With more than 800 million active users Worldwide, TikTok is the newest trend in social media and one of the most popular social apps among teenagers, but not only!
Since its inception in 2018, TikTok has evolved from a video-creation app solely meant for users to express their creativity to a marketing and advertising heaven in which brands obtain a very powerful engagement with consumers never seen before.
So, let’s better understand what’s this platform about, how it works and how to create a successful profile among all the others.
TikTok consists of 15- and 60-second user-recorded videos that allow for in-app editing and integration with the other major social players.
On TikTok there’s an audience for every voice, from teenagers to adults and old people too.
So, why companies should invest in this platform?
TikTok for business is where you can unleash your brand’s creative side in order to connect with the audience of the entire World. How? Through video, only in shorter, bite-sized clips.
The TikTok algorithm: another plus point for businesses.
It’s known that TikTok has the highest engagement of any major social media platform.
But how?
Well, the For You section’s algorithms are based on the preferences and activity history of the individual users. So, it’s nearly impossible that two For You sections are going to be exactly the same.
There are different factors that influence the For You section’s content:
user interactions like shares, followers, comments and likes
video information like the length, captions, sounds and hashtags
account settings like the language and country
So, why is TikTok a good opportunity for a brand?
TikTok is viral now, it reaches a very huge audience, it grows your customers’ engagement and it allows you to show your business’ creative and human side.
Where to start, then?
Well, in this article I will cover these three mainstains in order to create an effective profile:
Define your Target Audience
Choose your message (create your own style)
Create the right content for your audience and discover when to promote it
And, after having defined these concepts, I’ll talk about the power of Analytics, the importance of collaborating with Influencers and other similar profiles.
Finally, I’ll share with you which tips are essential to keep in mind in order to have a good profile.
How to choose the right audience for your company?
It’s very simple. Based on your interests, hobbies, experiences, stories and thoughts you can choose your niche because, if you don’t have a niche, you’ll create content about nothing and for anyone.
Know your target audience:
The typical mistake on TikTok is trying to make content for everybody.
But the reality is: to grow on TikTok (or in any other social media platform) you have to be more strategic. How? By choosing and deciding a specific target audience, and building content for them looking at their needs and tastes.
These below are some questions that you can use in order to define your target audience:
Do you target males, females, or both equally?
What age groups do you target?
Do you target people with a particular income level?
Do you target people with certain values?
In short words, in order to obtain a successful account, you should create the right videos for your dream viewers and, to do that efficiently, you first need to know precisely this group by doing research.
Smart tip: with the Pro Account you’ll be able to see your personal Analytics, essential in order to better understand your audience’s tastes and habits.
But let’s leave this topic for the end of the article.
BRANDING, BIOS AND CONTENT: BE AUTHENTIC AND CONSISTENT!
The major part of the social media users does not dispose of any professional camera equipment; they simply create content with their phones, which is authentic to who they are. Use the same approach! By showing your brand’s true personality, followers will feel connected and related to you, which builds trust!
The brand is essential.
Even without reading, your readers must be able to recognize your business, just by looking at your company’s brand. This is the reason why having a consistent brand image, style and colour is fundamental. Thus, your audience will immediately identify your business among all the others.
The BIO: short, catchy and powerful
Just like that. Your BIO should go straight to the point. Uploading a lot of content or descriptions is not the right strategy to use. Instead, use short sentences that are able to better represent your business and thoughts.
Be unique! Take advantage of your company’s personal stories, experiences, passions and personality, and demonstrate your knowledge and skills about your area of expertise in a funny way.
Remember that your profile has to reflect the true you!
Why is it important to be consistent with all your social profiles?
Because otherwise your audience will get lost!
All your social accounts should have a similar look, above all if you are a business: you want a consistent brand look everywhere.
In some ways, businesses have an advantage here because you probably already have brand features. These could include logos, taglines, and an official colour scheme. You can use these, even if you have never been online before.
Smart tip: TikTok isn’t the place for squeaky-clean first impressions and fake smiles. It’s a place for authentic entertainment, humour, and fun. Just let go!
McDonald’s profiles on Instagram, Facebook and Website ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TO EACH BUSINESS ITS CONTENT:
It’s obvious to say that the content and the way of advertising it depends on your specific audience.
