TikTok Marketing for Businesses: How to Use TikTok to Grow Your Brand

TikTok has moved far beyond short dance videos and funny clips. Today, it is one of the most powerful platforms for brands that want to capture attention, build relevance, and connect with audiences through short-form video.

Unlike traditional social media platforms where content is often polished and follower-driven, TikTok rewards content that feels native, fast-moving, and engaging. This gives businesses a unique opportunity to reach new audiences, test creative ideas quickly, and turn attention into measurable growth.

For businesses in Singapore, TikTok can play an important role in a broader performance marketing strategy. When used well, it can support brand awareness, lead generation, ecommerce sales, and customer engagement through creative content and paid advertising.

How the TikTok Algorithm Works

The TikTok algorithm is a complex system designed to display videos relevant to your preferences and interests. That’s why the For You page is highly personalized for each individual user, as no two users will see the same videos on this page. This also means that the types of content you are recommended can also be changed as your interests change over time.

Factors that Influence the TikTok Algorithm

• User interactions: The videos you like or share, accounts you follow, comments you post, videos you add to your favorites, content you create, etc.
• Video information: Captions, sounds, trending topics, and hashtags.
• Device and account settings: Your language preference, country setting, device type, and categories of interest you selected when logging in. These factors are included to make sure the system is optimized for performance.

According to TikTok, some indicators are stronger than others: “A strong indicator of interest, such as whether a user finishes watching a longer video from beginning to end, would receive greater weight than a weak indicator, such as whether the video's viewer and creator are both in the same country. Videos are then ranked to determine the likelihood of a user's interest in a piece of content, and delivered to each unique For You feed.”

Note: TikTok does NOT base recommendations on either follower count or whether the account has had previous high-performing videos. This means that even when you don’t have a huge follower base, but your videos speak to the audience, you will have as much chance to land on the For You page as other accounts.

What the TikTok Algorithm Doesn’t Show

As part of its content optimization, there are certain types of content that will not be showcased on your For You page:

• Videos you’ve already watched
• Duplicated videos
• Spam content
• Videos you've marked as "Not Interested"
• Videos you skip through
• Potentially harmful/upsetting videos

How to Create Viral TikTok Videos

The TikTok algorithm is always improving, so it is important to learn and adapt quickly to its new changes. Based on everything we know and experience, here are 7 ways to hack the TikTok algorithm and make your videos go viral on TikTok:

1. Use the 3-second rule

Tiktok is a fast-paced app, so the first 3-5 seconds are critical. Ensure your content is eye-catching and engaging enough to grab people's attention in the first few seconds. Otherwise, the algorithm will define your content as irrelevant or not interesting and will not boost your content.

2. Understand trends

It is important to spend a little time every day watching videos on TikTok. This helps you spark new ideas and keep up with the ongoing trends. In fact, 61% of TikTokers like brands better when they create or participate in a trend on TikTok. However, every trend has its moment. They come and go very quickly, so If you don’t jump on them fast enough, you’re likely to get lost in the shuffle.

Sephora Asia is famous for having an active presence on social media. Its creative content garnered 66k followers and more than 2.9M likes on TikTok. Earlier this year, when TikTok’s For You page was filled with the #telephonechallenge, @Sephora_asia quickly caught this trend and attracted 9k views on TikTok with their video.

3. Use Hashtags & Trending Songs

Hashtags and songs are your friends. According to studies from MRC Data's research, 67% of TikTokers said they prefer to see videos from brands featuring popular or trending songs on TikTok, and 68% said they remembered the brand better. To resonate with the audience, opt for hashtag challenges to participate in them.

A prime example of leveraging trending songs and hashtags is @Duolingo. Their TikTok account is a combination of short, humourous videos featuring their lovable owl mascot, together with trending audio. The consistency in content creation and sense of humour has garnered this brand 4.2 million followers and 97.7 million likes as of May 2022.

4. Create Branded Hashtag Challenges

There are two ways to go about TikTok challenges: Either you follow it or you create your own challenge. When brands sponsor a hashtag challenge, it’s called a Branded Hashtag Challenge. This is an incredibly effective way to generate buzz about your brand.

As mentioned, the challenge should be fun and easy to follow - the audience can be challenged to do some action while dancing to a funny song, reinvent an influencer’s video, or participate in a contest. Here are a few ideas for branded hashtag challenges:

• Branded Effect: Create a unique 2D or 3D effect.
• Hashtag Emoji: Customize the brand emoji that appears alongside the hashtag.
• Contest: Leverage user-generated content by creating a contest with a sweet prize.

