6 big tips for increasing TikTok engagement with your music brand

TikTok has become a major driver of music promotion and discovery across a broad swathe of demographics, and artists would be ill-advised to miss out. Here, we look at six important tips for maximizing your engagement on the platform.

Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0

If you haven’t noticed, TikTok is a huge driver of music these days, with almost a billion users that spend over 85 minutes a day on the platform. On top of that, there’s over 100 million in the U.S. that use it, with 55% of the audience between the ages of 25 and 44, so it’s not just for teenagers. But it doesn’t work the way other social networks do, so you have to use a different strategy to make your posts work on the platform. Follow these Big 6 Tips to maximize your engagement there.

#1 – Create Unique Content For TikTok

This is one time where you can’t repurpose content from another platform and make it work. TikTok videos are only 60 seconds in length, but you have to tell you story in the first 15 seconds to resonate with viewers. That’s always a good strategy, but the sensibilities of the platform are different than any others that you’ll encounter.

#2 – Play To The Audience

If you want to take advantage of the TikTok’s algorithm, you have to play to what the audience wants and not necessarily what you feel like posting. The growth and life cycle of a video is directly related to audience engagement, so if you’re hitting them with something they don’t care about, your video will have a very short lifespan.

#3 – Use The Right Hashtags

Hashtags are there to amplify your content, identify competition, and get more followers, therefore choosing the right ones to use is critical. Incorporate trending hashtags, and watch what your competitors are using for ideas.

#4 – Cross-Post, But Be Careful

Cross posting is helping in making people aware you’re on the platform, but avoid posting the same content elsewhere. First of all the format won’t necessarily work on other platforms, but you’ll also bleed viewers from TikTok, which is where you need them for the engagement required to activate the algorithm.

#5 – Participate in Trends And Challenges

Not everything has to be about your music and brand. If you find a trend or challenge that aligns with your branding sensibilities, jump on the opportunity. The reason that’s a good idea is that trends and challenges are more likely to appear on the feed, so there’s more opportunities for exposure.

#6 – Consider A Paid Ad Campaign

Paid advertising on TikTok is becoming more and more effective, as it’s a good way to reach new followers and increase engagement. The ad budget can be modest and still see results, but remember that you’re creating branded TikToks instead of ads like on other platforms.

TikTok can be confusing at first, especially if you’ve developed some chops on other platforms, but following these 6 Big Tips should get you a lot closer to your TikTok goals.