One of the advantages of TikTok is that you don’t have to struggle to come up with new and unique content ideas. The platform is based around community engagement and hashtags so all you have to do is find existing content and make it your own.
It’s not a formal or uber-professional platform; it’s a space for users and brands to experiment with trends, act silly and playful, and show another side of themselves.
Your unique brand story and personality will differentiate you from others in the same category.
There’s just one aspect always to keep in mind: the brevity of videos and captions is essential. Also because nowadays people have less time to look at social media or read stuff.
How often do you have to post?
If you hope to go viral, you have to make sufficient content for people to notice you. If you keep a low profile, your videos are unlikely to appear often in people’s feeds.
Ideally, you should upload a new video each weekday.
When is the best time to post on TikTok?
Well, it depends. On what?
where is your audience located
what time your audience is available
How can you find out these information? Look at your analytics!
Smart tip: the “How to”, tutorials and “Before/After” videos are really successful and create a lot of engagement. Try them!
With the Pro Account, you can view your business’ analytics; essential for better knowing your audience. Besides that, your Analytics will show you a much better understanding of how our TikTok account is performing, by showing statistical information related to your posts and followers.
In short words Analytics should be regularly checked in order to see:
if you are achieving your goals
your personal overviews (video and profiles views, followers)
your content screen; this allows you to understand which content generates the best results (what kind of video your followers liked the most)
your audience’s analysis; this gives you very specific information about your followers (age, country, tastes, availability). If your followers don’t match with your dream target audience means that you’re creating the wrong content.
Teamwork with other similar profiles can be useful in order to gain more exposure, followers and you can come up with new ideas.
Feedbacks, comments and DM are essential in order to understand what followers think.
It is crucial that you view, like, and comment on other people’s videos. Engagement is part of TikTok’s algorithm, and the more you interact with people, the more your videos will end up on their For You pages.
What about influencers?
Well, like on the other social platforms, you can use influencer marketing to expand your reach. Influencers on TikTok have varying numbers of followers, and therefore, varying degrees of influence.
As a brand, you can approach relevant TikTok influencers and propose a working relationship with them but it’s important to be strategic about whom you partner with. If your brand sells beauty accessories, working with a video game influencer isn’t the best fit. Find influencers who work within your niche and whose personalities align with your brand’s values.
For a certain level of pay, TikTok influencers might:
Talk about your product in a TikTok video
Post about it in the video description.
Link to your brand in the description.
Smart tip: connect with a specific pod. What’s a pod? A group of like-minded TikTok creators on messaging platforms who work together.
Before leaving you, I would like to share some important tips in order to set up and maintain a good and successful account on TikTok:
Don’t mess up your username, otherwise, your followers will be confused and you risk losing them.
Remember to update your profile regularly paying attention to the new trends. Smart tip: avoid using old video, items or music.
Have and maintain your own style and theme by using your brand’s colours, creativity and thoughts. Be different and not a cheap knockoff of someone else!
Don’t use a lot of hashtags
Keep your audience engaged: like, share, comments and tell your own stories and experiences.
Don’t ignore your sounds: One of TikTok’s key differences has been its liberal use of music in the videos that people share. TikTok makes it incredibly easy to add music to 15-second video clips, having made legal arrangements with most of the major music companies to permit the use of copyright music extracts.
Come up with a consistent look and feel
Upload content regularly by using a content calendar
Ok then, here we are! I hope that this guide has been helpful for you.
TikTok has become an active part of digital marketing now and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
If you are in professional services like me, maybe using Instagram effectively and creating intriguing posts to attract more followers is a real challenge.
This is exactly why, in this blog post, I will show how Francis Cooper has successfully rebranded its profile and taken advantage of Instagram as much as possible.
But not only! Indeed, I will share with you the power of creativity, which elements are essential to establish and how to use them effectively (colours and fonts), which pictures are better to use when you don’t have beautiful content to advertise, and how captions, storytelling and personal thoughts might be a real strength for your business’ image.
Checking out our Instagram profile during our free time has become part of the daily routine for everyone. That is why this platform has proven to be a really powerful marketing tool for businesses looking to expand their presence and the visibility of their product.
Actually, Instagram is the go-to place for over 300 million active people (30 million Instagram users in the UK) to explore and share their passions, photos, likes, videos, and stories every single day.
