Tours and Activity Marketing using TikTok

Everyone is aware of the shift in power on social media from Facebook to Instagram to TikTok. After recently celebrating its 1 Billionth monthly active user TikTok has very much drawn the attention of not only the younger generation but also an increasing number of middle-aged and older users.

In this article, we will explore some practical steps for getting started and producing content for your business using TikTok.

Getting Started

1 - Register as a Business Account on TikTok

After you download and setup yourself on TikTok, in the top right hand corner of the screen press the three dots, tap ‘Manage Account’ and then select the option to switch your account to a ‘Business Account’.  The benefits of a business account are:

• Access to better analytics
• Access to non-copyright music

2 - Understand the ‘For You’ page

Start scrolling! but don’t just mindless scroll, you are actually undertaking creative research. Try search for similar business types to yours, take notes of the content they are putting out and start brainstorming for your first TikTok video!

The For You page on TikTok is pretty much the homepage for everyone using the app and the source of which most people will discover your brand. The for you page displays TikTok videos to people based on what the app thinks they want to see, you may of heard of the algorithm.

3 - Understand the TikTok Algorithm

The TikTok algorithm basically takes note of how long you spend watching videos and which videos you skip past, it then trys to show you more of the type of videos that you have previously shown interest in. In theory, if your video is similar to that of your competitors and you use similar hashtags in your post, your video should display in the same sequences of videos.

4 - Audio, It’s important on TikTok

The easiest way to go viral on TikTok is to pioneer a sound that other content users catch on and reuse in their own videos, TikTok serves up videos that use audio which is currently trending. Once you view a video with audio you might like to use, tap the spinning icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen to bring up the audio screen, here you can save sounds to use later.

As previously stated in this article, having a business account means not all audio is available to you because of copyright, if an audio sound is available though, make sure to save it for later use and the more people who are also using that audio the better.

5 - Housekeeping

Your Profile - Admining your account is important, make sure your profile picture and service description are clear, consider utilising Linktree if you would like to put multiple links to your website and products.

Inbox - Replying to all of your comments on TikTok is vitally important to growing your profile and engagement.

6 - Going Live

Going live on your TikTok is only possible once you hit 1000 subscribers, going live can be a great way of showing your tour or activity in real-time. If your products are linked from your profile then this can be a easy organic method for generating sales online.

Getting Started With Ads

1 - Register on TikTok Ads Manager

Once you have your profile completed, register on TikTok Ads Manager : https://ads.tiktok.com/

What you will need to start a campaign:

• A prerecorded ad video

2 - Create a Campaign

The TikTok ads manager platform enables you to run campaigns through your TikTok business account. These ad campaigns can be used to achieve many objectives that will help your business grow over time, they include:

• Reach - show your ad to as many people as possible
• Traffic - generate more traffic through to your profile and website
• View - get more views and engagement
• Leads - collect leads for your business
• Interaction - get people talking about your service
• Promotion - getting users to install your app
• Conversion - driving leads to your website

3 - Choose Destination [Tour or Activity]

Once you have your campaign setup, TikTok Ads Manager enables you to choose what type of link you would like use for your campaign, this is important because you want anyone who views your ads to be brought directly to your tour or activity. We are happy to work with our tour and activity providers to ensure that their TikTok ads are configured to reach their maximum potential.

3.1 - Pixel Setup

TikTok has developed its own pixel which enables you to track conversions from your TikTok ads and feed them into your google analytics, this is a technical step and will require a developer to add the TikTok pixel code into code of your website, you can also opt to view analytics on your TikTok Instant Page.

4 - Target Demographics

Here you can choose which locations, genders, age range, household income and inrests and behaviours you would like to tagert. Narrowing this down to your known customer type will save you both money and also increase the likelihood of a booking from your ad.

5 - Budget and Schedule

Here you can choose how long you would like your ad to run to for and for how much. You can also specify which time of the day the ad should run on, this can be crucial in getting your ad in front of users at a time in which they are more likely to convert.

6 - Ad Setup

At the last step of setting up your ad, if you are a first time user you will be prompted to link your TikTok account. Then you will be prompted to upload your video, short form video is recommend to keep a potential customers attention [so 15-20 seconds max]. Once you have your video uploaded it’s then time to add the Ad text [compelling language to prompt a booking], you can choose to vary the call to action text for your ad to see which performs best. There is also optional tracking which can be added in so you can garner more metrics from the video.

Once you are happy that the ad is configured correctly you submit the ad for approval and wait for your prompt to pay and launch the ad. Your ad will then display for the duration of the schedule or budget that you applied during the setup.

Conclusion

Short form video advertisements where potential users can get a taste for your product is the way forward for online advertising in the near future. TikTok is a relatively new platform in the social media space so getting in early is highly recommended. Contact us today to begin your journey in advertising through the social media app with 1 Billion monthly active users.