Johnny Carson, the comic genius, gave one of the most renowned graduating addresses ever delivered. Carson’s lecture on the prescriptions for assured pain in life was intended to be a rebuttal to the standard counsel offered to adolescents in the form of a how-to manual for success. Based on the famed algebraist Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi’s method of inverting issues to get the correct answer, this is exactly how one might succeed in developing a TikTok influencer campaign. By concentrating on the factors that will result in failure, we may utilize this as a technique to prevent it.
1. Make no attempt to establish an objective for your campaign. Engage every influencer you come across!
Following the advice of “Shoot! Ready? Aim!” is one of the simplest ways to ensure the failure of any marketing campaign. Without a clear objective in mind when approaching TikTok, it’s possible to recruit hundreds, if not thousands, of hungry influencers eager to earn money and create humorous videos. Are they engaging in the appropriate activities? Are they carrying them out in the proper sequence? A campaign that lacks a defined end goal is certain to fail and be a waste of time and resources.
Rather than that, consider using the SMART methodology. Consider the case of a generic face cosmetics firm.
S – Particular. The objective cannot be vague (for instance, a specific objective might be $50,000 in new sales attributable directly to TikTok).
M – Quantifiable. One can immediately understand the value of measurability when it comes to TikTok. Only advertisements may be clicked immediately from a video, therefore how will you track results: Are there any unique promo codes? Is there a certain URL?
A – Appropriate. Fortunately, this is simplified slightly by the fact that the activity is a sale. ‘A’ is also an achievable goal. Is the $50,000 in new sales a realistic goal or a pipe dream using that version of the methodology?
R – Relative. For a direct-to-consumer face cosmetics firm, driving direct sales through a social marketing platform like TikTok is critical. However, if the cosmetics are only available via a difficult procedure that includes extra barriers prior to purchase, comparable to several B2B prospecting ads, the purpose becomes irrelevant.
T – Temporary. How long will it take to earn the $50,000 in additional sales solely attributed to TikTok? A month’s objective is very different from a year’s aim.
Setting those intelligent objectives will assist the cosmetic firm in avoiding the problem of not understanding why they are doing a TikTok campaign in the first place.
2. There is no need to create a buyer persona. Everyone will want this item!
It is common for first-time business owners to assume that everyone is interested in their product. This optimism often results in a lack of attention on the product’s most potential purchasers. To overcome this logical mistake, buyer personas are often essential. This will assist you in gaining insight into the minds of those most inclined to make a purchase as a result of your TikTok campaign.
Let’s have a look at a more difficult product as an illustration: guitars. Not any guitars… Guitars of the highest quality.
Are you familiar with any former customers? The simplest method to identify buyer profiles is to examine your prior sales – if you are a newer business, you may want to concentrate instead on your major rivals and their clients. In any case, some kind of data is required to get started.
⦁ You probably have their email if you have prior customers or at least some information on who your rivals’ customers are. By using a tool like Clearbit, you can traverse their social footprint, which becomes vital in order to acquire a more complete understanding of your consumers.
Once you’ve established a social presence, you may begin developing psychological profiles. What kind of person do your consumers aim to be? Who are their role models? In terms of their social media activity, does it seem that they have a preference for certain types of content?
⦁ Any inferences may be made about their friends? This is the secret – if you have solid psychological profiles of your customers organized by group, you can use a tool like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to look for comparable job titles and sectors that might help expand the data and reveal intriguing connections. For instance, are all of your high-end guitar customers accountants by chance? Are they a certain age? Are they industry professionals or only enthusiasts?
Knowing who the potential customers are enables the guitar manufacturer to identify everyone from peer influencers to passionate purchasers and aspirational message spreaders, while avoiding populations that do not seem to be represented as buyers, at least during the first round of testing.
3. TikTok is now trending. It’ll be ideal for my purposes, correct!?
It is true that when a network is popular, the focus tends to spread. Additionally, with newer networks, an influencer with a rapidly rising following may be unaware of their value, particularly if this is the influencer’s first experience with viral postings and overall social success. Having said that, TikTok should not be the main route for every use case, since there may be many superior networks available.
