Why Your Brand Needs A TikTok Account - Episode 248
INTERVIEW WITH PAULA ERSLY
DESCRIPTION
In today’s podcast, we are talking with Paula Ersly, Head of Social Strategy at Acadia, who has been working in social media strategy for over seven years, with a focus on organic channel management and creative execution that drives engagement.
She has worked across a variety of industries, from travel to sexual wellness. She’s based out of Asheville, North Carolina, where she enjoys making ASMR hiking content for her personal TikTok.
Make sure you tune in to find out more!
“We are here to help make it happen and help make it easy. It’s a beast of a platform. ”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Kiri shares anecdotes from clients who've had TikTok campaigns drive their Amazon sales. Amazon has a "TikTok made me buy it" page.
Paula shares her perspective on why that’s happening and if Acadia’s clients have the same experience. She shares her excitement about the platform, where word of mouth is everything -- and unlike Instagram or Pinterest, it still has a very "raw" aesthetic to it, which for a lot of consumers translates to authenticity. And when a product gets popular on TikTok, it becomes a catalyst for more creators to want to buy or try it so they can participate in the conversation.
Kiri mentions that there's resistance with brands since TikTok is new and is wondering what's more successful - a brand doing their own TikTok, or collaborating with influencers?
Both, depending on what you want or need! But tapping influencers is the easiest and quickest way in because you can tap into an engaged and existing audience, and the influencers already understand how to create content that will resonate with their audience. As a brand, you are able to more quickly tap into that expertise.
Brands entering the space through their own channels need to really think about how to be authentic, organic, and engaging, and the strategies they have across other channels likely won't apply to TikTok right now. So there's a lot of testing + learning that needs to happen before your channel might take off.
The beauty category is for sure ahead of the curve, but other brands are starting to see returns too. Look at the viral feta pasta recipe from last year - food categories are feeling the weight of an excellent viral TikTok moment. I tried to make this at its height and couldn't find feta cheese!
At Acadia, we're working with all brands to get on TikTok. We’re working with a sexual wellness brand, that shares mostly educational content, we have a hotel brand where we're using TikTok to target a more niche subset of their audience, the pet-friendly traveler.
And coming up soon we have some very exciting TikTok plans in the pest control space, which might sound totally weird for TikTok, but think about how emotional a moment it is when you realize your home has been invaded by pests.
Best practices with engaging with followers and other creators - it’s important to be engaging and creative, for example, turn audience comments into content.
TikTok is a platform where everyone has a short attention span, and the trends + video formats change weekly. Good creators are always playing - testing formats they know that work and trying out new ones. People WANT to be surprised by something in their For Your Pages.
Paula shares her thoughts about the future of TikTok: Facebook is dying, and Instagram is increasingly becoming a pay-to-play space. Tiktok is still a bit of the wild west. NOW is the time to get in there and find an audience.
TikTok is introducing more and more integrations that make shopping easier -- shoppable ads, TikTok Lives that lets you shop directly from a live feed and experience a product in real-time with your favorite influencer. There will be more to come, but TikTok is very aware of its power for marketers and they are always making new features for us!
How does Acadia help brands to get this rolling and create/manage this? We have a team of content creators, we’re developing strategy and creating content, for some of our clients we’re using our own pets for content! For brands who create their own content, we’re providing guidance and strategy. We’re also helping with finding influencers and creators for some brands who need that kind of support.
TikTok is a lot different than just sitting in front of your computer and making a couple of graphics. It needs to be done with quality and your audience in mind vs just recycling some content that works on other platforms.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Connect with Kiri Masters
Learn more about Bobsled Marketing, an Acadia Company
Connect with Paula Ersly