Now, uploading and advertising cool content and products like wonderful landscape pictures, dream trips, funny quotes and fashionable clothing relatively achieve success; they are beautiful in themselves!
But when your business has to advertise serious, informative and sometimes complicated or abstract content, how can you make it appealing to your audience?
It’s a challenge!
So, where to start?
When the Francis Cooper team decided to rebrand our company’s Instagram profile and, having had successful results, I would like to share our guidelines and tips with you.
What I firstly suggest is to look at your profile and bring out all the aspects that you want to change or ameliorate. You can also look at other similar profiles and pick some ideas that you like and that you can reuse (without copying them obviously) in your account.
This is how I started working on Francis Cooper profile.
Actually, after having thought it over, sharing opinions and taking a look at other business accounts with our similar content, I identified some key aspects to work on and improve:
The first impression of the profile (grab readers’ attention immediately with an appealing profile)
Creativity (choose your brand’s colour, have a dynamic profile with different posts’ forms, but remember to have always a fil rouge to follow, stay consistent with fonts, avoid overused pictures)
Relationship with our audience (make the most of your captions, share quotes, stories and personal thoughts that speak to your audience)
Post consistency/Continuity in posting
So, the question is: how do you make sure that your brand stands out from amongst the rest?
And that is why making the right first impression is essential. Grabbing people’s attention at a glance is directly related to the brand’s creativity.
Standing out with creativity:
A great benefit of this platform is that it offers many ways to get creative. On Instagram, you can go wild coming up with new ways to draw attention and add followers and new customers.
In simple words, Instagram is where you can showcase your business’ personality.
How can you do that? By mixing different elements of your brand, such as specific contents, images, videos, products and colours.
This will allow your business to establish its brand identity, create a holistic creative experience for your community and drive brand recall.
As I already mentioned, remember to pay attention to colours!
Colours are one of the strongest non-verbal forms of communications that you can use. They can instantly evoke emotions and experiences.
Having a specific colour that represents the personality of your business is essential. Some of the most successful Instagram accounts tend to use a select colour palette for their posts; this will help you to create a distinct style.
Francis Cooper has chosen the red colour, in order to show power, action, passion for marketing and hard work, the vibrancy of our team, but also warmth and closeness to our customers.
Smart tip: If you want to discover which meanings are hidden behind colour and which one will suit better with your business and philosophy, check them at the end of the article.
The same goes for fonts.
Text overlays on photos and videos have become increasingly important on Instagram, above all for businesses. Since texts play a key role in your account, it’s important to also think about the font you’re using and how it relates to the other contents.
Basically, the key concept to keep in mind is that each post should not be carried out individually, but it is an integral part of a bigger picture. Each content has to be aligned with your brand’s overall aesthetic and brand colours.
Thus you will create continuity, value and accuracy.
Smart tip: focus on dynamism, avoid monotony! Always try to create “movement”. You should alternate images, videos, written and minimal posts, writing and pictures together…get creative! In doing so, your followers will never get bored.
Which photos are better to use?
That’s the biggest challenge of our professions.
Dealing with meetings, workshops and business events, instead of wonderful landscapes and locations, it’s always hard to choose the right intriguing picture in order to catch our readers’ attention.
What I suggest you?
In short words: avoid generic, overused and obvious pictures.
You can’t use beautiful photos, but you can show to your followers your customers’ feedback and reactions, or what they will receive by choosing you and your business.
Images shouldn’t be superficial, but they should evoke powerful emotions. Workshops, for example, everyone knows them, but, instead of showing people talking around a table, think of what people will gain attending your workshop.
Make a deeper reasoning and go beyond the easier representation of what you want to say or advertise.
Storytelling and personal thoughts make your business relatable:
Instagram is a great way to show potential customers that you are more than just a faceless corporation. This can be done through many of the app’s features, especially with videos and stories by showing, for example, the behind-the-scenes or your team members, clients’ testimonials, but also captions are powerful and you can really make a deeper impression.
Establishing a strong relationship with your followers, sharing thoughts, tips, feelings and emotions will make your profile unique instead of superficial and similar to all the others.
Make the most of your captions:
Instagram captions are usually used to enhance your content, but they are also an excellent way to build rapport, trust and credibility with followers, as well as showing that there’s a human side to your business. If consumers see you as more than an entity looking to take their money, then they may be more trusting of your brand.
