29 May 5 Types of TikTok Content Brands Can Dominate

Before 2020, TikTok was slowly growing a following among Gen Z audiences worldwide. Now, with the recent shift in consumer behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TikTok has grown to over 800 million active users and diversified its audience with a rapid increase in Millennial users.

So now that all eyes are on TikTok, how do brands create an active presence that drives business results? One thing’s for sure, it’s not by participating in dance challenges.

While the dances, voice-overs, and makeover content are extremely entertaining, there’s now more opportunity and diversity in the TikTok content that exists. Below are five examples of content types that your brand could easily leverage without compromising your brand’s tone of voice on social media.

One last tip before you move forward, don’t make the mistake of replicating your Instagram content for TikTok. While Instagram is the place for visually stunning content, TikTok thrives off more disheveled, authentic videos that aren’t over-produced. So, don’t worry too much about perfection.

Home Renovations

With so many people staying home, lots of social content has focused on home organization and renovations. On TikTok specifically, there have been two content types that have stood out in this category that your brand could replicate.

The first is a long-form video that strings together small clips of the entire renovation process. This can be accompanied by music with a voice-over explaining what’s being accomplished throughout the video, or you can insert copy throughout the video. We recommend using an audio clip since most people, unlike on Instagram Stories, have their sound on while browsing through TikTok. Also, if you take this approach, you can break your video into parts to help document the entire process properly.

@mikaylamatthews

Day 1 renovating my bathroom! Come back tomorrow to see more updates 🙂 ##fyp##day1##renovation##homerenovation##viral

♬ original sound – mikaylamatthews

The other popular content type is one that leverages a specific sound effect, Fire in the Hole. This asset is much shorter, and typically shows the before of a room, an item thrown in to replicate a bomb as the door shuts, only to open the door and reveal a whole new room. (note, this sound is also used for organization content as well!)

@cloflo72

##fireinthehole ##fireintheholechallenge

♬ Let’s move out – sarahplus3x

While you’re starting out, it might be best to create both types of content to see which one performs better for your brand and apply those learnings moving forward.

Recipes

Another new at-home hobby that has made many consumers fearful of fitting into their jeans has been baking and/or cooking. While Tasty reinvented recipe videos a few years back, TikTok has created another home for this type of content.

Unlike the Tasty video style, TikTok recipes are much more personal. They typically include showing an actual person if not in the entire video, at some points in the video, and include a narration of events instead of text overlays.

@cooklikeamother

Blue ribbon 💯 ##recipe ##easyrecipe ##cooking ##apple ##foodlover ##food ##mom ##quarantine ##recipes ##dessert ##baking

♬ original sound – cooklikeamother

We also recommend sticking to the TikTok style here again and looking for the right moments to include transitions. An example of such that’s extremely popular is the snap transition, where the videographer snaps, and then the food is sudden in the bowl versus watching everything be poured in.

Life Hacks and Quick Tips

Remember that TikTok is full of short-form, snackable video content. Take advantage of this and brainstorm quick tips, tricks, and hacks regarding your brand products that are designed to make the audience’s life easier.

@sillybandzonline

##sillybands ##lifehack ##lifehacks ##smallgestures get ##og ##authentic original ##sillybandz ONLY at SillybandzOnline⏺c0️⃣m ##ButterGlossPop ##foryou ##xyz

♬ original sound – sillybandzonline

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out the comments of previous posts across all your social channels. What questions stand out that you could turn into a quick video?

Behind the Scenes

Because TikTok is such an authentic app, what better platform would there be to post behind-the-scenes content? Everyone enjoys a sneak-peak behind the curtain once in a while.

And while you can certainly do the traditional BTS style videos of events or larger productions, TikTok viewers also love to see… how TikTok videos are made! That’s right, content of you creating content. Especially since TikTok has so many interesting editing features and effects, audiences love to see how creators approach their creative.

@andragogan

Behind the scenes of one of my viral video 😂 ##tutorial ##behindthescenes

♬ Savage – Megan Thee Stallion

Beauty and Fashion Tutorials

Last but not least comes another classic content type with a TikTok spin, beauty tutorials. Like the advice above with recipes, this is another asset that performs well on other networks but requires a different editing style to succeed on TikTok.

Pro tip if you’re planning to execute this type of asset: Because the video is going to be so quick, plan to use a mix of music and voice-over to explain the tutorial (IF your tutorial needs to be explained) and have the subject in the video working through the look. This will make the best use of what little time you have to capture the audience’s attention.

@irisbeilin

Going glam with my new favorite @elfcosmetics products. ##Makeuphacks ##MakeupHack ##eyechallenge ##beautyhacks ##eyeslipsface ##elfambassador

♬ ALL IN – ZaeHD & CEO

Looking Ahead: Livestreaming

While not currently available, it was recently announced that TikTok wants to expand into the live-streaming space. This makes sense considering the uptick in live video creation and consumption following COVID-19. The company also hopes that adding live video will help the app continue to grow as well as attract new users. This is something brands will certainly want to keep an eye on in the coming months.

As a brand, we know you’re not on TikTok “just to be on TikTok” (well, hopefully). You’re there to get in front of your audience and drive some real business results. And with only an estimated 4% of TikTok accounts brand accounts, your brand has a huge opportunity to thrive on the platform. Hopefully, the above content types help with your editorial planning process.

And if your brand hasn’t yet made the leap and created a TikTok account, no worries. There’s also a huge opportunity to work with TikTok creators (aka influencers). These creators are likely well versed already at creating the different content types above, and great partners to work with. Additionally, TikTok recently began testing a “shop now” button with influencers, creating a new way to drive sales from social media.

Keep up to date on what other new features TikTok launches, along with other insightful social media marketing news by subscribing to our bi-weekly newsletter below!