The most effective method for evaluating this option is to utilize a social channel usefulness matrix:
How might TikTok fit into such a matrix?
Open Reach – Snapchat is an excellent example of a network with limited open reach, as it requires users to be verified followers of the content. On the other hand, TikTok is similar to YouTube, in that anybody may see the short format videos made. That is a Y.
Visual – is TikTok compatible with visual content? Obviously, it does. Add another Y.
Casual – the casual factor is sometimes associated with brand requirements that necessitate a certain usage of language and script. A simple example would be attempting to attract B2B customers on Linkedin for difficult service. Given that TikTok’s key demographics are younger, it is the biggest Y when compared to the rest of the matrix.
Professional – comparable to casual content consumption, this becomes an issue of whether seeing professional material on the network seems natural. Instagram and Pinterest earned an N when we created the matrix, yet both have developed over time. TikTok would likewise get an N at the moment.
Do you think it’s possible to write a long evaluation of a product or service on TikTok? At the moment, the answer is N. That said, depending on the outcome of TikTok’s M&A and the alignment of technological partners, longer format videos may be the next phase.
Has TikTok’s usage as a cosmetics or guitar brand been influenced by this matrix? Probably not, unless the product’s peculiarities necessitated a more extensive description of what occurred in addition to a before and after video or duet.
4. Bigger is always better; employ the TikTok influencer with the largest following and proceed.
Is larger really preferable? One can only imagine how devastating this plan would be in the absence of clear knowledge of whether TikTok is the appropriate channel to advertise on, to whom, and for what purpose.
The last stage is to identify the appropriate influencer type for the campaign, which may be accomplished rapidly by utilizing another matrix:
Which of the three sorts of influencers best fits the campaign’s needs? If the objective is solely branding and the buyer personas are many and the appeal is wide (for example, a new flavor of snack foods), aspirational influencers with vast followings may be ideal. In the cosmetics and guitar instances above, does this hold true?
A strong reach is sought for the cosmetics brand in order to concentrate on sales. However, given the cosmetics niche’s emphasis on appearance and feel, the most essential demographic match for the consumer personas is likely to be peers. If those peers have a sizable following, this is an added plus. Peer influencers have a natural capacity to swiftly and reliably tell their followers about a product or service, hence increasing sales. Emotional appeal is another compelling reason to use peer-level influencers since purchasers are just as interested in acquiring the emotional state of people selling the product as they are in acquiring the product itself.
For the guitar company, since the product is a high-end instrument with a hefty price tag, content buyers must feel confident in the influencer’s perspective, which is why many businesses choose an authoritative kind. While authoritative influencers may lack the reach of celebrity aspirational types, they are more trustworthy, capable of enlightening, and give enough relevance.
After identifying the broad categories of influencers, a company must get more detailed, since there is considerable variation in the likelihood of impact for TikTok influencers.
The likelihood of impact may be succinctly summarized as follows:
The outcome is calculated as (Reach * Engagement * Relevance) – the cost.
Reach – this is the simplest to measure since TikTok displays the aggregate audience size of each influencer.
Engagement – it seems as if each influencer network and company has a unique approach for gauging engagement. You’ll find numerous excellent articles on Influencer Marketing Hub that will assist you in determining the strategy that is most aligned with how you want to assess engagement. On TikTok, the total number of views on a post may be divided by the influencer’s total number of followers. Recognize, however, that engagement is a changing objective, since certain postings are more popular and evergreen over time than others.
Relevance – by applying the matrix of influencer kinds, it is possible to determine the relevance. However, let’s return to the cosmetics company for the sake of argument. The TikToker who is 20 years younger than your targeted demographic and who on her channel has yet to review a cosmetic product, but who focuses only on cosmetics, is she more relevant to your target audience? You’re assigning a fit percentage, and although it will undoubtedly be a guess (at least initially), it will be a pretty informed estimate.
Cost — While some TikTokers are transparent about their prices, others are not. The cost to consider here must include all of your hidden expenses as well, such as the cost of the goods to you, delivery, and any other intangibles.
By completing this exercise, you’ll be able to narrow down, in general order, which TikTok influencers are the greatest to recruit based on basic math.