Smart tip: share quotes that speak to your audience! They are incredibly popular on Instagram. Actually, quotes are a great way to reinforce your brand vision, values, what you stand for, and they can drive a lot of engagement.
Results:
Here’s the part you’ve been waiting for: the results that my Instagram profile has achieved the following and applying these strategies.
Let’s start with the results related to the business. I realized that, with this kind of advertisement and content, posts are more appealing and our followers are more inclined to sign up for our events. This allows us to found new strategic partnerships, gain more visibility on the platform and discover interesting opportunities.
Regarding our readers, we have received many positive compliments, the number of followers has increased and clients and prospects want to connect with us. Besides, involving them with captions and quotes, they feel free to share with us their point of views and feedback, feeling part of our team.
And all this makes us happy and proud of our work!
Ok dear readers, we are at the end of the article.
Just another little tip always to remember before leaving you: as most of the things in our life, all the suggestions above mentioned are little pieces of a big puzzle and only together with other marketing channels and tools can really work and be successful.
Colours meanings: Which colour better represents your business?
Red: Attention-getting, warmth, power, passion, action. Red raises the blood pressure, and makes people hungry.
Yellow: Joyful, curiosity, happiness, warmth. Yellow is attention grabbing, and promotes happiness and warmth.
Orange: Affordable, creative, light-hearted, and youthful. Orange combines the effect of red and yellow, exciting, and may drive appetite.
Green: Healing, quiet, environmental, fresh. Green represents vitality and renewal, and is eco-friendly and soothing.
Blue: Calming, confidence, dignity, loyalty, trustworthiness. Blue is popular in government and medical companies for its authoritative appeal and ability to evoke success and security.
Purple: Expensive, nobility, regal, sophisticated, and spiritual. Purple is a blend of red and blue, and is viewed to have confidence and warmth.
Pink: Feminine, innocent, and gentle. Pink is often used to add female appeal, and represents innocence and delicateness.
White: Peace, purity, cleanliness. White shouldn’t be underestimated.
Brown: Natural and earthy, rough, and utility. Brown is used to represent construction, and depth.
Black: Distinctive, serious, and authority. Black is sophisticated and classic, just like a clean-cut suit.
Writing for social media: everyone does it, right? But when you do it as a business, it’s a little bit more complicated than just posting something that I like. In the business world, writing for social media doesn’t only mean sharing stuff, but also networking with clients, potential clients, partners, and potential partners, with the purpose of eventually making business. (You can find the video version os the article at the bottom of the page.)
This may take talent, creativity, focus and a deep understanding of your audience. Every social post you publish reflects on your brand and that’s why it’s important to write well on social media. You need to be able to cram as much value into as few words as possible. You also have to be consistent and engaging at all times.
So, the question is, how to do that?
In this blog post, I will deal with some concepts to keep in mind when you write on social media. I will talk about
the types of reader personas,
the variety of posts,
which type of leader you could be,
the structure of a post, and, finally,
I will show you what a content cube is.
No worries if it sounds harder than you thought, with a little practice and paying attention to the right stuff you will be great! Reading these clarifications and tips, you will be amazed at how much more confident you will be and how clearer and more effective you’ll write.
Let’s get started!
Obviously to your buyer personas; to the ideal person, you would like to read your post. In this case I am referring to a reader avatar and what you have to do is to imagine what that reader thinks while they are reading your posts.
Nevertheless, I would like to share with you four specific categories who you should talk to when you are writing on social media:
Clients: those with whom you have already built a relationship. You should help them understand your services better, suggest which product suits them better, share insights and make them feel good for having chosen your company. 9This also helps them bring you referrals.)
Prospective clients: people who are interested in your service. Prospective clients really want something that you offer, but they are on the fence. That’s why, in this case, you should help them make their decision through your posts. But what can you write about? Talk about your background and philosophy, post about what to consider, what mistakes they could make, and about the processes in the industry. These posts help a lot because if your customers see that you are open, trustworthy, and honest they will be more likely to choose you.
People who are not aware of the problem: those who could be great prospective clients. Through your article they will find out exactly what they need, so you have to help them recognise the problem. In this case you can use different tools like listicles or case studies in which you show what the original problem was, how you solved it and what the transformation/result was.
