Like the podcasting world, TikTok has had explosive growth in the past few years. It is now the go-to entertainment platform for over 1 billion users every month. Unique to other social media networking apps, TikTok’s algorithm delivers content that its users are interested in, rather than who they follow and follower-count. Social Media specialists MeltWater and We Are Social revealed that Australia has the highest TikTok monthly usage time in the world per person. This presents a great opportunity for creators and marketers to reach a highly engaged audience. Several podcasts have achieved viral fame on TikTok and many podcasters and marketers are harnessing the power of TikTok to increase their podcast's visibility and to build a community. TikTok can also be a great source of inspiration and feedback to improve your content. Additionally, there are news reports that TikTok is moving into the world of podcasts themselves. In this article, we will discuss how to crack TikTok and take you through some case studies that will inspire you to supercharge your podcast growth and interaction through TikTok.
What Makes TikTok Tick.
Far from being an app where kids dance, “TikTok has become a source of culture, a reinforcement of culture, and a cauldron where culture is created,” said Emily Dreyfuss, a researcher at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. It’s also not just for Gen Z - although 50% of the app’s userbase are 18-24, the other half being 24+, revealing lots of opportunities to reach a diverse audience range.
The platform is less of a place to connect and network with friends like Facebook and Instagram and more of a source of entertainment, with 47% of users saying that they “pay full attention” to TikTok (with sound for an immersive experience), compared to 39% for other platforms. (TikTok).
You may have spent a lot of time and effort creating a Facebook or Instagram presence around your podcast- is it worth your time to add TikTok to the mix? Although it does depend on your style, topic and objectives, TikTok generally offers more opportunity for reach and engagement. This means that you don’t have to spend years growing followers to get reach: anyone has a chance to get featured in feeds. TikTok also favours low-fi, relatable content rather than aesthetically pleasing high production. This means that your TikTok content should be easier, quicker and cheaper to create.
Tips for Producing Great TikToks
TikTok favours hyper-short, viral-style content, and podcasts are generally much more in-depth and nuanced. This means that your approaches to making a podcast and making TikToks should be very different. TikTok videos should be short, fun and make the audience want to hear more. One podcast doing this very well is Help I Sexted My Boss, with over 1 million followers and 19 million likes on their content. Their most viral content contains the most scandalous and shocking moments from their podcast, creating highly shareable moments. These videos serve as teasers to familiarise the audience with the personalities of the hosts and the premise of the podcast. The hosts also feature behind the scenes access to their podcast recording and other life moments. Watch one of their best videos here.
TikTok also has unique features such as a search engine. This means that if a consumer is searching a specific topic and your podcast explores that topic, you could show up in their feed. For example, We Are Lonely is a new podcast exploring the reality of loneliness in Australia. On the podcast’s TikTok feed, we utilised the talent behind the podcast - including experts such as psychologists and lecturers as well as mentors with lived experience and young Australians, for ultimate reliability. This has led to the podcast being further promoted by TikTok community members such as Jade Roberts, extending the reach and relevance.
These principles can also translate to a paid strategy on TikTok when promoting a brand or service via a podcast. To amplify and optimise creative impact with online video, a study from Warc recommends:
Utilising the power of sound and music into ad formats.
Using real people, remixing trends incorporating suspense into video storytelling.
Harnessing social cues, using episodic storytelling to reinforce the brand.
Leveraging audience signals on digital platforms to optimise ad strategy and creative effectiveness.
2 Way Street
TikTok also provides a great platform to interact with your community, gaining feedback and new ideas. According to TikTok, 70% of users report feeling a deeper connection to others they interact with on TikTok compared to other platforms. For example, JustTheNobodys (9.6m followers and 350m+ likes on TikTok) uses crowdsourced topics submitted by their followers to turn into podcasts and TikTok content to great success.
The channel has a unique reply to comment feature which means that you can take a user comment and feature it in a video, giving your community a shoutout and fame moment.
Liking other content, responding to your video comments, and commenting on other creators’ videos are all best engagement practices to follow on TikTok.
Podcasts Soon to be Part of TikTok?
Podnews reports that TikTok has “recently registered a trademark for TikTok Music which includes the provision for podcast content”. This means that potentially soon you may be able to see a video teasing a podcast and also listen to that podcast all within the TikTok app. This is huge news for podcasters as discovery is often one of the hardest parts of their job. TikTok has advanced ability to tap into people’s niche interests and deliver hyper relevant content accordingly. That means that finding and growing your audience via TikTok may get easier and more effective than ever. According to a TikTok study, over half (55%) of users surveyed said that TikTok helps them discover new things. (TikTok.)
In conclusion, TikTok has emerged as a unique and powerful marketing tool in the past few years. As both the TikTok and podcast user base grow, so do opportunities to harness the power of TikTok to grow your podcast. Interested in implementing TikTok for your brand/podcast? Shoot us an email.