5. There is no need to practice your pitch; just email everyone instantly!
Numerous books about the art of pitching have been published. Surprisingly, a good deal of the content in those publications is devoted to prequalifying those single pitches. While direct contact with each influencer identified in the preceding phases may result in some success, the failure rate for the bulk pitch will be far greater.
Rather than that, foster a culture of testing and concentrate only on making the greatest pitch possible, which includes emphasizing conversion-oriented language and fair value exchange.
Avoid sending lengthy proposals that include pamphlets, PDFs with data, and a brand guideline. It’s excessive!
After the difficult task of deciding who to contact has been completed, it is time to focus on communicating with those folks using a simple, clear, and desired message. The moment for sharing enormous volumes of brand data may always be put off.
When it comes to the exchange of value, specificity counts for a lot. Justify your willingness to donate something in return for very specific behaviors. The poorest pitches we encounter are often ambiguous and open-ended, as well as lengthy and unfocused.
Finally, distribute your first pitches in groups to allow for testing. Changing the subject line might help your emails be opened if they are being ignored. If influencers open your emails but do not take any action, you must refocus your message. Increasing the perceived value of the pitch if it doesn’t function. If none of it works, are you contacting the appropriate TikTokers?
6. TikTok is sufficient on its own. What else could you possibly do?
When confronted with a great campaign, the worst thing a brand can do is abandon it and allow it to continue in isolation. The social environment is very broad and diversified, which enables astute brand managers to use the ecosystem in ways that constantly increase the return on the original influencer investment. If effective TikTok posts are being created that meet the campaign’s overall objectives, what more can a business do?
Co-Opt — If a company has permission to do so, why not incorporate the review into landing sites for social proof, convert it to a blog post by providing a textual transcription of the review, or aggregate it with similar reviews as a “wall of love” or giant blog post?
Engage – A low-cost strategy to expand your success is to have a business repost your most successful TikTok review postings and encourage others to do the same.
Amplify – The term “amplify” encompasses a number of different strategies, including the use of TikTok ads, the dissemination of a single post across multiple networks, the expansion of a post’s visibility on other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, or a combination of all of the aforementioned strategies.
Retarget – if the brand is utilizing the appropriate ad network cookies, the promotion’s visitors may be transferred to Facebook or Google for a longer retargeting campaign that increases conversion rates.
Email — the most underutilized marketing medium – works very well with TikTok. Given the campaign’s success, there will be one or more positive reviews. These evaluations may then be included in an email drip campaign sent to potential purchasers, inactive customers who have already paid, or in combination with a reward voucher for loyal customers.
Never allow influencer material to exist in a vacuum; it may be used in an infinite number of ways.
7. Refrain from looking back. When the campaign was launched, it was probably adequate.
By measuring the campaign’s final results against the initial goal, we can evaluate if it was a success or a failure. Throughout the course of a campaign, flawed objectives might be disclosed, prejudices challenged, and adjustments may be required. The only way to get a full picture of the outcome is to do a post-mortem examination.
To do a professional post-mortem, the brand must commit to thorough notetaking throughout the campaign’s duration. Relying on memory for a month or more will result in the loss of information about how influencers replied to the pitch, the amounts and number of influencers who opted to negotiate, the length of time between the pitch and the posted review, and the number of revisions necessary.
Was the objective attained?
Was the objective met using the anticipated buyer personas?
Was traffic more or less congested than anticipated? Why?
How was the conversion rate calculated? Was it different depending on the influencer? Why?
There are several other data-driven questions that demand data-driven responses that can only be obtained by extensive notetaking and data collection during the campaign. From those responses, new ones may emerge, such as if more roles are required to ensure the campaign’s future success, or whether the process can be changed to 1. Accomplish more 2. Operate more quickly 3. Reduce operating costs. Additionally, you must decide if the campaign should be extended to other channels or maybe scrapped completely owing to the outperformance of non-TikTok initiatives.
By concentrating on the specifics of the campaign after it is complete and putting aside any emotions that may come as a result of the campaign’s achievements or failures, a brand may position itself for success rather than succumb to defeat.