People who are resistant to what you offer, but they would need it. They might have had a bad experience with a competitor of yours and lost trust. In this case, help them understand better because they might have misbeliefs. Moreover through the stories of your company, people can see how you manage problems, mistakes and bad experiences.
Smart tip: have a really balanced content writing strategy! The beauty is that whatever you write to any of the categories it will be well received also by the others.
The next step is to use a variety of content categories:
Educative content pieces are always a good choice because this is how people will see your expertise after reading your posts.
Entertainment really works! Enrich your posts using interesting quotes, curiosities and news. Don’t forget to have fun; if you work with passion it will be noticed and results will arrive!
Mission-based posts Stories, interviews, and “behind the scenes” content pieces are powerful weapons. Exciting facts about your company, but also about clients, your team, your products, partners, and so on, are really appreciated by your readers because these make you unique.
Customers’ stories: Remember that it is not about your previous customers or about your company, but prospective clients have to see themselves there. How? Using case studies and, above all, testimonials.
Or, better, what readers want to read about?
In order to discover that you can choose one of these two solutions: you can simply ask them or you can use a couple of platforms. Personally, I recommend tools like Buzzsumo; useful to identify what people read about a specific topic or keyword, Quora; which allows you to find out which are the most asked questions about a specific agent, and AnswerThePublic.
Since I am talking about questions: How can I become a thought leader?
Daredevil , mentor, guru, geek and helper are all different profiles of leaders; but each of them have the same goal: to be unique and to have their voice. Writing information that everybody says doesn’t work. You have always to formulate your own opinion and thoughts talking about, for example, dishonest competitors, clients’ misbehaviours and misunderstanding, anomalies, frauds and frustrations in the industry.
Let’s understand better which leader’s type you can be:
The Daredevil is always there; it is a very outspoken person with a very strong opinion.
The Mentor helps you doing something by supporting you as much as possible
The Guru is very popular and gives you a lot of motivation
The Geek focuses on processes, theory, tools and rules
The Helper, finally, helps you do your stuff or solve a problem
Choosing the right leader’s type comes, obviously, from your personality, don’t try to be someone you are not.
Smart tip: You can also have a combination of those
Again, excitement is essential. So, don’t worry about the length, but rather about the excitement.
I really recommend you to start with titles, headlines or first sentences just because people use to scroll pages and having reference points allows your readers not to get lost among information and posts. You can also use subheadlines and very short blocks; this will really facilitate the reading.
Remember to put things into context: what you are talking about and why has always to be clear.
Here too emotions are really important. They could be positive or negative, it doesn’t matter, what counts is that you don’t have to be afraid of evoking some strong emotion in your readers; they will be very impressed!
Finally, don’t forget to close your post with a call-to-action or a question. This will help your reader to get involved by doing something, reading more, answering or getting in touch with you.
Scheduling: use a Content cube!
This method is really useful to plan your content strategies and calendar. In this cube, you will put different types of content (education, story, offer, testimonial) and tools like texts, photos, videos, or slides. By using this technique it will be easier to avoid repetitive posts and to decide which tools will suit better with a specific content and platform.
Smart tip: Reusing contents is not forbidden, do it!
And that’s it! I am completely aware of the fact that the world of social media is massive and looks like it requires a range of skills. Becoming a great and successful social media content writer may take time, but I am really confident that with a little practice you will surely achieve your goals.
The article is based on the below video, you can watch it now.
This article was written by the Francis Cooper team based on 21 years of experience in marketing and copywriting. If you’d like to practice the above at a copywriting workshop, and write your own high-converting landing pages, email tk@franciscooper.com.
Writing an effective landing page has its rules. A good landing page, actually, goes beyond simply creating and designing something that “looks good”. It’s much more a conversation with the reader we have to understand what customers think and be able to reflect on those thoughts. What is the best structure to use? How can you understand the psychology of your readers and what else do you have to be aware of?
These are the key questions, I will answer in this blog post, showing you the E.P.I.C. Model, how to write a successful headline and giving some smart tips to keep in mind. In this way, you will get the answers to all your doubts and you will be able to write a complete and successful landing page. But, for a start, let’s understand better what a landing page is.
What is a landing page?