Explore Page: Adds an “Explore” tab to the challenge page, which will lead to a customizable landing page within the TikTok app. You can use this way to gain more exposure for new products or offline stores.

5. Share Tips, Advice, or Interesting Fact 

Do you know that 45 percent of TikTok users feel more connected to brands that teach them something new? Sharing tips and advice on TikTok helps brands not only resonate with their followers but also build up their credibility. In fact, educational videos can be applied to a variety of brands, from beauty, fashion to fitness, or even software.

A typical example is @thehoneycombers, which provides the audience with tons of engaging content, from food reviews, cooking tutorials, to fun things to do in Singapore. Another example is @coachjasonho. As a TikTok influencer, he is famous for sharing his thoughtful advice on career and work-life struggles. His recent 2-minute video How to say NO to your boss gained him 26k views on TikTok.

6. Leave Some Questions Unanswered

Interaction is the key to helping you go viral on TikTok. If you post a video and think of a question that most people would have, don’t explain it yet. Raise that question at the end of the video and ask the audience to comment on their answers. Even better, say that you will explain it in the next video coming on [specific day]. This will make people curious and come back for more.

7. Collaborate with TikTok Creators

The power of TikTok influencers cannot be denied. By collaborating with influencers whose followers match the target market, brands are able to tap into their targeted audience, build interest in their products, and drive more leads. If your business is in the beauty or fashion industry, optimising influencer marketing on TikTok via TikTok Marketing Agency could be a game-changer.

Daniel Wellington (@danielwellington) is one of the brands that invested heavily in influencer marketing. The concept behind its strategy is simple yet effective: They frequently gift free watches to influencers together with discount coupons in their names to share with their followers. Creative control remains with the influencers - the only requirement is to use branded hashtag #danielwellington, #danielwellingtonsg (if the influencer is based in Singapore). The brand has recently started partnering with TikTok influencers to grow its presence on this platform.

Define Your Target Audience

While TikTok offers a great opportunity for brands to gain visibility, ensure TikTok’s demographic fits your customer profile. If you are selling B2B software, having a presence on TikTok may not be necessary. If your audience demographic is middle-aged people, you would have a tough time finding your target customers here.

It is important to note that while TikTok is dominated by Gen Z and Millennials, older groups are also jumping on the TikTok train, particularly 25-34 years old who started using TikTok during the Covid-19 lockdown. Besides, women are just slightly more than men on TikTok (57% and 43%, respectively), so brands have equal opportunities when it comes to approaching male and female customers.

This demographic shift has also opened new opportunities for education marketing in Singapore, where tuition centres and education providers use short-form video to build trust and explain concepts clearly.

Define Your Goals on TikTok

What do you want to achieve with TikTok marketing? A majority of businesses come to TikTok with the aim to increase their visibility and reach out to new customers. While a study showed that TikTok drives greater engagement, there is no evidence this app is better at driving leads compared to other social media platforms. Lots of views, shares, and comments don’t necessarily mean people would buy your products. It simply means that they like your videos and your brand, which is a positive indicator.

Do Your Research

It is crucial that you spend time researching and learning from top-performing competitors in your industry. Look for brands that are doing well on the platform and identify what elements contributed to their success. Here are some factors you may want to look out for:

• What types of content do they use? What hashtags?
• What are the messages?
• What time do they post?
• Do they partner with any influencers?
• How do they create the sponsored content?

Note: We don’t recommend you steal from your competitors, as there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It is always good to look around and take some inspiration, so you will know where and how you should start.

Develop TikTok Content Strategy

Your content should be authentic and relevant to your target audience. TikTok is a playful and informal platform, so don’t feel the need to create sophisticated content. Additionally, you also need to find a natural fit between the product and TikTok videos. Here are some types of content you can take into consideration:

• Behind-the-scenes
• Live-streaming
• TikTok challenges/trends
• Educational content
• Influencer partnership
• Advertising (more on that later)

Use Advertising on TikTok

In-feed ads / In-feed Native Videos

In-feed ads are the most popular form of TikTok advertising. They run on three models: CPM (cost per impression), CPC (cost per click), and CPV (cost per 6-second view). Brands can create a target audience based on age, gender, and location. There are options to add links and call-to-action buttons.

