Ashley D. Su 
In the ever-expanding world of social media, TikTok is gaining more and more popularity beyond the catchy dances, trending challenges, and short skits. TikTok has become a place where kids, young professionals and adults can “stay in the loop” and rally around their favorite brands, sports teams and products. Griffin Haddrill, CEO and Co-Founder of VRTCLa viral marketing agency explains that “users have ‘attention power’ and use TikTok like a tool to socialize with their favorite designers and brands. More importantly, these users are leverage their network and engagement to drive future sales, it may not be immediate, but we eventually see those users convert, whether it’s apps, products, tickets, etc. For this reason on its own, it’s the most powerful social media platform out there today. Therefore, the need to integrate this media in marketing strategies is imperative to reach the most of TikTok 1 billion plus global monthly active users of which 43% are between the ages of 18 and 24 and 32% between the ages of 25 and 34.
VRTCL has been developing viral content and influencer marketing for brands and artists on TikTok for the past three years. “At the end of the day, it’s about creating and predicting trends. When a brand is leading a trend and well executed, it generates millions of new eyeballs on your product. Basically, you get a free Super Bowl ad every month in terms of impressions. says Sean Young, creative director and co-founder of VRTCL.
“The power of discovery and the power of nostalgia are two of the most impactful marketing aspects tools. It’s our job to figure that out and come up with a bottom-up plan that kindles those feelings and viewer engagement,” says Haddrill. VRTCL launched Lil Nas X’s single “Montero” campaign ahead of the official release to tease the internet about what was to come from the superstar artist. Subsequently, VRTCL came up with a transitional trending concept on TikTok which was then adopted by thousands of influencers on the platform and burst into millions of user-generated content videos. VRTCL developed and researched more than a dozen different creative trends and collaborated with several influencers before the transitional trend concept became a key part of the song’s success on TikTok. Additionally, VRTCL found over 100 influencers across several different sounds on the platform. to create a viral hit in the song and take it to 2.2 million video creations on the platform. Gabby Gamad, Marketing Director of VRTCL, acknowledges that there is no “one size fits all” approach to digital strategy. “Part of our job is trial and error. and in the fast-paced environment of Internet trends, we are developing and modifying our constantly strategies to maximize success.
While everyone’s goal is virality, brands and record labels have also shown increased interest in using UGC, otherwise known as user-generated content. In the brand space, UGC is used in a variety of ways: directly on the brand’s account, on the recruited creator’s account, and as a paid ad. Gamad adds, “Brands continue to embrace paid UGC as an affordable type of promotion. It’s a way to test out your creative concepts before investing marketing dollars in content creation. This style of content resonates with users and the platform because of the laid-back filming style that has always been TikTok.This may feel more authentic than a paid promotion from a highly-followed influencer.
Predicting trends that can be exploited with viral content must go hand in hand with responsibility and reports for a successful campaign. As such, VRTCL has developed a TikTok API software which aggregates data in real time on the platform and consolidates this information into direct contact with the client. The software tracks individual videos on the platform to process their views, comments, likes, shares and profile links in a dashboard that allows its customers to get real-time and on-demand information. This information includes how specific influencer campaigns and content of their channel do. Users can quickly cross-reference this data with influencers average engagement and track if the brand, song or content creation resonates with the Audience TikTok. This enables smarter, more cost-effective decisions to be made when sourcing and talent selection for campaigns.
This software helped VRTCL reduce influencer marketing CPMs by $2,000 per million views at $1,000 per million views, which allowed them to increase the number of customers results and better understand their audience. Moreover, after having developed this tool, the company was able to drive the campaign more successfully. For the brand’s clients, the agency was able increase conversion rates by 20% to their landing pages because the immediate data they are able to draw from their software enabled them to understand content that resonates with the best audience. Page growth and number of followers increased by 35% compared to their Averages 2021.
VRTCL client Nectar is a great example of how TikTok can be a game-changer for small businesses. 18 months ago Jeremy Kim and John Dalsey took their Asian hard seltzer went door-to-door in 200 stores in Los Angeles and was rejected by everyone. With nowhere to go, they posted their story on TikTok and overnight their drink went viral.
“With all the bureaucracy surrounding the alcohol industry, TikTok is the only reason Nectar is evolve as fast as it is,” Kim said. “VRTCL threw gasoline on our fire when we needed it most and has been a vital addition of minds on how we can continually elevate our strategy.
He continued, “In a world where ‘content is king’, VRTCL is the adaptive agency of the new era that has all the tools to help any type of brand navigate the daunting waters surrounding digital marketing in 2022 »
Whether you’re trying to mix up your marketing strategy or looking for innovative ways to engage more audience through social media, TikTok is a good start. However, like any other marketing plan, there must be a strategy to help support its success for virality, whether you are release a new song, scale a business or introduce a new product to market. There is a new wave of social marketing strategies through TikTok that can help propel any business or digital creative because ultimately anyone can go viral. Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, you are limited by the number of subscribers. However, with TikTok, anyone can go viral because the power of discoverability on the platform.
