In the past few years, TikTok has taken the world by storm, becoming the new social media of choice for many. What began as a platform where young people shared dances and lip-synced to songs and movie scenes, has now become a hub for anything and everything. From cooking to skincare, K-pop to make-up, fashion, politics, bee farming; you name it and there’s a community or at least an account dedicated to it on TikTok.

Like any social media platform, TikTok has its own set of stars; unlike other platforms, those influencers are not necessarily the best way to get exposure for you or your client.

Of course, the traditional influencer campaign option works and works well on TikTok, but what sets TikTok apart from the rest, is the very essence that brands should be capitalising on.

The content users consume on TikTok is not generated solely by the people they follow, rather it is curated by an algorithm specific to each user, culminating in a personalised “For You Page” (FYP). Due to this, creators can share their videos not only with their followers, but potentially with the millions of TikTok users worldwide. It’s thanks to the FYP that videos, songs and trends become viral within a matter of days, often hours. It doesn’t matter if you have millions of followers or 50; if the algorithm works in your favour, follower count is irrelevant.

Unlike any other platform, plagiarism on TikTok is commonplace and heavily encouraged. Users repurpose scripts, songs, dances or just general themes of videos, and have the ability to copy the sound from one users video straight onto their own. This results in TikToks not only being viewed, but potentially recreated millions of times. For this reason, TikTok trends are quickly becoming one of the most powerful forms of earned media.

So how can public relations practitioners use this tool to their advantage?

Create a trend:
If your client is wanting to gain exposure for a new product, now is the time to figure out how you can incorporate the product into a quick and enticing video. Think of what makes your product unique, relatable or strange and use that to your advantage. For example, American apple juice brand, Martinelli’s rose to TikTok infamy after users found out that biting the bottle sounds just like biting into an apple.
Creating a trend like this will take some trial and error, but can result in a boom of exposure for your brand.

Follow a trend:
Use the trending page to see what videos are doing the rounds and what hashtags are helping them along, then see how you can switch it up to your client’s needs. For example, an American ex-patriate creator started a series on her account titled “Random things in my Japanese home that just make sense.”

This led to other users sharing attractive and useful features within their home, but more interestingly (and importantly), started a trend of users sharing things that did and did not make sense about almost anything. Brands took advantage of this, as can be seen in this video series regarding Airpods and an app called Amiri.

This, like many other viral trends on TikTok can be easily remodelled to showcase anything; presenting an amazing opportunity for brands to connect with large and varied audiences, and maybe gaining virality in the process. The trick is to jump on the trend as soon as possible, be creative and not be afraid of showing your brand’s fun and relaxed side.

At first glance, TikTok can be intimidating and seem off limits to anyone above the age of 18, but the sooner brands and agencies alike jump on board and familiarise themselves with the tricks and quirks of the app, the sooner they can grow their audience and gain truly impactful exposure. TikTok gives anyone the opportunity to rise to internet fame and if utilised correctly, you’ll get more than your 15 minutes.