How can we leverage TikTok as businesses? Stay tuned because we’ll be sharing with you the types of TikTok content, and how you can create on-brand content that brings in your ideal target audience. We’ll be talking about some incredible insights into the wild west of TikTok, and behind the scenes of how you can grow your business using this platform!
It might seem like a crazy, weird, wild dance on TikTok, but believe it or not, this app has an incredibly established culture and a whole bunch of unspoken rules. We’ll break it down so you feel comfortable and know exactly how to fit in on this app. And be sure to stick around because we’ll be sharing a reverse research method that is going to give you a headstart on TikTok! You will cut down the time it takes to learn, and give you focus on the exact type of content you should be creating here.
We’ve all heard this on every platform – study your target market and know your target market. This is equally as important on TikTok, but the process is very different. Let’s take a look at how that is.
TikTok Content Types
Let’s take a look at the different types of TikTok content that you will find. They can be put into two buckets: one is evergreen, and the other is trending content.
Evergreen Content
Firstly, we have evergreen content. This is content that is universally true. It’s created based on demographics or psychographics. It’s just good, standalone content that could perform today and could perform next year. Generally speaking, there are four categories of evergreen content, and that is educational, entertaining, engagement, and emotion. Things like your classic movies that are good today and good 10 years from now.
Trending Content
Next up we have trending content, and this is what makes up the majority of the “For You” page. Trending content can range from a dance that everyone seems to do over and over again, to a challenge where a celebrity or a big personality says, “I challenge you to try this without laughing,” “I challenge you to try this with your own twist,” and suddenly your entire “For You” page is filled with people attempting that challenge. A great comparison is the Facebook ice bucket challenge to raise awareness for ALS. What’s amazing is it took over Facebook for months! However, on TikTok, there are new challenges every single week. You’ll see them in your “For You” page, and you can jump on or wait for the next trend.
TikTok Audio Types
So there are really two kinds of audios that you’re gonna be using in your videos. There are original audios, and then there is music that is within the app.
There are two subsets within original audio. One is natively recorded within the TikTok app. The second is recorded externally, and then uploaded to TikTok as you are uploading your videos.
Within music, there are two subsets as well. There are kind of the class evergreen songs that you can use at any time. Tthen there is music that trends, that may or may not get a copyright strike against it at some point because it’s remixed or pulling from some copywritten music. There are lots of reasons why the trending music doesn’t usually stay in play. But one thing is for sure – once the trend is over, that song is as good as gone.
Reverse Research Method
Now that we’ve talked about the different types of TikTok content, let’s dive into the reverse research method. The reason that the reverse research method is so powerful is because we are literally reverse engineering the exact content that your audience is watching.
The very first thing to do is go into TikTok and search for hashtags that your ideal customer is using. Remember, you don’t wanna search for hashtags related to your brand, your niche, or your industry. Unless you’re trying to find more of your competitors rather than your dream customers. For example it could be #workathomemom, busy parents, or you might be looking for marketing agencies. You’re gonna search for the hashtags that you know your ideal customers are using, and you’re going to study the first videos that come up at the very top of the search.
A thing to note: if you enter one keyword for the hashtag search, you’ll also see a whole bunch of other auto-populated hashtags. This can give you some ideas of where you should be looking for your dream customers so make sure to take notes. What do you notice? Do you see any trends within these videos? What patterns are emerging? Perhaps you see a lot of pointing to words that appear on the screen. Or maybe there’s a lot of dancing. The important part is that you start to recognise the different patterns that emerge within your target market. Because the experience for your customers on TikTok will be completely different from another person’s. The more time you spend in this reverse research method, the less time that you will spend wondering what content is gonna perform well!
Have you already created your first TikTok video? Check out our post on how to grow your TikTok account. Or if you have not yet created your first video, let us know if we should create a step-by-step on how to create your first TikTok!
