Content created for the online video-sharing platform TikTok is seemingly everywhere these days. With an estimated 800 million active global users, it’s easy to see why TikTok is making huge waves in social media lately.
If you are thinking about jumping on the TikTok bandwagon with your next campaign, it’s important to figure out if it’s really a worthwhile investment for your company first.
To determine whether joining the latest viral platform is the right marketing move for your organization, consider this advice from 9 members of Forbes Coaches Council.
Forbes Coaches Council members explore different ways to decide if TikTok marketing is worth the ROI.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Make Sure Your Ideal Customer Is Actually There
Before investing marketing dollars, a company should consider whether the audience fits their ideal customer profile. If the marketing audience matches the profile, then the marketing dollars can be a wise investment. Understanding the perfect customer and where that customer can be found is an important step in successful marketing. - Ken Gosnell, CEO Experience
2. Look At Competitors’ Efforts
If you are thinking about spending time, effort and money on marketing through a social media platform, first, determine if your competitors are leveraging it and how effectively their efforts are performing. If they aren’t using it at all, then this might be an opportunity to jump on. If they are using it, and it works, then you’re missing out and losing customers to them. - John Knotts, Crosscutter Enterprises
3. Consider Your Organization’s Values And Audience
Measure your organization’s values and your audience against the viral platform you are considering investing in. The wrong platform can potentially be a financial and professional growth disaster. Choose intentionally and based on who you are, not who you aspire to be. Be who you are at your core. Be yourself; stop wasting your time and energy trying to be someone else. - Frances McIntosh, Intentional Coaching LLC
4. Question The Impact On Existing Initiatives
Too often we are in a rush to add activities. The best questions to ask before investing time and resources into new platforms are: Will this new initiative or platform take away from our ability to focus on existing platforms? If so, is it better? And am I willing to let go of other initiatives? If we don’t ask these questions, then we run the risk of simply increasing busy-ness. - Billy Williams, Archegos
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5. Gauge Your Level Of Commitment
Ask yourself, “How committed are we?” This question will save you tons of time and money. If you’re going to try a new platform, it’s best to go all in to gauge if it’ll work for you and your business because dabbling won’t give much ROI. If you’re willing to devote the right amount of time to create good content, growing your following and building a community, then it may be a great opportunity! - Miranda VonFricken, Miranda VonFricken - Masterminds & Personal Growth Coaching!
6. Study Consumer Trends For Your Company
Understand the consumer trends for your own company. Are your customer demographics moving to platforms such as TikTok or some other type of platform? First, decide which social media platforms the target audience engages on the most. However, if the intention in using the platform is to create brand awareness in a new market, then defining the marketing objective is key. - Jedidiah Alex Koh, Coaching Changes Lives
7. Understand Your Audience And Product
There will always be a risk. However, really understanding the voice and personality of your audience and product will make your decision-making process easier. I highly recommend observing your demographics, writing down your most frequent comments and questions, and asking yourself, “Will this be for brand awareness? Or is this a creative and alternative way to share our product or service?” - Michelle de Matheu, The Mind, Body & Soul Stylist
8. Always Start With A Strategy
Marketing on TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other platform is a tactic for achieving a clearly defined objective. Too often, investments are made in tactics without any larger purpose in mind other than “that’s what everyone else is doing.” Tactics are the “how” of a plan and should not be conflated with the “why.” - Lee Eisenstaedt, Leading with Courage Academy
9. Decide If It Feels Authentic For Your Brand
There are no universal strategies for marketing, business or anything, frankly. There are universal principles, however, and one of the primary ones I stress is authenticity. If your audience is on TikTok, and if that platform is authentic for your message and your brand, go for it. If not, figure out another way. - Dhru Beeharilal, Nayan Leadership, LLC