Traditionally, a landing page is a dedicated web page of a service or product. But why is it so important and useful? Because with a simple click the reader will immediately arrive right at the page of the service or product we are talking about. (And normally, there’s no menu bar to distract the attention and give way to an escape:)
Smart tip: You can consider the home page a full-fledged landing since it is the most visited page of the website and gives a very detailed overview of the company. Navigating is more of a challenge on mobile, so it’s a good idea to make the home page count!
Use this E.P.I.C. model
The structure of the landing should reflect the psychological process of how your readers process information and make their choices.
This structure is can be described by the E.P.I.C. Model.
This is a very elegant sales technique and the acronym E.P.I.C. is useful to keep in mind when you write your landing page: Excite, Project (problem), Inform (solution), Close.
Your first task, as opposed to what people usually think, is not the sale or the product’s presentation, but increasing the excitement. Grabbing the reader’s attention is the first step to writing a successful landing page.
The winning headline: the hardest part of the job
The headline has the key purpose of making the reader read on. Avoid using formulas like “Welcome to”, “More than”, “Your trusted accountants” because they don’t mean anything and, above all, they don’t make people excited. Writing a powerful headline takes time that you don’t always have.
Therefore, here are three easy formulas that always work:
The WOW without the OW: promise a big benefit while taking out the pain that usually goes with it. When you promise something that is significant, objections and concerns come up in the reader’s mind. However, in the headline, you should make sure that this pain will be removed. It’s about thinking of the biggest benefit that you can offer, realizing your customers’ possible objections, and making sure they won’t have to face those. Here an example to understand better: “Wonderfully natural sleep. Without the chemicals”.
Small yeses lead to a big yes: ask small, specific and smart questions about the reader’s current situation, avoid the generic and vague ones. In a practical way, instead of using questions like: “Do you want to look good?”, “Do you want to sign in?”, use a more precise one, like: “What an amazing look for you night out?”.
Compare the concept to something they know: just try to imagine what your customers already know and connect your service with that, so they recognise your value proposition right away. As a simple example: “Your full-time CFO for $30 a month”.
This is the section in which your readers can identify themselves with a particular problem, since your aim is to talk about your customers and not about the company. In order to understand their problems, forums, comments and feedback are essential. But how can you talk about their problem? Showing statistics or facts, presenting some statements, asking questions and exposing some clients’ stories are some strategies to use.
Smart tip: don’t be superficial, showing strong emotions is essential in order to gain conversions!
Before proposing your product or service, show them all the alternative solutions and, after that, explain to them why these alternatives aren’t the perfect solutions for them.
Smart tip: Be honest! By telling your clients that there are alternatives you are credible, you build a relationship and they will trust you.
Then there is the ideal solution; at this point you have to describe your proposition.
Attention! You still don’t have to speak about your product.
Only after having described your solution you can come up with your product. At this stage you have to answer three important questions: (1) why clients should buy your product, (2) why should they buy it from your company and (3) why should they buy it now.
Firstly, it is essential to write about the benefits, the transformation and not only about the product’s features. Obviously, people always expect a positive change when they buy something. Demonstrate that change on your landing page to show how customers feel after having purchased your product.
Smart tip: Don’t write about the future, use the simple present tense; make your clients feel they are already there!
Secondly, in order to demonstrate your USPs without saying that your company is the best choice in the world, you just have to show how you are unique. By describing your specific process, exposing your achievements and results, showing your clients’ testimonials, and writing about your team, your personality, your background.
Smart tip: Be demonstrative and specific! Avoid generic information that everybody says.
Thirdly, you have to tell your clients what they miss out on if they don’t buy your product right away (or until a deadline). Again, be honest! If it is not the right time for them to do that, just tell them; this will increase your credibility.
Help your customers make that last step by adding a few lines above the button on why they should do it. Propose them different packages with a clear overview of what they get with each, and when that specific package is a good choice.
At this point, it is very important to recap, to sum up the benefits of the offer, how it helps them and what happens later. (It helps them if they need to convince a decision maker.)
Smart tip: Don’t force your readers, it has to be their decision!
There you go! Keep in mind the above structure and writing high-converting landing pages won’t be a problem anymore!
This article was written by the Francis Cooper team based on 21 years of experience in marketing and copywriting. If you’d like to practice the above at a copywriting workshop, and write your own high-converting landing pages, email tk@franciscooper.com.
