in the world. And recent reports estimate that the company will surpass 1.2 billion active monthly users in 2021.

This kind of rapid growth means that there are plenty of opportunities to build a following on the platform. And once you’ve made a name for yourself, you can start to monetize that following.

7 Ways To Make Money on TikTok

Best of all, you can use TikTok to start creating multiple revenue streams. Let’s look at seven ways you can start making money on TikTok.

1. Donations

If you have at least 1,000 followers on TikTok, then one of the easiest ways to start making money is by accepting donations from your followers. TikTok has its own currency, and users can buy coins and donate them to their favourite influencers.

Relying on donations is not a reliable way to make money on TikTok because you’re at the mercy of your followers and whether or not they feel like donating. But it is an option, and it’s an excellent way to make a little bit of money in the beginning.

2. TikTok Creator Fund

The TikTok Creator Fund is a program where TikTok pays you directly for the content you create. Essentially, the program is a revenue-sharing model where TikTok pays you a portion of the money they earn on advertising. The amount you make is based on your total audience and engagement.

The Creator Fund is the only way you’ll get paid directly by TikTok, but the program has received mixed reactions. For one thing, you need to have at least 10,000 followers to even be eligible. And it’s not entirely clear what factors payment is based on.

And some users have complained that their engagement dropped after signing up for the program. But it may be worth your while to sign up and see if utilizing the TikTok Creator Fund is right for you.

3. Advertising

What if you’re not interested in creating content for TikTok but still want to find a way to make money using the platform? Well, if you have your own products and services you want to promote, you might consider paying for TikTok advertising.

TikTok ads last 9 to 15 seconds and are a great way to promote your brand. It will help you reach a younger audience that is often less receptive to other forms of advertising.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways to earn money through TikTok. As an affiliate, you promote the products and services of other companies. When a subscriber follows one of your links and makes a purchase, you’ll earn a percentage of the money they spent.

Many people like affiliate marketing because it doesn’t require that you create your own products and services. And regardless of the type of niche you’re in, there are endless products and services you can promote.

And if you get a large enough following, you can build up a hefty income through affiliate marketing. However, affiliate marketing is most effective when you’re promoting companies you love and fully support.

5. Brand Sponsorships

If you’ve built up a significant following on TikTok, brands will be willing to pay you good money to feature them in one of your videos. You’ll create a video for your audience endorsing that company’s product or service to your followers.

Unlike affiliate marketing, you’ll be paid for the content you create, whether anyone buys the products or not. And brand sponsorships can be very lucrative depending on how many followers you have. If you have a large following, you could earn thousands of dollars for a single video.

If you’re interested in pursuing brand sponsorships, just make sure you’re selective about the companies you work with. Just like with affiliate marketing, it’s the most effective when you promote companies you’re passionate about.

6. Offer Consulting

If you’ve cracked the code on how to build a following on TikTok, many people will be willing to pay you good money to learn that information. So you may be able to utilize your insights and offer TikTok consulting services.

Before you move forward with any type of consulting arrangement, make sure you outline the terms and deliverables in a contract. And it may be worth your while to negotiate a revenue-sharing agreement. That way, if any of your clients see massive success on the platform, you’ll receive a piece of their earnings.

7. Sell Your Own Products

And finally, one of the best ways to make money on TikTok is by selling your own products. It may take time for you to get to this point, but selling your own products will give you more control over your brand and income.

When you sign up for the Creator Program or use affiliate marketing, you’ll only get to keep a portion of the money earned through your content. And that company could change the terms of your agreement at any time.

But when you sell your own products, you get to keep 100% of the earnings. And this will allow you to build your own brand and set yourself up for success in the long run.

Final Thoughts

TikTok can be a great way to build a following and start making money as an influencer on the platform. But just like any other business, you’ll have to put in the work first. Take the time to develop a relationship with your followers, and be thoughtful about your monetization strategies.

And only promote products and services that you really believe in. This will give you the best chance of success in the long run.

By Jamie Johnson

Jamie Johnson is a freelance writer who covers a variety of personal finance topics, including investing, loans, and building credit. In addition to writing for GOBankingWrites, she currently writes for clients like Quicken Loans, Credit Karma, and the US Chamber of Commerce.

Sourced from GOBankingRates

By Michael Allison

More trouble for the social media company.

What you need to know

  • TikTok is facing complaints from European consumer bodies.
  • The BUEC and 15 other bodies accused the company of being lax with data and having skewed terms of service.
  • By way of response, TikTok offered a meeting with BEUC representatives to “listen to their concerns.”

TikTok is facing multiple complaints from the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), and other consumer organizations in 15 European countries over privacy rights violations. The BEUC today argued that the social media app breached EU consumer rights and failed to protect children from both inappropriate content and stealth advertising. It called for a comprehensive EU investigation into TikTok’s policies and practices and requested more transparency from the company.

More specifically, the BEUC alleged that TikTok was unclear in its terms of service with the terms drafted to give outsized benefits to TikTok rather than users when it came to content ownership and remuneration.

The BEUC also took aim that TikTok’s virtual coins as well as its hashtag challenges, noting that both provided significant financial benefit for TikTok with little benefit for users. when it came to hashtag challenges, the body also accused TikTok of not doing due diligence in protecting teen and child users from suggestive content.

Finally, the BEUC stated that TikTok violated the GDPR by being unclear about what personal data it collected and how it used it.

Monique Goyens, BEUC Director, said in a statement:

In just a few years, TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps with millions of users across Europe. But TikTok is letting its users down by breaching their rights on a massive scale. We have discovered a whole series of consumer rights infringements and therefore filed a complaint against TikTok.

Children love TikTok but the company fails to keep them protected. We do not want our youngest ones to be exposed to pervasive hidden advertising and unknowingly turned into billboards when they are just trying to have fun.

Together with our members – consumer groups from across Europe – we urge authorities to take swift action. They must act now to make sure TikTok is a place where consumers, especially children, can enjoy themselves without being deprived of their rights.

Speaking to Reuters, TikTok responded:

We’re always open to hearing how we can improve, and we have contacted BEUC as we would welcome a meeting to listen to their concerns.

The company has faced more challenges than most nascent social media did in their early years including attempted U.S. bans, temporary bans in Pakistan, and a seemingly permanent one in India leading to potential divestment.

Feature Image Credit: Source: Android Central

By Michael Allison

Sourced from androidcentral