Ahead of one of the busiest trading periods of the year, we asked Student Beans’ Social Media Manager for TikTok, Alice Green, her take on Cyber. Including: what TikTok strategies will prove effective, how to build trust, a strong community and brand loyalty with consumers on TikTok, and what’s the number one thing brands should avoid doing during Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Get the full lowdown on Black Friday and Cyber Monday with our Cyber Content Hub. Ready to launch your bespoke student marketing campaign? Speak to a student marketing expert today.
The video, transcribed
So Black Friday and Cyber is already so saturated. It makes it really hard to cut through the noise, especially on TikTok.
You see so many ads from different brands and Gen Z are really clued up on this. They know when they’re being sold to.
So if you want to appeal to Gen Z on TikTok specifically, you need to do one of two things:
- Give your ad another function other than selling.
So is it teaching the user something? Is it funny or relatable? Does it give a lasting impression of who you are as a brand? Show them that you’re more than just the product that you sell.
2. And the second thing would be make your content appear as organic as possible.
Maybe look at tying into a content pilar that you already do or a trending sound or a meme could be a good place to start. This will make sure that your ad doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb and doesn’t look like it’s infiltrating somebody’s for you page.
How to build trust, a strong community and brand loyalty with consumers on TikTok?
I can’t stress this enough, it would have to be community management. So I think brands often overlook this because there’s no instant payoff. It’s not something you can track with ease either.
So brands should start putting in the work with their audience now, if they’re not already, and not the week of cyber. If they begin the relationship building, now, potential customer will have their brand in mind when it comes to those all important shopping periods.
What should brands avoid doing when it comes to TikTok strategy?
Don’t put every idea and amount of creativity you have behind one post because it might just flop, you’re more likely to have success with consistent content topics and more of it throughout the year, you can’t roll out a massive sales campaign on TikTok but be dead silent the rest of the year and expect top tier results.
Don’t overthink it as well. Would you stop and engage with the content that you’re posting if you remove the product bias? If not, you need to go back to the drawing board.