How TikTok Helps Brands in Engagement?

TikTok holds its unique value proposition in connecting the audience and boosting sales which encourages more brands to showcase their products and try different strategies. By the first half of the year 2023, luxury brands drove their media impact value (MIV) by 11% TikTok. Labels like Prada, Gucci, and Dior earned as much Media Impact Value in the period between January and May 2023 as they generated in the year 2022.

TikTok has a habit of releasing its own guide to assist brands in engaging their audience. It recommends them ‘TikTok-ify’ the content, such as using trending sounds, including relatable overlays, incorporating a ‘lo-fi’ aesthetic, and more. It also provides the ideal toolkits for that such as Creator Portal and Creative Centre. The ‘Lo-fi’ type of content was encouraged by the founders of marketing agencies working with Speedo, Marc Jacobs, and Good American.

Instead of going through traditional advertising strategies, many brands started to check out TikTok’s savvy product placements that are subtle and with relatable narratives. Jewellery brand Alexis Bittar hosted a mockumentary series on TikTok with characters in over-dramatic short narratives while showcasing its jewellery by wearing them.

However, a brand can attain success on the platform only after considering and strengthening its mission, purpose, value, reputation, and area of expertise. This will help the labels to know where they are now on TikTok and how they can showcase themselves. E.L.F. used an overarching approach on TikTok which was to reflect its true identity. One of the notable examples was its 2024 Stick It to Zits campaign featuring Mount Rushmore with acne. As a result, it worked. E.L.F. has its own community followers on the platform. Coach explored its cheeky nature on TikTok with one example being the Find Your Courage campaign, showcasing the link between virtual and real world.

TikTok also assists brands in improving their general awareness among the audience by using their creativity and heritage to connect to users who are interested in educating themselves. It allows brands to repurpose historical and archive footage or other marketing materials to share. Levi's featured its brand historian detailing its adjacent history to the US’ Western culture when the trend was coming back since Beyonce’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ album’s release.

Meanwhile, the platform’s secret engagement lies in light-hearted, fun content while featuring the brands’ history. Loewe is one of the brands that features subtle content that allows the audience to see its other side. It uses playful content with cultural moments to enhance the narrative around the brand and its products.

TikTok had a novel influence on the beauty, luxury, and fashion sectors through product marketing. But the short-form videos require more storytelling than the static imagery. Therefore, brands are pushing themselves to find their own personalities to showcase on it. In 2024, Loewe used lo-fi style animation to feature four different ways its Puzzle bag can walk. Burberry and Marc Jacobs went with Gen-Z-based cultural expansion by collaborating with Sylvanian Drama, an account that features handmade bunny toys.

The platform’s paid marketing works in a way that supports organic content that is narrative-driven, emotionally hooked, lighthearted, funny, and TikTok-ified. This kind of content resonates well with the audience irrespective of the marketing alignment. TikTok facilitates brands and businesses by giving the correct tools to them to achieve more engagement. According to Business of Fashion, 50% of TikTok accepts the fact that the advertisements on it are fun to watch. TikTok also achieved a 3,5 times better Retail Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) than the other channels. Brands are also allowed to leverage paid advertising slots for their multi-approached strategy. Coach uses the ad slots to optimise the positioning of organic content and paid ads side-by-side.

Spark Ads is a format that allows brands to partner with creators and features shop-to-tell stories, reviews on products, and many more. TikTok also ensures that all the engagements (like shares, likes, views, comments, follows, and more) gained on this promotional content are attributed to the organic posts of the brand. In-Feed Ads enable the brands to hype the latest updates. It appears on the audience’s feeds and allows them to visit the landing page of the brand. Other advertising tools include Top View which enables brands to have the most visible placement, and TikTok One which will offer every feature needed to create an effective creative campaign all in one place.

TikTok launched TikTok Shop, the e-commerce feature, in September 2023 that enables brands and businesses to generate income by uploading products curated on the platform. The shopping space has managed to earn around $7 million in a day, adding up to an average of $17,5 billion on an annual basis. The hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt had stacked up over one billion views in a week.

This shopping portal leverages influencer marketing and user-generated content to encourage product visibility and promote impulse buying and trend-based sales. With TikTok supporting viral trends, TikTok Shop uses content such as influencer endorsements, campaigns, and UGCs to expose itself more often for the audience to purchase relevant products. Additionally, unlike the usual e-commerce sites, TikTok Shop has a user interface that is simpler and interesting to collaborate with and can be easily set up.

Cover image: L'Oréal Paris's #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt Campaign, Coach's Find Your Courage Campaign and E.L.F.'s Stick It to Zits campaign, courtesy The Industry Beauty, Fashion Network and TikTok respectively.