TikTok is having a moment right now. The social media platform dominated in 2021 with over 656 million downloads and even passed up Google several times in the past year as the top domain. It continues to climb in relevance as we reach the midpoint of 2022 with over 70 million downloads on the App Store in just Q1. It’s clear: TikTok is a remarkably dynamic and exciting platform worth considering for any digital content marketing strategy. However, building an audience on a new platform with a unique content style can be overwhelming. Whether working with an agency or building your own brand, it’s more important than ever to utilize TikTok for business. Here are eight tools to help you find trends, create engaging content, and develop ads that perform.
TikTok Trends Discovery Tool
The Trends Discovery Tool is part of TikTok’s ever-expanding Creative Center. This tool is a spiritual successor to the recently removed discover tab (replaced by the friends tab). Using this tool, you can gain crucial insight into what’s trending on TikTok and access to in-depth analytics relating to hashtags, audios, videos, and creators. The Trends Discovery Tool also allows you to hone your search on a specific country or industry. With breakdowns based on demographics and related trending topics, the tool offers lots of flexibility regarding how narrow or broad your focus is. The Trends Discovery Tool can provide valuable insight and steer you in the right direction for creating content as part of a challenge, a dance, or a meme.
TikTok Creative Insights
TikTok’s Creative Insights reveals performance data behind the presentation and editing of videos. This tool includes data on how video duration, resolution, the presence of sound, and the number of scenes impact overall impressions and conversions. You can use Creative Insights to determine areas for improvement in your content. This data will help you streamline and develop internal guidelines for content to ensure the best possible performance.
TikTok Creative Tools
You can find TikTok’s official video editor within Creative Tools. This simple and effective video editor makes creating content for the platform a breeze. Everything is already formatted and optimized so that when you finish up a video, it will be perfect for TikTok. To make things even easier, TikTok’s Creative Tools have a growing set of video templates that can save time or provide a solid place to start playing around with the editor.Â
TikTok Creator Marketplace
Creator Marketplace is TikTok’s new collaboration platform that brings brands and TikTok creators together. The Creator Marketplace is a great place to start if you want to get into influencer marketing. Creators list their rates, interest, and content that best showcases what they might add to your brand. Brands can connect with creators through direct messaging or open campaigns inviting creators to apply. With a wide selection of creators and straightforward on-platform contracts, you will find the right creator in no time.Â
TikTok Top Ads
TikTok’s Top Ads gives you access to top-performing ads on TikTok. Top Ads provides an in-depth look at how and why ads performed as well as they did – evaluating the ads’ success in lead generation, traffic, views, conversion, reach, and even app installs. You can also sort top-performing ads by country, industry, and timeframe. If you sort by data such as the reach, click-through rate, or 6s views rate, you can get a sense of the kind of ads that get initial attention and retain it. This data can offer critical insights when planning what type of ad content you wish to create on TikTok.
TikTok Ads Manager X TikTok Tactics
The TikTok Ads Manager is already a powerful tool that gives you complete control of your TikTok campaigns but can be a bit overwhelming. If you are just starting or you don’t have the benefit of a digital marketing team, TikTok Tactics can help. TikTok Tactics provides incredibly valuable tutorials, guides, and best practice tips that ensure you can create solid campaigns and course correct when things go wrong. TikTok Tactics provides clarity and insight on the critical areas of the campaign process like web and app attribution, targeting, bidding, and optimization. It also provides tips on building your catalog and getting the most out of your creative.
TikTok Video Scheduler
We have previously discussed the versatility and usefulness of content schedulers like Later on this site. Usually, you would need a third-party app to schedule posts. Still, TikTok recently added the ability to post up to 10 days in advance. While TikTok’s scheduler is not as robust as systems like Later or CoShedule, it’s a powerful addition to TikTok in its own right. The TikTok Scheduler can be helpful to brands and creators who are just testing the water with bulk content creation and scheduled release. Posting a TikTok video daily can be overwhelming, and missing a post can be a significant setback. This tool lets you get ahead of the curve and plan your content more effectively.
TikTok #trendalert
Last but not least is the #trendalert hashtag. While not an official tool, the TikTok community itself comes in clutch for spotting emerging trends. Following #trendalert can go a long way to finding and capitalizing on an emerging before it reaches critical mass. They might not all go viral, but it’s good to keep an eye on the hashtag just in case. When you follow #trendaltert on TikTok, you will also begin to get an intuitive sense of the platform and what audiences are looking for from a less data-driven perspective.
Conclusion
TikTok is here to stay; knowing how to navigate and create content for the platform will be a must going into the future. The tools above won’t make you go viral or produce a hit ad alone. However, knowing about these resources and taking full advantage of what TikTok offers can make a good product or idea shine and get the attention it deserves. These tools will go a long way to help you get acclimated and make the platform more accessible – no matter your experience level.