How to Use TikTok Challenges for Business?
What are TikTok challenges?
Tiktok Challenges are campaigns (or trends) that invite people to create their own videos based on performing a specific task. These tasks might include:
- Displaying a talent
- Showing off how you use a product (for example, achieving a certain look with a beauty product)
- Using a filter
- Performing a dance or skit
- Lipsyncing with a specific TikTok sound
Hashtags make these trends and the marketing content created for them more visible and easier to find. Although some TikTok challenges are totally organic (like the #OldTownRoadChallenge), others represent branded promotions (like #GuacDance).
How Brands Can Use TikTok Challenges to Grow Their Business:
Participate in Existing Challenges
The easiest and most common way for brands to leverage TikTok challenges for business is to participate in an ongoing challenge. All you need to do is to find a trending TikTok challenge and then participate in it.
This allows you to ride the popularity of an already trending TikTok challenge, without much effort on your part.
Find Trending Hashtag Challenges
If you want to participate in an existing challenge, you first need to do some research and look for trending TikTok hashtags. You can find these on the “Discover” tab of your TikTok account.
You will see the most popular hashtags, along with the top content that uses the hashtag and the total views that the hashtag gathered. Not all hashtag challenges have the word “challenge” in the hashtag.
You need to go through the digital trending hashtags to see if it requires you to do something specific and create your own video on it.
Select a Relevant Challenge for Your Brand
The next step is to decide which of the trending marketing challenges you can participate in as a brand. You need to choose something that is relevant to your brand or niche.
What this means is that it makes sense for a Food & Beverage brand to participate in an eating or cooking related challenge, but not for other brands. Similarly, a makeover challenge might be relevant for beauty and fashion brands, but not for others.
Give it Your Branded Twist and Participate
Once you have selected a trending TikTok challenge, the next step is to participate in it and create your video of undertaking the challenge. You can ask your employees to do that or collaborate with influencers to represent your brand in the challenge.
We would recommend asking your employees to be the face of your brand when participating in existing challenges. It looks more authentic and relatable.
Create Your Own Challenge
Another way in which you can use TikTok challenges for your business is to create one and then promote it to ensure that it trends. This is, however, easier said than done.
Creating your own branded challenge requires lots of research, creativity, and time. You need to come up with an idea and then see it through to execution starting from scratch.
Take Inspiration From Other Brands
As with any other marketing tactic, the first step is always research. You need to do your homework and collect all relevant information before you create your challenge.
This entails looking at past challenges that were successful and how brands used them for their businesses. What was the concept? Who was it for? How did they promote it? What benefits did they derive from it?
Only after you have analyzed the past success stories, can start creating your digital challenge. Learn from other brands’ successes and failures to fuel your own strategy.
Promote It
The final step in this process to create a successful branded TikTok challenge is to promote your challenge. An easy way to do that is to use TikTok influencer marketing to increase the reach and popularity of your challenge.
You can ask influencers to take your challenge by creating and sharing a video on TikTok following the rules and using your branded hashtag. This will let their followers know about the challenge and some of them will likely participate in it.