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Tik Tok and How to Use It!

blog estelle popular May 11, 2020

Tik Tok and how to Use It! by Estelle

So what is Tik Tok?

Tik Tok is an app that was actually created in 2016… it’s just taken a while for it to catch on. I remember a few years ago when my step daughter tried to explain Music.ly… and Vine. I didn’t really get it but even then I thought it was pretty cool. Fast forward 4 years to January 2020 and Tik Tok was actually the most downloaded app in the world!

Now most people are going to take one look and either love it or hate it…most people above the age of 25 don’t really understand how to even use it… especially not for business and so I wanted to break it down for you…and hopefully see more of us oldies (I say that very loosely) over there!

So why should you be using TT? Even if you have no idea how to use it or why you should be using it… have a go. The first video I created was awful. I had absolutely no idea… I actually did it to impress my son on Christmas day with a cool surprise (you can watch the video over here video https://vm.tiktok.com/38wse4/)
But I’ve been on the edge of TikTok for a while. There are so many ways in which Instagram and TT cross over you can imagine my excitement!

So firstly get on there and watch the videos… this is the easiest way to get inspiration for your own videos. The idea with TT is that you can create your own videos… many people joining using a hashtag to create a community like experience (much like Instagram).

The videos can be of anything you choose but research is showing that using the most popular sounds and also trending hashtags may help in putting your video our there to the world. Now unlike Instagram, the amount of followers you have doesn’t make a difference on who sees your video. An account with very few followers (like mine) can have videos go viral (like this one, https://vm.tiktok.com/3LdHEY/)

The TT alogorithym is a much-guarded secret right now but from what I can gather it’s a little like Instagram in that your video is shown to your followers and is drip fed into other peoples feed. If people start to interact, like comment, share then this flags up that the content is good and so it is then shown to even more people in the end creating viral content.

So why should you be using TT? Well first of all its pretty fun! You can lose hours of the day if you are not careful (stats actually show that the average user spends over 50 mins per day on the app). But from a business perspective it’s a great way to grow your brand and visibility and it will also help with getting your fans and followers engaged! It’s also a great way for you to share your content with the world!

Brands such as Levis are all over TT and have amassed over 5.5k user generated videos and had 10.5M videos views during the 6 day campaign for #InMyDenim. By creating a branded hashtag and encouraging your fans and followers to get involved you are increasing your visibility and engagement as well as creating UGC.

There’s tonnes of ways you can create cool effects from sliding videos to filters and games. TikTok has it all.

To create a TT you simply tap the cross icon at the bottom, this then gives you the option to create a video or upload one from your camera roll.

After uploading you can then add in the cool filters, effects and other options. There are literally so many to play with… go get creative!

You can also record multiple segments within a video, use hands free and a timer option.

You can add in a sound either before or after the video. Using popular sounds or sounds that are trending will also help with visibility.

Once you are done recording simply add in your caption. You are limited in characters so keep it short and sweet. Include relevant hashtags… try using hashtags that are trending to raise your visibility.

You can check the trending hashtags and look at all the latest content by simply tapping the discover icon at the bottom of the screen before recording.

And there you have it a quick guide to TT. And don’t worry if your video isn’t an overnight success. TT doesn’t work like Instagram and Facebook… even old content can end up going viral if it has a small peak in engagement.

Be sure to head on over and check out my tiktok for lots of my usual Instagram tips and tricks!

Until next time…

Estelle x