We’re now in the midst of abundant social media trends and TIKTOK is the world’s most visited and popular platform. TikTok hosts a variety of the top short-form video and content platforms that generate tremendously high engagements. Khun Suthasinee Arunyakasem, Account Strategist Lead – TikTok and Khun Ukrit Tungsuebkul CO-Founder and CO-CEO Real Smart Co., Ltd., the Course Directors of The DOTS Digital CommerceX talk about an impact of TikTok towards SMEs, including guidelines and techniques to create TikTok video content.

Why SMEs have to join TikTok battlefield

Khun Ukrit talks about the TikTok phenomenon and why its short video platform influences digital marketing. TikTok is the world’s fastest growing platform with over 1 billion active users per month worldwide. That’s why SMEs use TikTok as a marketing tool to reach target customers effectively.

What TikTok is all about?

Khun Suthasinee mentions about TikTok, a capturing platform which is the source of user-generated short video content that enhances creativity. Users expect that the components of TikTok clips will offer entertainment value like humor, pleasure and knowledge. TikTok was officially launched in May 2017, introduced to Southeast Asia including Thailand in mid of 2018, and TikTok for Business was launched in June 2020. TikTok includes a wide range of content. Apart from 3 main content; Entertainment, Games, and Comedy video clips, there’re also other content categories which have gained a large number of views such as, Scenery & Plant, Family & Babies, and Automotive, with growing rate of 20, 6 and 5 times from last year, respectively.

TikTok users also show engagement with content on platform; 91% click Like, 84% post video on TikTok, 63% comment on video, 57% follow account of video owner, 42% share video on TikTok. In Southeast Asia last year, over 800 million video clips are posted on TikTok with tremendously high engagements

Why businesses advertise on TikTok?

As a remarkable platform, TikTok short video content has become an essential tool for digital marketing. It’s found that short video clip performs best on social media and inspires trust and purchasing behavior. Statistics show that 96% view short clips to study detailed explanation about products and services, 84% are convinced to buy products or services after watching brand videos, 69% love viewing short clips to learn more about products and services, and viewers tend to share video two times more than other content. TikTok helps people see videos of multiple businesses as when videos are shared; people not only see Ads, its content will also connect to engagement, create inspiration together with entertainment. In fact, viewers refer to several product brands which content is produced on TikTok that “Create entertainment, fun and reliability”, and that drives TikTok to be the World’s No.1 for Advertising Equity.

The key that TikTok can draw interest from people is to start setting Sound On to let “sound” attract viewers, creating natural content that matches real life, and presenting simple shots that look real as much as possible. That’s why TikTok videos can connect and reach people easily. More importantly, GlobalWebIndex, TH in January 2020 finds that TikTok helped boost SME sales by building engaging atmosphere and convincing customers to make purchasing decisions easier; 41% of TikTok users find many product brands after seeing their Ads on social media, and 63% use social media platforms to search product information.

Tips to create TikTok video content

Related to current situation, consumers have more options to use media so the business has only 7 seconds to grab customers’ attention. Therefore, “catchy” content is significant in order to deliver what brands want to communicate to customers. The content should be created to appeal the eye of the viewers through music, games, amusement, etc. Khun Suthasinee introduced some principles for creating content to SMEs as follows.

-         Create content from surroundings such as, company information (Introduction to entrepreneurs, Teamwork, Company tour, Daily activities), product presentation (Product packing, Stock arrangement), business suggestions (How to start operating the business? Challenges, Success story). Don’t forget to add fun matters (Share product tips, Provide discount codes, Share customer experiences). An approachable content can easily hook viewer engagements.

-         Create visually appealing or real content and the production doesn’t need to be perfect as most successful content are natural and present the story that offers people involvement.

-         Create an inspiring story of product brand with appealing sound and use techniques from TikTok tools to stimulate humor and entertainment. Don’t be afraid of trying new styles of photo taking, editing and storytelling because TikTok users always crave for trendy and innovative content.

9 tips to create TikTok video clips summarized by Khun Suthasinee

1.   Make the most use of music: Sound and music are essential for videos as viewers can catch key message in few seconds. It’s recommended to use music provided on TikTok, and 900 songs are available under copyright so free from being banned.

2.   Don’t miss key words: Create short and precise speech, caption and text. Make it clear in the first 3 seconds.

3.   Use Influencer to tell a story: Don’t present your products by yourself but let someone do it for you such as, your employees or hiring Influencers for the business that you need them to share a creative video clip on TikTok. For example, TikTok Creator Marketplace, an official platform that invites brands to join hands with TikTok Content Creator. Brand can search which Content Creator best fits their brand image by selecting from criteria, preferable category, average view, follower numbers, and Creator character.

4.   Follow the latest trend: Use #hashtag in advertising as it’s a popular trend, and it helps communicating with TikTok users naturally.

5.   Tell your story with fun and add humor: Increase interest and memorization by advertising that delivers a real and fun story with positive attitude and humor.

6.   Film a video naturally: The production for TikTok advertising video must be well-balanced between real like user-generated content and professional creativity.

7.   Directly communicate with your viewers: Know their needs or be one step ahead and ask them questions directly.

8.   Add attractions with message effects or stickers: Provide information on video that viewers can easily understand and approach.

9.   Use a clear Call-To-Action (CTA) button: Make use of CTA button available in several types, especially for placing advertising such as, Order Now, Contact Now, or indicate clear contact channels.

Solutions for promoting TikTok video

Entrepreneurs can start creating TikTok advertising by promoting process, as it’s one of the primary marketing tools. They can do that by promoting Organic Post on their TikTok Profile with 3 objective options comprising; increase number of Account followers, increase number of Website viewers via Call-To-Action button, and increase number of Post viewers, etc. Besides, TikTok also has another marketing tool called “Self-Serve Platform”, a self-service solution that can be easily and quickly installed for everyone to use. The budget of this tool is flexible and can be adjusted up or down anytime. The tool can penetrate preferable target group by target setting principles such as, population data and interest/behavior. There’re also tools for Retargeting / Lookalike Audience such as, Video template, Smart video tool, Smart text, Soundtrack tool, and editing system to shorten video content (Quick Optimization), including Dashboard page to update measurement (Asset Analysis Report) responding to all business demands such as, increase sales, increase app installations, and increase brand awareness.

Khun Suthasinee wraps up about an opportunity for SMEs and advantages of producing advertising video on TikTok. Videos influence customer behavior, and advertising video on TikTok is the best way to make your business noticeable and being heard. Videos should be real and related to customer daily lives. Using sound and fonts to highlight key message will make your content stand out and easy to approach customers. Besides, using TikTok Creator Marketplace and following trends will help videos reach target group widely. TikTok platforms also provide solutions for users to start doing on their own in simple steps. Consequently, both SMEs and large businesses are able to create advertising videos on TikTok as a marketing tool to grow sales.

 

Source: SCB SME Online Training Course: The DOTS Digital CommerceX “Grow with TikTok: Drive SMEs the way forward and stimulate sales on TikTok”, November 25, 2020