Are you ready to up your TikTok app marketing game? With over a billion active users, TikTok has become a goldmine for businesses looking to reach a young and engaged audience. But with so many app brands trying to get a piece of the pie, distinguishing yourself from the rest can feel like a herculean task.
Fear not! In this article, we’ve compiled 12 powerful TikTok app marketing tips that will help you scale your installs and conversions. From retargeting to leveraging trending hashtags, we’ve got you covered. Secure your seatbelt and get set to launch your TikTok marketing plan into the stratosphere.
Start testing new content topics
Pinpointing the topics that will make your audience sit up and take notice can be tricky and finding the right tone for your app’s messaging is even harder. To find out which content will ignite engagement, start by testing a variety of topics and tones. Get creators to make several videos covering several hot topics and track the response.
You’ll get a better sense of your audience’s taste, and you’ll also gain valuable information about what kinds of content will make an impact. Once you hit gold, extrapolate from there and start creating content along similar lines. Keep monitoring the response and tweak your content for maximum engagement.
Research your competitors first
If you’re sitting around the marketing table scratching your head, struggling to feel inspired, then the best place to start is by taking a peek into what your direct competitors are doing. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel – if something’s already been successful, it makes sense to build on existing ideas and strategies.
If your competitors are working with a bigger marketing budget, chances are they’ve taken the time to really hone and fine-tune their TikTok marketing campaigns. Researching what they’re doing can give you a wealth of valuable insights and help you to develop TikTok app marketing strategies that you can tailor and make your own.
Focus on one app first (iOS) before Android
You might feel like you want to go in all guns blazing and cover both iOS and Android markets, but it’s best to focus on one platform at a time. iOS users have a smaller market share but they also spend more on apps, so it makes sense budget-wise to target the smaller, more receptive audience first.
Once your TikTok app marketing campaign has taken root in the iOS market, you can then use the insights you’ve gained to replicate your TikTok app marketing strategy in the larger (and tougher) Android market.
Work with a leading TikTok app marketing agency
Struggling to get your campaign off the ground because your team isn’t familiar with TikTok? It might be time to stop the bleary-eyed late nights and let a leading TikTok app marketing agency do the hard work for you.
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House of Marketers is an example of a specialised TikTok app marketing agency, founded by some of TikTok’s early employees. They understand TikTok’s algorithms and data-driven features inside out and have the know-how to develop TikTok campaigns that deliver maximum reach, engagement and conversions.
Source: Unsplash
Make sure your app events are all firing via your MMP
The TikTok algorithm dominates the TikTok experience, and when it comes to TikTok app marketing, it’s all about ensuring that your data is accurate and up-to-date. To ensure this happens, you need to make sure that all of your app events are firing correctly through an MMP (mobile measurement partner) such as Adjust or AppsFlyer.
MMPs help to ensure that your tracking data is accurate, and they also help to identify in-app user behaviour, which can inform TikTok campaigns that are better tailored to users’ interests. You can read more about MMPs here in the House of Marketers blog.
Start optimising for installs, then optimise for registrations, and move down the funnel
Okay, so you ultimately want to convert users into paying customers, but TikTok app marketing is all about taking baby steps. Before anything else can happen, your future customers need to actually install your app. TikTok Ads can be tailored to a range of objectives, from awareness and engagement to instals and in-app purchases.
There’s no point in optimising for registration if you haven’t already got people installing your app – so start at the beginning and optimise to get as many instals as possible. Then, once you have a solid install base, you can start to optimise for registrations and then in-app behaviours, moving down the funnel as you go.
Source: Unsplash
When your custom audience is over 10K, begin retargeting them
A custom audience is a group of TikTok users that have previously interacted with your brand in some way before or have shown some awareness of your brand. If you can retarget these users, you’re likely to see some impressive results. But how big should your custom audience be before you start your retargeting campaign?
TikTok’s algorithm collects your campaign data and creates a custom audience segment made up exclusively of TikTok users who have come into contact with your brand. This data is very useful and you want to gather enough of it so that you can understand your audience and inform your campaigns before you begin the process of retargeting. Once your audience has grown to a sizable 5-10K users, you’ve reached the optimal point to start leveraging the power of retargeting.
Don’t spend money on bad ads for the sake of it. Forget about them and move on
Has your marketing team made a dud? As the saying goes, ‘you have to be prepared to fail in order to succeed’. TikTok App marketing is no different; you’re going to create some bad TikTok Ads from time to time.