The minimum campaign spend for daily budgets and total budgets is over 50 USD. For ad groups, daily budgets must exceed 20 USD. You can always go to TikTok Ads Manager to stay updated with its budget requirement. Apart from the number of views, likes, and comments, brands can measure their ad performance by looking at click-through rate and cost per click. A good click-through rate should be above 1%.

Hashtag Challenge Ads

Hashtag challenge ads promote branded hashtags to encourage users to participate in the challenge. They appear as a banner on the discover page, redirecting the users to an instruction page for joining the challenge. If done right, the branded hashtag challenge can result in meaningful connections and huge user-generated content. However, it comes with a high price tag.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the average cost for hashtag challenge ads has a flat fee of $150,000 for six days. The number is updated until September 2021 and is subject to change. If you are a small business, we recommend you create and promote your hashtag challenge organically.

Branded Effect Ads

Like Instagram filters and Snapchat branded lenses, TikTok allows brands to create an ad with their own custom filter. The branded effect ads can be run for up to 10 days, and it is a  fun way to encourage people to engage with your business. Even better, use a combination of a Branded Hashtag Challenge paired with a Branded Effect to make your content go viral.

Brand Take Over Ads

With a brand takeover ad, ads are displayed when users open the app, so brands can get immediate attention from their targeted users. Given the format, this ad is best suited for awareness campaigns. However, TikTok only allows one brand to take over a category a day, so you need to pay premium prices for this spot. According to a report, the average cost for a brand takeover ad is around $50,000 per day with 5 million impressions guaranteed. The number can vary depending on your ad campaign.

Shoppable Ads

TikTok is building its influence in eCommerce. Shoppable ads, or Hashtag Challenge Plus, is a new form of ad that includes a shoppable component to a hashtag, directing users to shop within TikTok. Brands who are Shopify merchants are able to connect their TikTok’s Business account with their Shopify account and advertise on TikTok via in-feed shoppable video ads.

These formats have made TikTok an increasingly important channel for ecommerce marketing in Singapore, especially for brands targeting mobile-first consumers and impulse-driven purchases.

Since this is a new feature, it is currently available to merchants in the United States and the United Kingdom. If you have a Shopify store with a business address in the US or the UK, you can try setting up TikTok shopping partner Integration on Shopify.

Track and Analyze Your Performance

TikTok Pro account is currently free for all users. It offers valuable insights that help brands and influencers analyze their performance such as weekly views, trending videos, engagement, and traffic sources. Here are 3 simple steps to set up a Pro Account:

• From your profile page, tap on the 3-line icon on the top right to access settings.
• Choose "Manage My Account" and then "Switch to Pro Account".
• Choose either Creator or Business account, and fill in the required information.

Once your Pro Account is activated, you will see an analytics button under your account options. Simply tap into that to open the Analytics tool.

1. Create a TikTok Ads Manager Account

Step 1: Create your login

Go to TikTok Business https://ads.tiktok.com/i18n/signup/ to sign up.

Step 2: Complete your account setup

Provide basic information about your business, including country/region, time zone, your preferred currency for billing, and business name. Double-check to ensure the information is correct. The Time Zone can not be changed later, and the "Business Name" of your account must be the same as (or closely related to) your company's legal name.

Step 3: Enter your business information

You will see a dashboard where you can enter your business and billing information. From the “Account Settings”, click “Account Info”, and complete the Business information.

In the company website box, enter your company's website in the following format: https://www.tiktok.com/. The website should function properly, contain the required contact information, and be relevant to the product or service you want to promote.

For Business Verification, upload a government or officially issued number that you use to do business or pay taxes in your country, but this is optional.

Step 4: Select a Payment Method

Choose your Payment Type: Manual Payment or Automatic Payment. We recommend you choose Manual Payment, as Automatic payment is not available in all markets at this time.

Please note that the payment method is set up, you will not be able to change it.

Step 5: Submit Account Information

After you submit your account information, TikTok will start reviewing your account. This process can take up to 24 hours. There are 4 common reasons why a TikTok account is not approved:

• The “Business Name” doesn’t match the name on the website and official documents.
• The company website is in the wrong format. It should look like this: https://www.tiktok.com/.
• The company website does not clearly promote a product and/or has no valid information on the landing page. You can read more about TikTok’s requirements for the landing page in TikTok Advertising Polices - Ad Creatives.
• The promotion of the products or services may be prohibited in your market (cigarettes, flamethrowers, etc)

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