The key is not to dwell on them and waste valuable resources trying to fix them. If a TikTok Ad isn’t resonating with users, don’t waste time trying to push it – move on, forget about it, and focus your efforts on TikTok Ads that are performing well. When it comes to marketing on the TikTok App, you must be willing to experiment and accept that sometimes your strategies may fall short. It’s okay if something isn’t working – just pick yourself up, move on, and try something new!
Source: Unsplash
Test TikTok iOS app profiles
TikTok is always innovating to help marketers maximise their campaigns, and they recently unveiled a new feature that allows you to create an embedded iOS app profile within TikTok itself. With this tool, users on TikTok can click directly on an embedded thumbnail within your ads, which leads straight to your app profile. From there, they can download your app. This feature isn’t available for Android apps yet, but it will hopefully come out in the near future.
From your app profile, users can see photos of the app (which you must upload) and a bio that is pre-filled from the app store. You can edit this text as needed to create your ideal profile for your TikTok audience. They can also view the number of downloads, read reviews, and check your app rating.
Just like how you would test your TikTok Ads, you should also Test TikTok iOS App Profiles to find out which ones perform the best. Try out different text and photos, tweak the bio and see how TikTok users respond. Once you hit on a winning formula, keep using it to drive more downloads and conversions.
Test different CTA buttons (install now, download, dynamic etc.)
The power of your CTA cannot be underestimated. This one little feature can make or break your TikTok Ads. Don’t believe us? Then start testing different configurations and find out for yourself. With over twenty distinct call-to-action text options, from straightforward ‘install now’ and ‘download’ buttons to auto-generated, dynamic CTAs, TikTok permits you to customise your campaign for maximum impact. The correct CTA text can make a major difference in the success of your campaign, so take care to choose wisely.
If you choose TikTok’s dynamic CTA option, the platform will automatically adjust your CTA depending on who is viewing the ad. Based on previous user data, TikTok will display the CTA that they have determined will have the most impact. TikTok also recommends the best CTA for your type of campaign before you go live, so there’s plenty of guidance available if you’re not sure what to choose. And once you decide on a CTA, you can start testing it out to see how TikTok users respond. If you’re not getting the results you hoped for, try out a few different options until you hit on the right one.
Source: Unsplash
Utilise TikTok creators and spark codes
You might have heard of Spark Ads – they are a type of TikTok ad that allows you to boost content created by TikTok creators (or your own brand profile). They blend seamlessly with organic content on the For You Page, and any likes, shares or comments are retained on the video after the ad campaign has run its course. This makes it a really useful way to build awareness around your brand while harnessing the marketing power of influencers and creators.
A spark code is a code generated by a creator who is open to the idea of partnering with a brand to boost their video. For example, let’s say a creator made a video talking positively about your app. They have the option to generate a spark code, which allows advertisers to use their video as a Spark Ad, boosting it across TikTok. In return, the TikTok creator will benefit from extra exposure and potentially gain more followers. Using TikTok creators in this way can be a very effective app marketing strategy for budget-conscious brands.
Utilise memes (they’re great for boosting instals when done right)
TikTok users love memes. The TikTok audience is known for their quirky, irreverent sense of humour and love for all things meme-able. So why not tap into the viral power of memes to drive more app instals? You don’t have to create your own (but if you hit gold this can be powerful) – you can ride on the coattails of existing TikTok memes.
Sometimes, TikTok memes and trends might seem slightly incomprehensible. Take for example the recent “let me do it for you” trend, which combined three extremely disparate subjects (singer FKA Twigs, long dogs, and the Muppets) into surrealist TikTok gold. In fact, many of these meme videos featured a well-known brand – Pringles. They were probably wishing they’d been the ones to create the meme, but it just shows you how much exposure you can get from TikTok trends.
With a little bit of fortuitous luck, you too could be the next TikTok meme. But also bear in mind that using TikTok memes can come across as try-hard if not done correctly. Don’t feel compelled to use TikTok memes if they don’t properly align with your brand or are not suitable.
@justinyi_let me do it for you♬ original sound – user57246212142
Source: TikTok
Need some extra help?
We hope these app marketing tips have inspired you to leverage the power of TikTok to take your app’s instals and conversions to new heights. If you need extra guidance, don’t hesitate to contact House of Marketers for a free consultation. As an early TikTok employee, founder Inigo has built a team of TikTok marketing experts with the know-how and experience to help your app hit the TikTok jackpot. Take the plunge today and kickstart your next TikTok app marketing campaign by getting in touch.
